How can I mount SFTP/SSH in Finder on OS X Snow Leopard?

Question

My Question is seemingly simple. I need to mount an SSH/SFTP volume and make it visible in finder to be able to use it as if it were a local volume (think SMB share). I have tried everything I could find (MacFUSE + sshfs (whatever version), Macfusion (couldn't install),...).

Is there anyway to do this seemingly simple thing? It feels like I'm missing something here. Also, I'm not looking for an SFTP client for download/upload. My personal machine is an Ubuntu box, and that's easily doable on that.

score 116 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 26 '21 at 14:57

116

The best solution I've found today (2017) is to use Homebrew and Cask to install osxfuse and sshfs. Note that Homebrew core deprecated all FUSE-related formulae in 2020 so you need to install sshfs from a tap:

brew install --cask macfuse
brew install gromgit/fuse/sshfs-mac

And then:

sshfs username@hostname:/remote/directory/path /local/mount/point -ovolname=NAME

It works! :-)

edited Oct 26 '21 at 14:57

ctietze

143

answered Jun 25 '15 at 12:22

eskatos

2,128

1

I don't see files mounted this way in finder for some reason – Jules Gagnon-Marchand Dec 31 '15 at 21:00
I guess you would have to mount the disk under /Volumes, no? – Josef Habr Mar 30 '16 at 14:06
18

Be careful when using this tool to mount in Volumes. I messed up and specified /Volumes (itself) as the mount point and it killed the folder. I know...dumb, but...it happened. That made Finder unhappy. Disk repair fixed it but it was a scary 20 minutes. – Brian Colavito May 26 '16 at 21:01
I get: No available Casks for sshfs – Jens Timmerman Jan 03 '17 at 10:25
1

@JensTimmerman, sshfs moved from a brew cask to a brew tap, updated the answer, see above – eskatos Jan 03 '17 at 16:33
1

If you are using ssh keys remember that path to key must be absolute path: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22393502/how-do-i-specify-the-key-file-for-sshfs – Paweł Brewczynski Oct 22 '17 at 10:25
This is perfect. It worked for me straight away using the commands as described and the performance is just so much better than using a samba mount. – Gondrup Feb 02 '18 at 22:43
@ccpizza What is $1? – Nanashi No Gombe Oct 16 '18 at 10:09
It would ask me for the password and then print remote host has disconnected. – zyy Jan 17 '20 at 19:27
You should do something with that Cask link... – Andreas moved to Codidact Apr 06 '20 at 11:11
I used MacPorts to install it, but same basic principle applies: sudo port install sshfs - it will automatically bring in osxfuse and any needed dependencies. – NuclearPeon Jun 16 '23 at 20:48

score 29 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 22 '10 at 19:01

29

Well, MacFusion was going to be my answer but since you've tried that I'll recommend my second favourite app when it comes to mounting shares: Panic's Transmit. It's new, very awesome, feature lets you mount any share that it can connect to in the UI as a "disk" in your Finder that you can drag files to. SFTP, SSH, S3...very cool.

answered Dec 22 '10 at 19:01

Ian C.

45,969

1

My #1 issue with MacFusion is that it doesn't support key-based authentication, so I can't use it with the server I usually use. Transmit handles that nicely (but isn't free). – cjm Feb 29 '16 at 08:54
Transmit Disk has been removed as of Transmit 5.6.0 https://library.panic.com/transmit/transmit-disk/ – lazd Dec 10 '20 at 06:13
According to https://help.panic.com/transmit/transmit5/transmit-disk/, there is slight hope it might come back at some point later – ᴍᴇʜᴏᴠ Feb 08 '23 at 14:20

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 02 '16 at 10:01

10

I use Cyberduck for this task. It's a cross-platform (but native on mac) app that is full of features and it's free to use. You can support the developers by donating or buying it directly from the Mac App Store.

