SSHFS on Windows: mount SSH folders as a drive

WinFsp and SSHFS-Win: which does what?

• WinFsp (Windows File System Proxy) is a driver that lets ordinary programs provide file systems in Windows – comparable to FUSE on Linux. It makes the server appear as a drive letter in File Explorer.
• SSHFS-Win is the Windows port of the well-known Linux tool sshfs. It ships sshfs.exe together with its own SSH client and connects WinFsp to the SFTP server.
• A front end such as NEO SSH-Win Manager is optional. It stores connections, starts sshfs.exe with suitable options, reconnects dropped drives and restores them when Windows starts.

1. Install prerequisites

Install WinFsp first and SSHFS-Win second. Both are free MSI installers on GitHub; installing them needs administrator rights once. On 64-bit Windows, pick the x64 package of SSHFS-Win. Connecting and disconnecting drives later works without administrator rights.

• WinFsp Releases
• SSHFS-Win Releases

2. Create a connection profile

In NEO SSH-Win Manager, add a connection: host, port (usually 22), user name and the remote path that should become the root of the drive – for example /var/www, or C:\Projects on a Windows server. Choose password or SSH key authentication and a drive letter, or let the app pick a free one. Credentials are stored encrypted with a key derived from your app password.

3. Mount with one click

Clicking “Mount” starts sshfs.exe in the background, and a few seconds later the server appears as a drive in File Explorer – usable from any program, including editors, IDEs and build tools. With “Auto-reconnect on connection loss” the drive comes back after network interruptions. With “Start with Windows” and “Auto-connect on start” your drives are back after you sign in.

Without extra tools: map the drive with Explorer or net use

SSHFS-Win registers itself as a network provider in Windows. That's why you can map a drive directly in File Explorer (This PC → Map network drive) or in a command prompt with net use. The first time, Windows asks for the password and can save it in Credential Manager.

net use X: \\sshfs\alice@server.example.com
net use Y: \\sshfs.r\alice@server.example.com!2222\var\www
net use X: /delete

The general form is \\sshfs\USER@HOST[!PORT][\PATH]. The prefix decides where the path starts and how you sign in:

That's enough for occasional access, but this approach has limits: the key variants only use id_rsa and only keys without a passphrase (other keys need a host alias in the SSH config), automatic reconnects can't be configured, and every drive has to be maintained separately for each user.

For power users: run sshfs.exe directly

Instead of going through net use, you can call sshfs.exe from C:\Program Files\SSHFS-Win\bin yourself. This is what NEO SSH-Win Manager does in the background, because it gives full control over reconnects, caches and permissions. Run the command in that folder, since sshfs.exe needs the ssh.exe next to it. With -f the process stays in the foreground, and the drive exists as long as it runs. The example is a shortened version of the options the app uses:

cd "C:\Program Files\SSHFS-Win\bin"
sshfs.exe alice@server.example.com:/var/www X: -p22 -f ^
  -ovolname=web -oreconnect ^
  -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=3 ^
  -oStrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new ^
  -oUserKnownHostsFile=C:/Users/alice/.ssh/known_hosts ^
  -oidmap=user -ouid=-1 -ogid=-1 -oumask=000 ^
  -oFileInfoTimeout=1000 -oDirInfoTimeout=1000 -odcache_dir_timeout=1 ^
  -oIdentityFile=C:/Users/alice/.ssh/id_ed25519

Common problems and how to fix them

Files contain only zero bytes after saving

This is the most treacherous SSHFS error. When a file is created or overwritten, sshfs first sets the file on the server to its final size – the SFTP server fills that area with zeros – while the real data still sits in a write cache. With -oFileInfoTimeout=-1, WinFsp treats this intermediate state as valid indefinitely and can return the zeros when the file is read back. If sshfs.exe is also killed hard during unmount, data that hasn't been written yet is lost. Fix: use a finite value such as -oFileInfoTimeout=1000, add -osshfs_sync and -ono_readahead for synchronous writes and reads, and always disconnect drives cleanly. NEO SSH-Win Manager uses these safe settings by default.

New files and folders only appear after about 20 seconds

Below the WinFsp cache, sshfs keeps its own directory cache. Its default dcache_dir_timeout is 20 seconds, and pressing F5 in File Explorer doesn't help because sshfs keeps answering from that cache. Fix: -odcache_dir_timeout=1 together with -oDirInfoTimeout=1000, or turn the directory cache off completely with -odir_cache=no. In NEO SSH-Win Manager this is the setting “Disable directory cache (instant refresh)”.

Windows server: drives show up as folders “C” and “D”

On a server running OpenSSH for Windows, the SFTP root “/” lists the drive letters (/C:, /D:). Because a colon isn't allowed in Windows file names, File Explorer shows them as “C” and “D”. Mount a concrete path instead – C:\Projects becomes /C:/Projects – or the user's home directory. NEO SSH-Win Manager detects Windows servers and converts such paths automatically.

“Access denied” when saving

Windows can't map the server's Unix owners and permission bits one to one. Without -oidmap=user and a suitable umask, files look read-only or foreign to Windows programs. If the error persists, check the permissions on the server itself (ls -l): SSHFS can never allow more than the SSH user may do.

The drive hangs or stays around after a connection drop

Without keep-alive, a broken connection is only noticed after a long TCP timeout, and File Explorer freezes. -oServerAliveInterval=15 -oServerAliveCountMax=3 together with -oreconnect detects it after about 45 seconds and reconnects. Drives left over after a crash can be removed with net use X: /delete. NEO SSH-Win Manager cleans up such ghost drives automatically.

Host key or SSH key is rejected

If sshfs reports “REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED”, the host key of a known server has changed, for example after a reinstall. Verify this with the server's operator, then remove the old entry from %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\known_hosts, for example with ssh-keygen -R host. Keys must be in OpenSSH format: convert PuTTY keys (.ppk) with PuTTYgen via “Conversions → Export OpenSSH key”.

More quick checks

• SSHFS-Win not found → verify installation and restart.
• Authentication failed → check password/key/certificate.
• Drive letter conflict → choose a free letter or use automatic assignment.

When is SSHFS the right choice?

SSHFS is ideal when you want to work on server files with Windows programs as if they were local: editing code in an IDE, maintaining web projects, opening logs and configuration files. For moving large amounts of data, a direct SFTP transfer or rsync is faster, because every file operation over SSHFS is a network round trip. On a company network, SMB is often quicker but needs an open file-sharing port – SSHFS only needs SSH.

SSHFS vs. SFTP vs. SMB compared

Frequently asked questions