Mount your Android phone as a network drive with WebDAV or FTP

15 October 2026 · 6 min read · Shelf blog

A browser is the quickest way to grab a file from a phone, but a drive letter is what lets you work on the phone's files from desktop apps: open a PDF from the phone in Preview, drag a folder of RAW photos into Lightroom, save a document straight back. Shelf gives you two ways to do that, both standard protocols that every desktop already understands.

• WebDAV at http://<phone>:8080/dav/, the protocol Finder and Explorer mount natively. Shelf implements PROPFIND, PUT, MKCOL, MOVE, COPY and class-2 locks (so Finder does not refuse to write).
• FTP on port 2121, passive mode, resume and MLSD listings, for FileZilla, Explorer's address bar and Android file managers.

Both are part of Shelf Pro. Browsing from a browser and sending phone-to-phone are free.

Before you start

1. In Shelf, Network → Start sharing. Note the address, for example 192.168.1.24:8080. shelf.local also works on macOS, iOS, Windows 10+ and most Linux desktops.
2. Pick an access mode in Settings → Access. Open needs no sign-in. PIN lets you sign in to WebDAV or FTP with any user name plus the PIN. Accounts uses your Shelf user and password, with roles from read-only to admin.
3. Optionally turn on Secure connection for HTTPS at port 8443. Finder and GNOME Files accept the phone's self-signed certificate after one prompt; Windows wants the certificate installed first, so for Windows stick to http on your home network.

macOS: Finder

Finder → Go → Connect to Server (⌘K) → paste http://192.168.1.24:8080/dav/ → Connect. Choose Guest in open mode, or Registered User with your Shelf user name and password (or any name and the PIN). The phone appears in the sidebar under Locations, and you can drag files in and out like any disk.

Finder is chatty: it writes .DS_Store files and probes with LOCK requests. Shelf answers the locks and hides dotfiles from the Received list, so nothing odd shows up on the phone.

Windows: Explorer

Explorer → This PC → Map network drive → Folder: http://192.168.1.24:8080/dav/ → tick Connect using different credentials if you use a PIN or accounts → Finish.

In open mode this works immediately. With a PIN or accounts, Windows refuses to send Basic authentication over plain http until you set one registry value:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
BasicAuthLevel = 2   (DWORD)

Then restart the WebClient service (net stop webclient && net start webclient in an elevated prompt) and map again. Alternatively use FTP, which Explorer mounts without any registry change: type ftp://192.168.1.24:2121/ in the address bar.

Windows' WebDAV client caps files at 50 MB by default (FileSizeLimitInBytes in the same key, raise it to 4294967295 for 4 GB). FTP has no such limit.

Linux

• GNOME Files: Other Locations → Connect to Server → dav://192.168.1.24:8080/dav/ (or davs://…:8443/dav/ for HTTPS).
• KDE Dolphin: webdav://192.168.1.24:8080/dav/ in the location bar.
• Command line: sudo mount -t davfs http://192.168.1.24:8080/dav/ /mnt/phone with davfs2 installed, or curlftpfs 192.168.1.24:2121 /mnt/phone.

FTP and FileZilla

Host 192.168.1.24, port 2121, plain FTP, passive mode (FileZilla's default). Sign in with your Shelf user, or any name plus the PIN, or anonymous in open mode. Resume works (REST), listings use MLSD so dates and sizes are exact, and the passive data ports are 2122–2141 if a firewall on the laptop asks.

FTP is unencrypted; use it at home or on the phone's private network, not on a shared WiFi.

From another phone or a tablet

Solid Explorer, CX File Explorer, Total Commander and most file managers have WebDAV and FTP clients. Add a connection with the same address and credentials, and the phone shows up as a folder. This is the easiest way to move a whole photo library between two Android phones: mount, select all, copy.

Speed and reliability

• Use 5 GHz WiFi and keep both devices near the router; 15–40 MB/s is normal, 2.4 GHz gives a third of that.
• For very large single files, the browser's resumable uploader (8 MB chunks over four connections) is faster and survives a dropped link better than WebDAV. Use the drive for working in place, the browser for moving bulk.
• Mark Shelf as not battery-optimised so the server stays up while the screen is off (Settings → Background), and turn on Auto-start on trusted WiFi so the drive is there when you sit down.
• If the mount fails intermittently, check that your router does not isolate clients, and prefer the IP address over shelf.local on Windows.