FTP with Windows (network drive)

peterfrosta

I have access to the sd Card with FileZilla.
But why i can't bind it as network drive in win 10?

A Former User

Without having looked at the ftp features of windows 10 I presume its a limitation of the Duet FTP implementation which is not complete. I.e. not all FTP clients work and it could be related to the number of connections the client uses.

To troubleshoot I'd say log the attempted connections with wireshark and share, maybe someone can shed some light on it, but I wouldn't expect miracles tbh.

Danal

Win10 does not natively map "network drives" (aka windows drive letters) to FTP servers.

Network drives in Win10 require "CIFS" (a.k.a SAMBA) at the 'server' (in this case, the Duet). Duet RRF2 or Duet 3 stand-alone has neither the memory nor the horsepower to do this.

Duet 3 + Pi can run CIFS on the Pi. I am editing on my D3 Pi right now, with Sublime Text on my Win 10 machine, which simply opened directory \192.168.7.101\pi. Didn't even have to "map the drive".

install and configure was

sudo apt-get install samba
sudo smbpasswd -a pi
sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf
sudo service smbd restart

That editor step sets a parameter for "read only" to "no" (or something like that, it is apparent when you get into the file) to allow read/write access.

A Former User

I suppose if you don't need a drive letter but can settle for a UNC path the network drive thing in windows would suffice, but still doubt it'll work with the Duet unless there are some settings to put it in passive mode or something.

Danal

@Danal said in FTP with Windows (network drive):

~~Win10 does not natively map "network drives" (aka windows drive letters) to FTP servers.~~

I stand corrected. Windows file explorer will do this for FTP sites in general.

Right click on "This PC" and choose "Add network location". Follow the prompts, entering "ftp://n.n.n.n" for the location. Logon anonymously. It will show the files on the SD, let you rename them, etc.

HOWEVER...

It doesn't seem to want to open any of them. And if I try to open that same UNC in an app, like Sublime Text, it always fails (even when file explorer is actively showing them). So there is something about Duet FTP that Windows doesn't like.

A Former User

@Danal said in FTP with Windows (network drive):

So there is something about Duet FTP that Windows doesn't like.

...or the other way around

but its not only windows' ftp client, I'm not 100% sure but I think the client needs to use passive mode and only 1 port, as well as not using parallel connections.

Danal

@bearer said in FTP with Windows (network drive):

but its not only windows' ftp client, I'm not 100% sure but I think the client needs to use passive mode and only 1 port, as well as not using parallel connections.

Looking at Filezilla logs, it seems to connect and manipulate directories in either active or pasv modes. Complete success. Also, the Duet responds to the capabilities query with pasv.

The actual transfers fail, in either mode.

That seems like it is not related to Active/Pasv mode.

A Former User

been a while since i did ftp, but i would think just listing files is using the control channel and then opening files would use the data channel and fail as the duet doesn't handle it? but I only skimmed the thread when this was an issue as it wasn't of great concern to me.

Dr_Ju_Ju

The Windows Network File system components are based around LanmanServer & LanmanWorkstation subsytems.

M$ in their infinite wisdom have been tightening the security of these venerable systems to the extent where, by default, additional security requires the use of security signatures, which FTP will never provide, hence no mapped drives etc. There are ways to disable this added security, but as it requires changes to the Registry either via Domain policies or direct manipulation, I'm loathe to post details of the changes, as it has the potential to screw up your computer, but the info is on the web.

I've not tried directly mapping the SD card to the file system, as I use Bitvise, to connec to to multiple disparate systems via FTP\SSH etc..

Danal

@bearer said in FTP with Windows (network drive):

been a while since i did ftp, but i would think just listing files is using the control channel and then opening files would use the data channel and fail as the duet doesn't handle it? but I only skimmed the thread when this was an issue as it wasn't of great concern to me.

The logs show different. Directory uses both channels, and works in either active or pasv.