The developer also has an application named Mountainduck which let you mount the path you want to a folder and access it through Finder app.

edited Aug 02 '16 at 10:01

nohillside

100,768

answered Nov 10 '11 at 08:03

avee

543

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 20 '21 at 05:30

6

As of March 2013, the current free software solution is macFUSE plus a package for SSHFS (a download link on Fuse for OS X webpage).

Macfusion is a GUI for easy mounting/unmounting remote shares but it needs to be patched to work with SSHFS/Fuse for OS X.

edited Aug 20 '21 at 05:30

Sasha MaximAL

103

answered Mar 27 '13 at 11:41

ang mo

161

Correct link is https://osxfuse.github.io/ – Sasha MaximAL Aug 19 '21 at 21:53

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 13 '23 at 02:49

1

Install VSCode
Extensions - Install Remote - SSH (from Microsoft)
Bottom left >< icon. Open remote window
Map your remote drive e.g./home/joe
Browse the directories in Explorer view
Drag and drop to upload, right click and download as needed

answered Jun 13 '23 at 02:49

Fakeer

206

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 24 '10 at 23:43

1

Best ones that you can use are Transmit, like has been said before, or Expandrive, which is probably more like what you're looking for, as finder integration is its main feature.

answered Dec 24 '10 at 23:43

SeniorShizzle

1,481

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 04 '16 at 06:52

If you already have FUSE for OS X installed (e.g. you got it directly from SourceForge), then @eskatos solution can reduced to just installing sshfs instead of the whole cask which includes FUSE. You can do this by using:

brew install homebrew/fuse/sshfs

You might want to check if you have the latest version of FUSE for OS X through your System Preferences while you're at it.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 19 '19 at 15:26

0

Given I cannot comment, I'll add to this answer that if you want to unmount the recently mounted sshfs disk, you need to execute:

umount <MOUNTPOINT>

The sshfs man page states that you should do fusermount -u <MOUNTPOINT> but that command doesn't exist in macOS

answered Jun 19 '19 at 15:26

Miguel Sánchez Villafán

101

Try diskutil unmount MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode – user1787331 Jun 19 '19 at 19:43

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 29 '20 at 14:31

0

Just in case you are having problems unmounting the disk, you can unmount it simply writing

umount ~/mounted/folder

hope it saves some headache to someone else

answered Nov 29 '20 at 14:31

Yohanmaker

19

Welcome to Ask Different. Could you edit this to elaborate how it addresses the question on how to mount? Be sure you complete the [tour] as well, it helps get the best reception when you participate. – bmike Nov 29 '20 at 18:51

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 07 '11 at 17:07

0

Another solution is WebDrive (35$+). I successfully used the Windows version of the same product, so I expect the same from the OS X version. Too bad, that they require you to buy separate licenses for Windows and OS X.

answered Mar 07 '11 at 17:07

sorin

29,875

score -1 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 01 '17 at 19:22

-1

ExpanDrive is a commercial version with an outrageous $50 price tag, but is very clean and slick.

It also mounts Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, OwnCloud folders, plus a bunch more and supports ssh keys and sftp.

answered Sep 01 '17 at 19:22

Slam

111

I wouldn't recommend ExpanDrive any more - my copy simply won't connect to anything at all (either basic SSH or Dropbox/Google etc. - repeated oauth errors for the latter) and didn't get anywhere with support. – William Turrell Jul 19 '21 at 10:41

score -1 · Answer 12 · edited Jan 03 '19 at 06:55

-1

You can download CloudMounter from the Mac App Store.

This app, permit virtual mount units like, GoogleDrive, DropBox, S3, SFTP, FTP, etc.

edited Jan 03 '19 at 06:55

Nimesh Neema

51,809

answered Jan 02 '19 at 23:22

Zeroquo

1

Does it work on Snow Leopard? – nohillside Jan 03 '19 at 07:01

score -5 · Answer 13 · edited Aug 25 '17 at 05:30

-5

I use Filezilla, its free, connect as sftp.

edited Aug 25 '17 at 05:30

nohillside

100,768

answered Apr 24 '15 at 14:23

Klas

9

How can I mount SFTP/SSH in Finder on OS X Snow Leopard?

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