Consider the following
before using the native Windows clients

How to fix Slow WebDAV Performance in Windows 7:

1. In Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu, then click Internet Options.
2. Select the Connections tab.
3. Click the LAN Settings button.
4. Uncheck the "Automatically detect settings" box.

Unfortunately, Windows' support for WebDAV is a little strange andmay not always function correctly. We therefore recommend using one ofthe following WebDAV clients for Windows:

• NetDrive is free for home users.
• WebDrive is a robust product, but a bit pricey.
• Total Commander together with the WebDAV plugin provides a FTP like interface to a WebDAV server.

In addition to the above tools, the Microsoft Office products havebuilt in WebDAV support. As an example, Microsoft Word can directly openand edit remote documents by using a WebDAV server.
See our Edit Remote Documents Using Microsoft Word tutorial for more information.

Try the WebDAV Cloud Server

Would you like to have your own exclusive WebDAV server installed on an online computer with a lightning fast network and with up to 1000 GBytes of transfer/month?

More information

You can also install BarracudaDrive
on your own personal computer.

Mapping a Windows Drive to a WebDAV Server

This tutorial shows you how to connect a Folder or a Windows Drive Letter to any WebDAV server, what to do if the command fails, what not to do, and security. This tutorial is for Windows XP/Vista/W7 client users.

The video to the right shows how to map a drive to the BarracudaDrive server by using a session URL. The session URL eliminates the login problem found in many Windows WebDAV implementations. Note: you do not have to use a session URL in BarracudaDrive. Simply use the same URL as you use in the browser when mapping the drive.

The Two WebDAV Windows Clients

Microsoft Windows provides two WebDAV clients: Web Folders and WebDAVMini Redirector. The clients are integrated and come preinstalled withyour Windows.

Web Folders (XP only)

The first generation WebDAV client provided by Microsoft is calledWeb Folders and allows one to drag and drop between a remote WebDAVserver and your local computer. The Web Folders client providesfunctionality similar to (secure) FTP. Note Web Folders is not available on Vista.

1. Go to My Network Places, and click on Add Network Place at the top of the left sidebar.
2. The window that pops up is the Add Network Place Wizard. Click Next.
3. On the next page, enter the URL of the WebDAV folder in the box named Internet or network address and click Next.
4. A window asking for your username and password will pop up at this point. Enter your username and password, and click OK.
5. On the next page, enter a name for this share -- this is the name that will show up in the My Network Places listing.
6. Click Finish on the next page.

WebDAV Mini Redirector (XP, Vista, and Win7)

The second generation Microsoft WebDAV client is called WebDAV MiniRedirector and allows one to map a WebDAV location to a Drive letter thesame way as if you were using a Windows File Sharing/SMB/CIFS share.

• No support for HTTPS, i.e. no support for secure connections.
• Your WebDAV server must be using port 80, the default port.
• Typically fails when transfering larger files.
• Gets confused if the user does not have access to read and/or write to a file or directory.

1. Right click on My Computer and select Map Network Drive.
2. In the Folder "entry field", enter the URL, and click Finish.
3. Enter your username and password in the authentication box that appears.

Be sure to enter the correct username and password. WebDAV MiniRedirector may not take no for an answer and may continue attempting tologin until the hacker prevention logic in BarracudaDrive bans yourclient's IP address. You will get an obscure error message in theconsole. You can see if you are banned by attempting to login using abrowser.

You can use the network drive like you use your C:\ hard drive assoon as the command completes successfully. This means that you candirectly work with documents without first copying them, start computerprograms, and more over the Internet.

The following image shows a Windows Explorer window listing the content of a WebDAV server.

Windows WebDAV Mini Redirector Authentication Bug:

Many Windows computers have a bug in the digest authenticationprocess and thus authenticating using the above procedure will fail.You have the bug in your computer if the "Windows credentials dialogue"reappears after you have entered the correct username and password. Itis possible to circumvent this bug by mapping the drive from the commandline. Note, if the "Windows credentials dialogue" reappears, you mustreboot your Windows computer before using the command line. Windows willcontinue to fail if you do not reboot. This is also true if youaccidently enter the wrong credentials.

Do the following to map a drive and authenticate from the command line:

1. Open a command window (DOS Window) by clicking the Windows start button and typing in the command "cmd" in the "run" or "search programs ..." box.
2. Type the following command in the command window: NET USE * http://servername/fs/ password /USER:username

Note: the BarracudaDrive server includes functionality thatcircumvents the Windows authentication bug. The BarracudaDriveWeb-File-Manager includes a WebDAV button that creates a session URLwhich uses the browser's login session. The session URL solves twoproblems: it eliminates the login problem and makes the connection moresecure since you may terminate the session by logging out in thebrowser. If you do not use the session URL, the only way to logout isto reboot your Windows computer.

Security

One cannot use a secure connection when using the WebDAV Mini Redirector, i.e. the following command will typically fail:

When using WebDAV Mini Redirector, all data exchanged with theBarracudaDrive server is sent unencrypted and might be eavesdropped. Useone of the alternative clients mentioned above if you need securecommunication.

What to do if the command fails

Error messages such as "The network name cannot be found" can berelated to a number of problems. The first thing to do is to check ifyour client is disabled.

You can download and run the following command file, which will attempt to start the Windows WebDAV client.

You can alternatively enable the client manually:

Start the WebClient Service

Go to:
Control Panel -> Performance And Maintanance -> Administrative Tools -> Services
Scroll down until you see WebClient.

Set WebClient to automatic and start the service. Try to connect from a command window and restart Windows if it fails.

Things get a bit complicated if you have the same problem afterenabling the WebClient service and after rebooting Windows. You may haveto upgrade your WebDAV Mini Redirector Windows client.

You can do a search on Google and you will find many articles related to the WebDAV Mini Redirector problems. You can also see Wikipedia: WebDAV and Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft has ackowledged there are Web Folder issues in Vista, butunless your system is 64-bit, you should be able to get Web Foldersworking by installing an update from Microsoft and using theinstructions and "workarounds" in the following steps:

If you have a 32-bit Vista apply this Software Update for Web Folders (Microsoft.com).

What not to do when using the BarracudaDrive server

You might come up with the idea and connect to localhost, i.e. havethe WebDAV Mini Redirector and BarracudaDrive on the same computer.There are no reasons to do this, except for testing.

Never do the following on a Windows computer if BarracudaDrive isrunning in console mode or if using the free BarracudaDrive version:

The above command will lead to an endless loop between Windows andBarracudaDrive as BarracudaDrive will try to access the new WebDAVnetwork drive, which loops back into BarracudaDrive. This command willcrash your Windows computer.

However, the following command is OK: