Access with WebDAV - Hetzner Docs

With WebDAV, you can either access your Storage Box directly using compatible tools or mount your Storage Box into the local file system of a client device (e.g. your local computer). After everything is setup, you can access your Storage Box data via the local file system of your own device.

Before you follow this how-to guide, open the overview of your Storage Box in Hetzner Console to check if WebDAV support is enabled. If not, select the action "Change settings" and enable WebDAV support. After you activate WebDAV, it can take a few minutes before you can access your Storage Box via WebDAV.

General information:

Connections using WebDAV are encrypted.
Using CNAME records for the assigned DNS name does not work with WebDAV.
The WebDAV protocol does not support the output of the available disk space and it may produce false values. If you want to check available disk space, please use SFTP instead as described in the article "Determine available disk space".

Software:

Below are only a few examples of software that you can use for this protocol.

Windows	Android
Windows Explorer	TotalCommander (WebDav Plugin)

Prepare the access details

To mount the Storage Box into the local file system, you have to provide the domain that points at the directory of your user. Provide the domain in the following format:
- Main user
```
https://u#####.your-storagebox.de
```
- Sub account
```
https://u#####-sub#.your-storagebox.de
```

Mount the Storage Box

The next steps are different depending on the operating system of your device. Click on one of the options below to view the respective steps.

Linux

Install WebDAV

If WebDAV is not installed yet, install it now. In Debian-based distributions, the command davfs is provided via a package of the same name:
```
apt-get install davfs2
```

Create a mount point

You can mount the Storage Box on any directory. However, you should mount your Storage Box on an empty directory. If you mount your Storage Box on a directory with data, it is not possible to access this data until the Storage Box is unmounted again. To avoid issues like this, you can just create a new direcotry, for example in /mnt:
```
mkdir /mnt/my-storage-box
```

Manually mount the WebDAV directory

For this session, you will have to mount the file system manually. If you add the file system and its mount point to the fstab file, the system will automatically mount your file system at every reboot. This step is optional and will be explained below.

Use this command to mount the file system of the Storage Box on the new directory:

Replace <username> and /mnt/my-storage-box with your own information.
```
mount -t davfs https://<username>.your-storagebox.de /mnt/my-storage-box
```

Test access

Navigate to the directory on which you just mounted the Storage Box. The directory should now contain all data of your Storage Box.

Add an entry in fstab

The fstab file contains file systems and all related mounting options. All file systems that are listed in /etc/fstab are automatically mounted at a reboot.

Edit /etc/fstab and add the following line:

Replace <username> and /mnt/my-storage-box with your own information.
```
https://<username>.your-storagebox.de /mnt/my-storage-box davfs rw,uid=<Systemkonto>,gid=<Systemgruppe>,file_mode=0660,dir_mode=0770,_netdev 0 0
```

Add an entry in /etc/davfs2/secrets

To automatically mount the WebDAV directory at reboot, the system needs your access details to the Storage Box. Add this line in /etc/davfs2/secrets:

Replace <username> and <password> with your own information.
```
https://<username>.your-storagebox.de <username> <password>
```

Windows

Install a feature

With Windows servers, it may be necessary to install the Desktop View or Desktop Experience feature.

Open the Windows Explorer

In the Windows Explorer, navigate to "Map network drive":
- Windows 10: On the left, click on This PC. And then at the top, click on Computer and then on Map network drive.
- Windows 11: On the left, click on This PC. And then at the top, click on the three dots and then on Map network drive.

Connect the network drive

A new window should have popped up.
- Click on Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures.
- In the new assistent, click on Next.
- Select Choose a custom network location and click on Next.
Under Internet or network address enter the address of your Storage Box with the protocol https and click on Next. For example:
```
https://<username>.your-storagebox.de
```
Now you can assign a new name for the network address under the one that should be visible in Windows. Then, click on Next followed by Finish.

Now enter the user name and password of your Storage Box in the login dialog.

The setup of your Storage Box as a network address should now be finished, and you should be able to find it under This PC (Windows 10/11).

Known Issues
- Errors in Files Larger than 50 MB (Windows)
  
  If you see the following error message during a copying process from Windows to a WebDAV directory, it is likely caused by a file that is larger than 50 MB:
```
The file size exceeds the limit allowed and cannot be saved.
```
  This is blocked by a security setting in Windows. The following link demonstrates how you can remove this limit: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/900900
- Issues mounting as directory or drive
  
  Please check if the Storage Box is set readonly if you have issues mounting it via WebDAV. Most WebDAV clients are not able to establish a connection in such cases as the Storage Box allows HTTP GET requests only.
  
  To access the Storage Box readonly, you have to use another protocol like SMB.

You should now be able to access your Storage Box data via the local file system on your device.