User volumes (per-user volume assignments)

When USER_VOLUMES=true, nextExplorer stops showing all mounted volumes to everyone. Admins still see all volumes under VOLUME_ROOT, but regular users only see volumes explicitly assigned to them by an admin.

Enable the feature

Set the environment variable and restart the container:

USER_VOLUMES=true

What changes when enabled

• Admins: continue to see all volumes mounted under VOLUME_ROOT (default /mnt).
• Non-admin users: the root volume list is filtered down to only the volumes assigned to their user profile.
• No assignments = no volumes: if a user has no assigned volumes, they’ll see an empty volume list.

Assign volumes to a user (admin)

1. Go to Settings → Admin → Users.
2. Click a user (or create a new one).
3. Open the Volumes tab.
4. Click Add volume, browse to a directory, choose an access mode, and save.

Volume fields

• Label: the name the user sees in the sidebar (must be unique per user).
• Directory: an existing directory path on the server/container (must be readable by the container user).
• Access mode:
  • readwrite: user can upload, create folders, rename, move, and delete.
  • readonly: user can browse and download, but cannot modify content.

Notes & interactions

• Directory picker: the admin directory browser starts at VOLUME_ROOT, hides dot-directories, and excludes reserved names like _users.
• Access Control still applies: if Access Control marks a path ro or hidden, that restriction also applies on top of the user volume assignment.
• Persistence: assignments are stored in the SQLite DB under CONFIG_DIR (/config by default).

Troubleshooting

• Volumes tab missing: confirm USER_VOLUMES=true and refresh the app (feature flags are loaded from /api/features).
• User can’t see a volume: verify the user has an assigned volume, and that the chosen label matches what they’re navigating to.
• “Path does not exist or is not accessible”: the server process inside the container can’t stat() the directory; fix mount/permissions and try again.