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  • Thank you, this looks like an interesting option - but why cannot the credentials from Thunar be used for this? See update to my original question. Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 11:33
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    @OlaTuvesson I guess Thunar "talks" SMB protocol on its own. Other programs often don't understand smb:// paths and protocol. When you mount a share these programs can see the shared content as directories and files, they know how to open regular files. Compare: wget can download from http:// but hardly any tool can work with such a path directly. Yet there are httpfs and httpfs2 which can mount a HTTP share and make it appear as a file for other programs to use. Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 11:47
  • @OlaTuvesson It looks like Thunar passes URLs without credentials, so even if a given program can understand smb:// and "talk" SMB protocol on its own, like VLC does, it may need to know your credentials separately. In VLC you can enter them under VLC > Preferences > Show settings (All) > Input / Codecs > Access Modules > SMB, this works for one server at a time. I still think the Right Way is to mount a share. Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 12:34
  • Thanks. I already know about the VLC SMB option - what I'm looking for is a way to make the mounted directory seamlessly accessible to all applications running in my user session, which as you say is done by mounting the directory at the OS level, either using fstab or autofs. What I'm asking for is an easy way to do this without having to manually invoke the command at a prompt, and without having to store (or fudge) the credentials in a file. It is hard to argue with the elegance of Thunar's way of doing this! Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 12:49
  • @OlaTuvesson I expanded my answer. Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 15:42