DriveHQ Cloud IT Solution includes WebDAV drive mapping service. WebDAV is a set of HTTP extensions that allow users
to edit and manage files collaboratively on a remote web server. It is a standard protocol and is now supported on
all major operating systems.
It is extremely easy to map a WebDAV drive, however, a regular WebDAV drive is inefficient and un-reliable
when used to access a cloud-based storage system. If you need to upload / download large files or folders, it is recommended using
DriveHQ FileManager or FTP.
A regular WebDAV drive is not robust. It is suitable for casual use only. This cannot be fixed because it uses Windows Explorer as the client.
For businesses looking to replace their local file servers and share point servers, please use our Enterprise WebDAV Solution.
Map DriveHQ WebDAV drive on Windows On Mac
(1) Click on Start, then move mouse on top of “Computer” (or “My Computer”);
Then right click on “Computer” (or “My Computer”) menu, and select the menu “Map Network Drive”.
(2) Click on “Map Network Drive”, it will open the “Map Network Drive” dialog:
From the “Map Network Drive” dialog, you can select a drive letter, then enter:
http://www.drivehq.com/webdav/YOUR_USERNAME/
in the Folder edit box (drop-down box); where YOUR_USERNAME should be changed to your DriveHQ logon username.
(3) Click on “Connect using a different user name” in the “Map Network Drive” dialog; it pops up a logon dialog as shown below. Note this step is required for Windows XP and Windows 2003 users; but can be skipped by Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 users.
Just enter your DriveHQ username and password to logon; then click on Ok to close the dialog.
Drive mapping logon dialog
On Windows 7 and Windows 2008R2, the Map Network Drive dialog is slightly different; as you can see in the below screenshot, there is a checkbox: “Connect using different credentials”. Check it and click on Finish, it will popup the same “drive mapping logon dialog”.
(4) Click on Finish in the “Map Network Drive” dialog. If the username and password are correct, and if network connection is fine, then it will open the DriveHQ Internet drive:
It's interesting to note that the Internet drive’s storage space and disk free space are displayed incorrectly. This appears to be a Microsoft WebDAV client problem. However, it usually does not affect your use of DriveHQ cloud storage.
By default, the drive name is displayed as:
USERNAME(\\www.drivehq.com\DavWWWRoot\webdav)
You can right click on the drive name and rename it to a shorter name; see the screenshot below:
Your DriveHQ Internet drive is ready to use now. You can drag and drop or double click to open a file, edit it and save it directly.
Known issues about WebDAV drive mapping on Windows:
- On Windows XP and Windows 2003, WebDAV does not support SSL / HTTPS;
- On Windows XP, you must check / click “Connect using a different user name” when mapping WebDAV drive;
- The displayed WebDAV drive free storage space is actually your system Drive’s free storage space
- Because WebDAV maps a network drive over the Internet connection, which is many times slower than your local network connection, and is even more slower than your local disk speed. When accessing a very large file or folder, your Windows Explorer might become non-responsive for a long time (to download / upload data). Sometimes, your Windows Desktop might also become non-responsive. Windows 7 and Windows 2008 have improved a lot on this. However, there is still one drawback. When copying large files, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 cannot display a true progress bar.
- On certain versions of Windows computers, the WebDAV drive maximum file size is limited to only 50MB. If you try to copy a large file [larger than 50MB], Windows will pop up the following error dialog.
This is not a DriveHQ limitation. You can increase the limit by changing the registry key:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters\FileSizeLimitInBytes
The default is set to 50,000,000 (50MB); you can change the value using RegEdit tool. Please see the screenshot below. Increasing the value may not really help you on uploading / downloading large files / folders. If you need to upload / download very large files / folders, it is recommended using DriveHQ FileManager (or DriveHQ Online Backup).
- WebDAV drive mapping requires the WebClient service to be started.
On certain computers, the WebClient service might be disabled, or not set to start automatically. To check the problem, you can open Control Panel, then double click on Administrative Tools, then double click on Services. It will then open the services dialog:
Locate the service by the name “WebClient”. Check if the status is “Started”. If not, double click on it, enable the service and then start it.
If you cannot find WebClient service, then it means it has not been installed on your PC. You can install it from your Windows OS setup.
Map WebDAV drive using Windows command-line
Open a command (console / DOS) window, type in the command as follows (you can change the drive letter as needed); then enter the username and password.
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C:\>net use Z: http://www.drivehq.com/webdav/test14 /persistent:yes
Enter the user name for 'www.drivehq.com': test14
Enter the password for www.drivehq.com: *******
The command completed successfully.
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The command parameter: /persistent:yes means the drive mapping will be remembered after computer reboot. It is optional.
On Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and Windows 7, you can also use HTTPS URL.
If you want to map a drive using a command without manually entering the username and password, you can use the following command:
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C:\>net use Z: http://www.drivehq.com/webdav/test14 PASSWORD /user:test14
The command completed successfully.
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Disconnect the mapped drive on Windows
To disconnect a mapped drive, there are several methods:
(1) You can click on Start ⇒ then right click on “Computer” (or “My Computer”), then click on “Disconnect Network Drive”.
After you click on “Disconnect Network Drive”, it will pop up a new dialog:
Select the drive to disconnect, then click on OK to disconnect the drive.
(2) An easier method is to just right click on the mapped drive, then click on “Disconnect”.
(3) You can also use Windows command-line to disconnect a mapped drive. Just type in the following command in the command window:
Map DriveHQ WebDAV Drive on Mac (Connect to WebDAV Server)
To map a WebDAV drive on Mac OS X, use Finder Go ⇒ Connect to Server command as shown below. In the popup dialog, enter the address of the DriveHQ WebDAV server in the Server Address field. The address should be as follows:
http://www.drivehq.com/webdav/USERNAME
then click on Connect to finish mapping the WebDAV drive.
Disconnect Mac webdav drive
