Did you install via docker? Did you perform any modifications to the compose file aside from the steps listed in the directions?
Senkyou
You can, or you can simply declare the network share as the library directory and it'll treat it like a regular directory.
I do a lot of my docker on Debian, some on Ubuntu. Debian is perfect for it. Something like Fedora (or a relative of it) will be awesome too since Podman will be great with it.
I really like Kavita. I started using it just a few weeks ago in an effort to expand my media library. It's running alongside my video media library.
I love that it's a web reader, but I'm excited for the app to come out. That would complete the experience for me as I'd rather have downloads managed by an app than have to handle the files on my local device.
Fwiw he wouldn't get a public key password denied type error if he wasn't able to at least reach the target, to my knowledge.
Check your logs /var/log/auth.log. You can pipe grep it to search by IP or just try to connect then quickly check. That might give you more insight that isn't being provided to the remote client (windows).
It's the default compose file.