Webdav

Accessing your Files (WebDav)¶

Your ownCloud instance can be accessed on every platform via the web interface. There are also options to integrate it with your desktop.

You will have to adjust youraddress.com/ to the URL of your ownCloud server installation

Linux

Gnome 3/Nautilus

The URL that you have to use to connect to the owncloud installation in nautilus is:

davs://youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

If your server connection is not HTTPS-secured, use dav:// instead of davs:// .

KDE/Dolphin

Click in the adress area and enter:

webdav://youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

or:

1. Open Dolphin and click on where it says Network in the left hand Places column.
2. Click on the icon labeled Add a Network Folder.
3. It should come up with WebDAV already selected. Make sure it is and then click Next.
4. Enter the following settings:

• Name: The name you’ll see in the Places bookmark, for example ownCloud
• User: Your ownCloud username you use to log in, for example admin
• Server: Your ownCloud domain name, for example youraddress.com (without http:// before or directories afterwards).
• Folder: Enter:

  owncloud/remote.php/webdav
  

5. Create icon checkbox: Tick to get a bookmark in the Places column
6. Port & Encrypted checkbox: Leave as it is unless you have special settings or an SSL certificate.

Mounting from command line

1. Install the WebDAV support using the davfs package. On Debian/Ubuntu, you can use:

   sudo apt-get install davfs2

2. Reconfigure davfs2 to allow access to normal users (select Yes when prompted):

   sudo dpkg-reconfigure davfs2

3. Add the users you want to be able to mount the share to the davfs2 group:

   sudo usermod -aG davfs2 <user>

4. Edit /etc/fstab and add the following line for each user who wants to mount the folder (with your details where appropriate):

   youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav /home/<username>/owncloud davfs user,rw,noauto 0 0

Then, as each user who wants to mount the folder:

1. Create the folders owncloud/ and .davfs2/ in your home directory
2. Create the file secrets inside .davfs2/, fill it with the following (with your credentials where appropriate):

   youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav <username> <password>

3. Ensure the file is only writable by you either through the file manager, or via:

   chmod 600 ~/.davfs2/secrets

4. Run the command:

   mount ~/owncloud

5. To automatically mount the folder on login, add the command you used in step 4 to ./.bashrc

Known Issues

Problem: Resource temporarily unavailable
Solution: If you experience trouble when you create a file in the directory, edit /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf and add:

use_locks 0

Problem: Certificate warnings
Solution: If you use a self-signed certificate, you will get a warning. If you are willing to take the risk of a man in the middle attack, run this command instead:

echo "y" | mount ~/owncloud > /dev/null 2>&1

MacOS

Finder suffers from a series of implementation problems and should only be used if the ownCloud server runs on Apache and mod_php

In the Finder, choose Go > Connect to Server, type the address of the server in the Server Address field, and click Connect.
The URL that you have to use to connect to the owncloud installation in finder is:

http://youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

For details, check the respective vendor documentation at the Apple website.

Windows

For Windows a seperate webdav client is recommended to access the files from your server. Choose one from the WebDav Project page
Should you have to use the native implementation then you can assign ownCloud a drive letter. This allows you to browse files stored on an ownCloudserver the way you would files stored in a mapped network drive.
Using this feature requires network connectivity. If you want to store your files offline, use the ownCloud Client to sync all files on your ownCloud to one or more directories of your local hard drive.

Prior to mapping your drive, you will need to permit the use of Basic Authentication in the Windows Registry. The procedure is documented in KB841215 and differs between Windows XP/Server 2003 and Windows Vista/7. Please follow the Knowledge Base article before proceeding, and follow the Vista instructions if you run Windows 7.

Mapping via the command line

Suppose your ownCloud is installed at https://youraddress.com/owncloud, that is, entering this URL in your webbrowser will bring up the login screen. Running:

net use Z: https://youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav /user:youruser yourpassword

will map the files of your ownCloud account to the drive letter Z:. An alternative syntax is:

net use Z: \\youraddress.com@ssl\owncloud\remote.php\webdav /user:youruser yourpassword

Appending /persistent makes the connection persistent across reboots.
You can also mount your ownCloud via HTTP, leaving the connection unencrypted. Use either of the following syntaxes:

net use Z: http://youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav /user:youruser yourpassword
net use Z: \\youraddress.com\owncloud\remote.php\webdav /user:youruser yourpassword

Please note that this allows anyone to sniff your ownCloud data with ease, especially on public WiFi hotspots. Plain HTTP should therefore only be used in conjunction with a VPN tunnel when used on Laptops.

Using Windows Explorer

Right-click on Computer entry and select Map network drive.... Choose a local network drive to map ownCloud to. Finally, enter the address to your ownCloud instance, followed by /remote.php/webdav, e.g.

https://youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

for an SSL protected server. Check Reconnect at logon to make this mapping persistent across reboots. If you want to connect as another user, check Connect using different credentials.

Mapping WebDAV on Windows Explorer.

After pressing Finish, Windows Explorer will map the network drive and your ownCloud instance should be available

Using Cyberduck (4.2.1)

Specify a server without any leading protocol information. e.g.:

Server

youraddress.com

The port depends on whether your ownCloud server supports SSL or not. Cyberduck requires that you select a different connection type depending on whethr SSL is to be used (‘WebDAV’ or ‘WebDAV (HTTPS/SSL)’):

Port

80 (for WebDAV) 443 (for WebDAV (HTTPS/SSL))

Use the ‘More Options’ drop-down menu to add the rest of your webdav URL into the ‘Path’ field. e.g.:

Path

remote.php/webdav

Known Problems

Problem

Windows refuses to connect via HTTPS

Solution

The Windows WebDAV Client does not support Server Name Indication (SNI) on encrypted connections. If you encounter an error mounting an SSL-encrypted ownCloud instance, please contact your provider about assigning a dedicated IP address for your SSL-based server.

Problem

I receive the error Error 0x800700DF: The file size exceeds the limit allowed and cannot be saved.

Solution

Windows limits the maximum size a file transferred from or to a WebDAV share may have. You can increase the value FileSizeLimitInBytes in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesWebClientParameters. by clicking on Modify. In order to increase the limit to the maximum value of 4GB, pick Decimal and enter 4294967295 as value. Afterwards, reboot Windows or restart the WebClient service.

document registry keys on file size limit and not complaining in no network cases

Sync Client

However, some applications only allow you to save to a local folder. To get around this issue, you can use the ownCloud sync clients

Mobile¶

To connect to your ownCloud server with the ownCloud mobile apps, use the base URL and folder only:

youraddress.com/owncloud

No need to add remote.php/webdav as you do for any other WebDAV client.
There are apps in development for both Android and webOS. Feel free to contribute, if you can! Right now you can use other apps to connect to ownCloud from your phone via WebDAV. WebDAV Navigator is a good (proprietary) app for Android App , iPhone & BlackBerry.
The URL for these is:

youraddress.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav