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Mounting Nextcloud as a Local Drive

Nextcloud securely exposes your files over WebDAV, which means you can mount your Nextcloud storage as if it were a local drive or folder, without having to sync files manually through the desktop client. This guide covers Windows, macOS, Linux, and our HPC system.

Throughout this guide, replace <username> with your Nextcloud username and <app-password> with an app password generated under Settings → Security → Devices & sessions. Using an app password instead of your real account password is strongly recommended, since it can be revoked independently if a device is lost.

The base WebDAV URL for our Nextcloud instance is:

https://ireigogn.hi.is/remote.php/dav/files/<username>/

For Windows or macOS, we recommend one of the following tools over any native OS WebDAV support — both have first-class Nextcloud support and work identically on either platform:

ToolCostExperience
CyberduckFree (donation-ware)Browser-style interface — open and transfer files without needing a mounted drive
Mountain DuckPaid (one-time license)Mounts Nextcloud as a real drive — a drive letter in File Explorer on Windows, a Finder volume via the File Provider API on macOS

If you want the most seamless experience — editing files directly in Word, saving back to Nextcloud, etc. — Mountain Duck is worth the cost. If you just need to transfer files occasionally, Cyberduck is a great free option.

Connection settings for both tools:

  • Protocol: WebDAV (HTTPS) (or Nextcloud, if listed explicitly as its own option)
  • Server: ireigogn.hi.is
  • Path: /remote.php/dav/files/<username>/
  • Username: your Nextcloud username
  • Password: your app password

Windows​

Native WebDAV support on Windows is unreliable

Windows' built-in WebDAV client is known to be slow, prone to timeouts, and generally unreliable for anything beyond casual, occasional access. We do not recommend it for regular use — use Cyberduck or Mountain Duck above instead.

Native Windows WebDAV (not recommended — casual use only)​

If you still want to use it: File Explorer → right-click This PC → Map network drive…, enter the WebDAV URL above as the folder, check Connect using different credentials, and sign in with your username and app password. Expect occasional connection drops, slow directory listings, and failures with large files.

4GB file-size limit

Windows' built-in WebDAV client (the WebClient service) refuses to transfer files larger than 4GB by default — uploads or downloads above that size simply fail. This is a Windows limitation, not a Nextcloud one, and it's a separate problem from the general unreliability described above.

To raise it, edit the registry:

  1. Open Registry Editor (regedit) and navigate to: 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
  2. Find (or create) the DWORD value FileSizeLimitInBytes.
  3. Set it to ffffffff (hex) to raise the limit to the maximum (~4GB short of 32-bit max, effectively unlimited for our purposes), or a specific decimal byte value for a custom limit.
  4. Restart the WebClient service (or reboot) for the change to take effect.

Given the extra setup step and the other reliability issues above, this is another reason to prefer Cyberduck or Mountain Duck for anything beyond quick, small-file access.

macOS​

Finder's native WebDAV connection is not reliable for large files

Finder can connect to Nextcloud over WebDAV, but it is not suitable for transferring large files or sustained use — connections drop unexpectedly and file transfers can silently fail. We recommend using Cyberduck or Mountain Duck above instead for anything beyond quick, occasional access.

Native Finder WebDAV (not recommended — casual use only)​

If you still want to use it: Finder → Go → Connect to Server… (Cmd+K), enter the WebDAV URL above, choose Registered User, and sign in with your username and app password. The volume appears under Locations in Finder — add it to System Settings → General → Login Items to reconnect automatically at login. Large file transfers are unreliable through this method.

Linux​

There are two common approaches: davfs2 for a true filesystem mount, or your file manager's built-in GVfs WebDAV support for a quick graphical mount.

  1. Install davfs2:

    # Debian/Ubuntu
    sudo apt install davfs2

    # Fedora/RHEL
    sudo dnf install davfs2

  2. Create a mount point:

    sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nextcloud

  3. Add an entry to /etc/fstab:

    https://ireigogn.hi.is/remote.php/dav/files/<username>/ /mnt/nextcloud davfs user,rw,auto 0 0

  4. Store credentials securely instead of typing them every mount, in /etc/davfs2/secrets (root-readable only):

    /mnt/nextcloud <username> <app-password>
    sudo chmod 600 /etc/davfs2/secrets

  5. Mount it:

    sudo mount /mnt/nextcloud

Option B: GVfs (Nautilus/Files, GNOME-based desktops)​

  1. Open your file manager (e.g. Files/Nautilus).

  2. Go to Other Locations.

  3. In the address bar at the bottom, enter:

    davs://ireigogn.hi.is/remote.php/dav/files/<username>/

    (note: davs:// not https://)

  4. Enter your username and app password when prompted.

This mounts under /run/user/<uid>/gvfs/ and is convenient for quick access, but it isn't a real POSIX mount, so it won't work well for command-line tools or scripts.

Encrypting Sensitive Files​

Nextcloud's built-in end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support has known reliability issues and is not recommended for protecting sensitive research data that require encryption at rest (i.e. when stored on disk), not only in transit. Instead, for these cases we suggest using Cryptomator — a free, open-source tool that adds transparent client-side encryption on top of any cloud storage, including Nextcloud. All encryption/decryption happens locally; only scrambled data ever reaches the Nextcloud server.

Cyberduck and Mountain Duck both have native Cryptomator vault support built in, so no extra install is needed if you're already using one of them. It's also available as a standalone app for Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. See Cryptomator's own site for instructions on setup and vault management.

Keep your passphrase safe

There is no password recovery for encrypted vaults. If you lose the vault passphrase, the encrypted data cannot be recovered — by you or by the administrators. Store the passphrase in a password manager.

Troubleshooting​

  • 401 Unauthorized: Make sure you're using an app password, not your regular login password — Nextcloud rejects regular passwords for WebDAV if two-factor authentication is enabled.
  • Slow listing of large folders: This is a known WebDAV limitation with folders containing thousands of files. Consider using the desktop sync client for those folders instead.
  • Mount disappears after sleep/reboot: On Linux, ensure the auto option is in your fstab entry, or set up a systemd.mount unit for more reliable reconnects.