Map FTP server to drive letter

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This freeware claims to do it

Map FTP drive as local disk drive - FTPUSE

You can't do it since assigning a drive letter in windows suggests that block level access to the storage is provided. The only protocol that can do this over a network is SCSI (or iSCSI when used over ethernet)... FTP is a file based access protocol and therefore cannot be mapped to a drive letter as individual blocks of storage on the server cannot be manipulated only whole files. In other words, if you can't change the file system then you can't assign a drive letter.

I'd be surprised if you could find a third party application that could legitimately complete this...

Josh :)

if you can't change the file system then you can't assign a drive letter.

According to the FTPUSE page, file system drivers are included. Something called DOKAN I hadn't heard about until now.

MilesAhead said:

if you can't change the file system then you can't assign a drive letter.

According to the FTPUSE page, file system drivers are included. Something called DOKAN I hadn't heard about until now.

The issue is that in order to use a file system and in turn allow block level access is that you need to be allocated some disk space... This can't be done over FTP as the protocol supports only referencing and transfer of whole files.

If you could run samba or Windows SMB file shares then you can map the drive to a drive letter but with native FTP I do not think it is possible.

Josh :)

Shadowjk said:

MilesAhead said:

if you can't change the file system then you can't assign a drive letter.

According to the FTPUSE page, file system drivers are included. Something called DOKAN I hadn't heard about until now.

The issue is that in order to use a file system and in turn allow block level access is that you need to be allocated some disk space... This can't be done over FTP as the protocol supports only referencing and transfer of whole files.

If you could run samba or Windows SMB file shares then you can map the drive to a drive letter but with native FTP I do not think it is possible.

Josh :)

That may be so. But since the thing exists I have to assume non functional software was just left hanging or it kludges it only allowing stuff like file copy/move. I haven't tried it so I don't know.

Edit: It seems to relate to virtual file systems is user code:
http://fuse.sourceforge.net/

MilesAhead said:

Shadowjk said:

MilesAhead said:

According to the FTPUSE page, file system drivers are included. Something called DOKAN I hadn't heard about until now.

The issue is that in order to use a file system and in turn allow block level access is that you need to be allocated some disk space... This can't be done over FTP as the protocol supports only referencing and transfer of whole files.

If you could run samba or Windows SMB file shares then you can map the drive to a drive letter but with native FTP I do not think it is possible.

Josh :)

That may be so. But since the thing exists I have to assume non functional software was just left hanging or it kludges it only allowing stuff like file copy/move. I haven't tried it so I don't know.

Hmmm... I haven't tried it either but I'm assuming its a work around kind of implementation...

Josh :)

I can tell y9u how to do it with Windows 7 (Ultimate) but unfortunately the same trick does not work with Windows 8.1 as far as I have been able to tell. I wish it did as I was on the verge of celebrating the end of a long search to solve the need for exactly what you want for nearly the exact same reasons.

I can get "Network Places" all day long (although not exactly by following the layout presented by MS). Like you, I can't fault it for lack of connectivity. It is just the need for "drive letter access" that is required by a database program we use. if not for that I would have given this up long ago. And the part that hurts the most is where Windows even offers to allow you to provide "easy access" to the ftp link by mapping it to a drive letter. Then it promptly fails to do so.

Not knowing if "shadowjk' is still monitoring this, I wont bore everyone with what amounts to only a partial solution because it appears to only work with Windows 7. A change somewhere in Windows 8.1 prevents it from working the same "magic" there. I would like to find someone else who needs this that is still running windows 7 in order to confirm it as a solution rather than just a fluke for my own configurations as I only have two systems on Windows 7. While it works on both, I don't consider "2" to be enough to count as a "fix".

For the record, the system running the FTP end is a Server 2008 R2 box.

Thanks