Solution:

The solution I'm using is with Samba. I'm using the username frank but please replace this with any username you wish. If you are using CentOS or Red Hat, replace "apt-get" by "yum" in the instructions below.

DEBIAN: sudo apt-get install samba
CENTOS: sudo yum install samba
FEDORA: sudo /usr/bin/dnf install samba

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Uncomment this line in the global section to fix problem with file permission changing when editing with Windows:

;map archive = no

to

map archive = no

Add this at the end:

[www]
comment = www
path = /var/www
valid users = @users
force group = users
create mask = 0770
directory mask = 0770
writable = yes

Save and close

$> sudo smbpasswd -a frank

$> sudo chgrp users /var/www

$> sudo usermod -a -G users frank  (this adds the user frank to group users)

Also make sure that SE linux is permissive or disabled (see troubleshooting below) or that you enable some parameter if SE linux is kept enabled (this is the preferred solution).

$> sudo setsebool -P samba_enable_home_dirs on
$> sudo chcon -Rt samba_share_t /your/shared/path/
# the -R is for recursive

On CentOS 7, you need to disable the firewall like this:

$> firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=samba
$> firewall-cmd --reload

reboot

Mounting VFAT partitions for easy sharing within a group

Add gid=100, and change the permission umask 0007  (Warning! The permission numbers in fstab have a completely different numbering scheme than on shell !)

#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Tue Jan 27 22:34:57 2015
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info
#
UUID=946c560f-5087-4c21-b3c7-48cf2875b07c /                       xfs     defaults        1 1
UUID=28C2-AB46          /django                 vfat    umask=0007,gid=100,shortname=winnt 0 0
UUID=88b09e0f-fab3-4a8c-b381-0416a28bf68e swap                    swap    defaults        0 0

Troubleshooting:

You might want to check if samba service is running:

$> sudo service --status-all | grep smb

Usually it's called "smbd"

If it's not, confirm that samba is installed :

$> sudo apt-get install samba

or

$> sudo yum install samba

And try to start the service

CentOS: $> sudo /sbin/service smb start 
        $> chkconfig smb on # to turn it on at reboot
Debian: $> sudo service samba start
Ubuntu: $> sudo service smbd start

Another problem could be the workgroup. Verify and edit the line workgroup = MYGROUP in /etc/samba/smb.conf, restart service

Another problem could be that SE linux is enabled. If you want to keep SE linux enabled, learn more at http://sharadchhetri.com/2013/02/17/how-to-install-and-configure-samba-server-in-centos-6/

To learn about SE linux status, type $> sestatus 

If you want to set SE linux into permissive mode, type :

$> sudo gedit /etc/selinux/config

SELINUX=permissive

Another problem could be the firewall, to do a quick test, disable the firewall :

$> sudo service iptables save
$> sudo service iptables stop
$> sudo chkconfig iptables off
$> sudo service smb restart # or whatever command you use on your distribution to restart samba

Another problem is that you are running a virtual machine under a NAT. Use bridged mode instead. Also try pinging the machine IP address first.

Then finally another trick that did the job on a VM that was start / paused and kept running for months was simply to restart SMB. On this system the process were still running and displayed but had become unresponsive as if closed :

$> sudo service smb restart

For a public share

[public]
comment = Www
path = /var/www
guest ok = yes
public = yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
writable = yes

For CentOS 7 the instructions are slightly different

systemctl enable smb.service
systemctl enable nmb.service
systemctl restart smb.service
systemctl restart nmb.service

If you keep the firewall open :

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=samba
firewall-cmd --reload

If you leave SELINUX on, you need :

chcon -t samba_share_t my-shared-folder/

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