File Browser

Videos

Overview: File Browser on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Azure: overview (watch on YouTube)

Launch and log in: File Browser on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Azure: launch and log in (watch on YouTube)

Deep Dive: File Browser on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Azure: deep dive (watch on YouTube)

Prerequisites

• An active Azure subscription, an SSH key pair, and a VNet plus subnet in the target region.
• A VM size to start with. Standard_B2s (2 vCPU / 4 GiB RAM) is a sensible starting point. Size up for heavier concurrent transfer loads.
• NSG inbound rules that allow 22/tcp from your management network and 80/tcp for the web interface.

File Browser serves plain HTTP on port 80. For production, terminate TLS in front of it with your own domain. The File Browser server is never exposed directly: it listens on 127.0.0.1:8080 only, so port 8080 stays off the network.

Step 1 - Deploy from the Azure Marketplace

Sign in to the Azure Portal, choose Create a resource, and search the Marketplace for File Browser by SecureAnyCloud. Select Create.

On the Basics tab, pick your subscription, resource group, region and size. Under Administrator account, choose SSH public key and paste your key. Under Inbound port rules, allow SSH (22) and HTTP (80).

Review the dedicated data disk on the Disks tab. Then select Review + create and Create.

Step 2 - Deploy from the Azure CLI

# Accept the Marketplace terms once per subscription (required before the first CLI deploy)
az vm image terms accept --urn sac1647283583153:file-browser-ubuntu-24-04:default:latest
az vm create \
  --resource-group <your-rg> \
  --name file-browser \
  --image sac1647283583153:file-browser-ubuntu-24-04:default:latest \
  --size Standard_B2s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys \
  --public-ip-sku Standard

Then open port 80 for the web interface:

az vm open-port --resource-group <your-rg> --name file-browser --port 80

Step 3 - Confirm the services are running

SSH in as azureuser and confirm that File Browser and nginx are active. The File Browser server listens only on 127.0.0.1:8080, and nginx serves the web interface on port 80.

systemctl is-active filebrowser nginx filebrowser-firstboot

ss -tlnp | grep -E ':80 |:8080 ' | sed 's/ */ /g'

Step 4 - Retrieve the per VM administrator password

Every VM generates its own administrator password on first boot. It writes the password, along with the login user and URL, to a root-only credentials file. Read the file with sudo:

sudo cat /root/filebrowser-credentials.txt

Sign in to File Browser with the username admin and the filebrowser.admin.pass value from this file. To prove the login works from the command line, request an API token with those credentials:

PASS=$(sudo grep '^filebrowser.admin.pass=' /root/filebrowser-credentials.txt | cut -d= -f2-); curl -s -o /dev/null -w 'login HTTP %{http_code}\n' -m 20 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d "{\"username\":\"admin\",\"password\":\"$PASS\"}" http://127.0.0.1/api/login

Step 5 - Sign in to File Browser

Browse to http://<vm-public-ip>/. File Browser opens on its sign-in screen. Enter the username admin and the password from Step 4.

After you sign in, you land on the file listing for the browsed files root. From here you can navigate folders and preview files. Use the toolbar to upload, create, rename, move and download items.

Step 6 - Upload, download and share files

Use the upload button in the toolbar to add files or whole folders by drag and drop. Select any item to preview it, download it, or generate a share link. A share link lets an external collaborator download that specific file without an account.

The files you manage all live under the browsed files root on the dedicated data disk:

sudo ls -la /var/lib/filebrowser/files | head

Step 7 - Add scoped user accounts

Open Settings, then User Management, to create additional accounts. Give each user its own scope (a subdirectory the user is limited to) and a permission set. Teams can then share one instance while keeping their directories isolated.

Step 8 - Verify the stack

Confirm the File Browser version, check that the services are enabled, and test the health endpoint that Azure Load Balancer probes:

/usr/local/bin/filebrowser version | head -1

systemctl is-enabled filebrowser nginx

curl -sI http://127.0.0.1/health | head -1

Step 9 - Where your data lives

The SQLite database and the browsed files both live on a dedicated Azure data disk mounted at /var/lib/filebrowser, separate from the OS disk. This disk is captured into the image and reprovisioned on every VM.

Confirm the mount and the filesystem:

df -h /var/lib/filebrowser | tail -1

findmnt -no SOURCE,TARGET,FSTYPE /var/lib/filebrowser

Security notes

• File Browser serves plain HTTP on port 80. For production, put it behind your own TLS-terminating reverse proxy or an Azure Application Gateway with a certificate for your domain. Restrict port 80 in the NSG to trusted networks.
• The File Browser server listens on 127.0.0.1:8080 only and is never exposed directly. Only nginx on port 80 faces the network.
• Authentication is required from the first request. The per-VM administrator password lives in /root/filebrowser-credentials.txt, readable only by root. You can change it from Settings after you sign in. Keep a copy somewhere safe.
• Create scoped, least-privilege user accounts for team members rather than sharing the administrator login.
• Keep the VM patched. The image is patched at build time and ships with unattended security upgrades enabled.

Support

SecureAnyCloud images come with 24/7 support. If you have questions about this File Browser image or need help with your deployment, contact us through the SecureAnyCloud website.

Deploy on Azure

Launch File Browser on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Azure with 24/7 support from SecureAnyCloud.

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Need Help?

Our support team is available 24/7.

sales@secureanycloud.com