SFTP as a folder on Vista

Question

Is there a program available for Vista, that allows me to set up a folder as an SFTP connection to a remote server?

The use case is to have a folder on my desktop, where I can drag/drop/edit files and have my remote location be updated automatically.

I've googled this to no avail. Thanks!

See also "Keep ftp folder sync’d with windows folder" at http://superuser.com/questions/48782/keep-ftp-folder-syncd-with-windows-folder — Arjan, Oct 31 '09 at 13:05
[win-sshfs](https://code.google.com/p/win-sshfs/) is decent, but doesn't automatically reconnect when the connection is broken. — endolith, Mar 11 '14 at 13:49

harrymc · Answer 1 · 2012-07-08T07:50:10.197

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NetDrive is free for home use and fulfills all your requirements. See its review in lifehacker.
Features:

Mounts remote storage as a local hard disk on your PC
Data transfer by drag and drop files in windows explorer
Able to run files (video, audio and any other .exe files)
Mounts drive automatically when Windows starts.
Operating System : Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 2003/2008 (32/64bit)

Open Source alternative:

win-sshfs is a new open-source project that mounts SSHFS/SFTP as a network drive :

SSH(SFTP) filesystem made using Dokan and SSH.NET library. It allows you to mount remote computers via SFTP protocol like windows network drives.

Commercial alternatives:

For example, WebDrive ($59.95), reviewed here:

WebDrive integrates FTP, WebDAV, SFTP or FrontPage servers into the Windows desktop by making your web server appear as a network drive.

Another option is ExpanDrive ($39.95) :

With ExpanDrive, you can securely access any remote file server directly from Explorer, or even the command line. No need to open a separate SFTP client just for file transfer. ExpanDrive extends the way all applications on your PC can access data.

edited Jul 08 '12 at 07:50

answered Oct 15 '09 at 19:02

harrymc

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"except for sftp" I think SFTP was kinda the whole point. – Joel Coehoorn Oct 15 '09 at 19:20
According to LifeHacker, NetDrive does SFTP: http://lifehacker.com/300997/mount-remote-file-systems-with-netdrive – Snark Oct 15 '09 at 21:35
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Excellent news for the OP (but isn't mentioned on the netdrive website). I've therefore edited my answer. – harrymc Oct 16 '09 at 06:08
I'm going to check this out after my trial of ExpanDrive expires. Thanks! – bigmattyh Oct 17 '09 at 20:22
NetDrive is not compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows. – endolith May 25 '10 at 19:25
I added one open source solution – Kaii Jul 08 '12 at 09:23

Eugene Mayevski 'Callback · Answer 2 · 2018-04-03T14:25:24.143

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JFYI: we have made SFTP Net Drive free application available. It lets you mount the remote SFTP folder as a local disk with a drive letter.

edited Apr 03 '18 at 14:25

answered May 03 '11 at 10:53

Eugene Mayevski 'Callback

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Haven't used it (I'm not on Windows), but looks nice. – Arjan May 03 '11 at 11:53
I have been using this solution for several weeks now... it is exactly what I think a lot of people are looking for. – russellpierce Jul 14 '12 at 05:54
Unfortunately Windows 7 does not remember my thumbnails for these drives, so it spends lots of time and bandwidth generating them every time I visit any folder. Is there a way to fix this? What effect do the "fixed" and "removable" options have? – endolith Dec 07 '13 at 01:51
There's no way to "fix" it because this is not a bug. Explorer reads thumbnails by design and so far nobody knows how to stop it from doing so. Network drive type should reduce the number of reads. – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback Dec 07 '13 at 09:57
SFTP Net Drive has moved here: https://www.nsoftware.com/netdrive/sftp/ – EpicVoyage Apr 02 '18 at 14:15
@EpicVoyage Thank you, I've updated the link. – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback Apr 03 '18 at 14:25

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 05 '13 at 22:56

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ExpanDrive will let you do this. It has a 30-day trial, but requires a purchase ($39.95) after the 30 days.

edited Mar 05 '13 at 22:56

Nick

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answered Oct 15 '09 at 17:45

heavyd

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This is just what I was looking for. Thanks. – bigmattyh Oct 17 '09 at 20:21

ihtus · Answer 4 · 2016-03-11T13:13:02.100

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DirectNet Drive is free for home use.

http://directnet-drive.net/index.php

edited Mar 11 '16 at 13:13

answered Mar 10 '16 at 19:57

ihtus

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Arjan · Answer 5 · 2009-10-15T20:49:27.053

I thought FUSE would be helpful, but the Windows section claims:

Is it really true that there are no FUSE port for Windows? If anyone knows of one add it to this list, please.

So, if anyone here knows about it: edit that page!

However, that very same Windows section does list other options, some of which apparently "fall back to implementing a FUSE compatibility layer on top of FIFS which implements a SMB server to provide access to other filesystems". I doubt it's useful, but if all else fails then looking at that list might help. It seems that Dokan might be a good FUSE-like alternative for Windows, especially for SSH/SFTP.

(And, when really taking things to extremes, one could even use DeleGate as a FTP-to-SFTP gateway, just in case one finds something that only supports FTP...)

There is a new open source project named "win-sshfs" that uses Dokan as backend. works pretty well for me: http://code.google.com/p/win-sshfs/ .. cannot add this as an answer yet. — Kaii, Jul 07 '12 at 21:45

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 15 '19 at 14:53

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Found new app - RaiDrive! So far, the best! https://www.raidrive.com/

answered Nov 15 '19 at 14:53

ihtus

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Joel Coehoorn · Answer 7 · 2009-10-15T21:26:49.523

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I might be mistaking it for FTPS (I always confuse the two), but I believe this capability is built into windows explorer. Just open a folder window and type an ftp url (including secure items) into an address bar. Something like this:

sftp://user:pass@ftpsite.example.com/

You should be able to make a normal windows folder shortcut to that location as well. If you leave off the username and password it should prompt you.

edited Oct 15 '09 at 21:26

answered Oct 15 '09 at 18:32

Joel Coehoorn

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I don't this this meets the Drag-and-Drop requirement. – jww Nov 15 '19 at 15:01

SFTP as a folder on Vista

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