File storage with Windows XP

Jeremy Howard · 2 Apr 2007, 02:15 PM

Bron has been studying how Windows XP implements DAV, and has made some adjustments to the FastMail.FM file storage implementation to make it work better with this OS. In my testing, I've found that Windows XP now works really well with FastMail.FM file storage.

I've written a step-by-step guide: http://blog.fastmail.fm/?p=610 . Please try it out and let me know what you think!

**Sherry** · 2 Apr 2007, 02:44 PM

Hi Jeremy,

I gave it a try but I must be doing something wrong? I copy/pasted and changed the user/domain and think I had to click on next (your blog doesn't show that) but then I got a little popup window say "The folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another."

Sherry

Jeremy Howard · 2 Apr 2007, 02:46 PM

Try using just 'https://dav.messagingengine.com/' as the URL then.

**Sherry** · 2 Apr 2007, 03:01 PM

I'm not getting to far with this. Using that URL it got to the username/password window. If I kept a check in "Remember password" it just brought the little window back without the password. If I didn't check to remember it then it went away and back to the first window with the same error. I'm thinking virus/firewall so I'll check that then try again...

Sherry

David · 2 Apr 2007, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherry

Hi Jeremy,

I gave it a try but I must be doing something wrong? I copy/pasted and changed the user/domain and think I had to click on next (your blog doesn't show that) but then I got a little popup window say "The folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another."

Sherry

I tried this and received the same error message Sherry. I tried again using: https://dav.messagingengine.com and it worked fine.

David

**Sherry** · 2 Apr 2007, 03:18 PM

Jeremy, without virus/firewall still no then a PC restart and same error. I'm using a test Guest account but haven't turned on any web access for it. Do I need to do that first?

Thanks for checking that David.

Sherry

Edit: I do have some access in the account. I forgot I had used it to check the photo stuff when it was on beta.

Atanamis · 3 Apr 2007, 06:46 AM

Instructions are bad:
from https://dav.messagingenging.com/username.fastmail.fm
==
Enter the address ‘https://dav.messagingenging.com/username.fastmail.fm’, replacing username.fastmail.fm with your actual username and domain (as you can see, you need to replace the ‘@’ with a ‘.’ here).
==

Should be:
==
Enter the address ‘https://dav.messagingengine.com/username.fastmail.fm’, replacing username.fastmail.fm with your actual username and domain (as you can see, you need to replace the ‘@’ with a ‘.’ here).
==

(Notice that messagingengine is spelt wrong.) Other than this problem, DAV appears to work smoothly with XP so far.

Jeremy Howard · 3 Apr 2007, 08:17 AM

Oops - thanks Atamanis! Fixed now.

Sherry, if the window keeps coming back up, it means you've got your username or password wrong. Perhaps you are using the wrong domain? Or are trying to log in using an alias?

**Sherry** · 3 Apr 2007, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy Howard

Sherry, if the window keeps coming back up, it means you've got your username or password wrong.

The first couple of times it came up I opened an encrypted file and copy/pasted the username/password into notepad. Then into the DAV window. It's a Guest account so doesn't have aliases. Just now copy/pasted username/password into the regular Login site (I usually go in with a batch file). It logged me in just fine so the same copy/pasted info is correct.

I had tried without both virus or firewall running and just now made sure the XP firewall wasn't on (it wasn't) so they weren't the problem. Could it have anything to do with what's going on with the IMAP connections that Bron is looking into?

Sherry

541 · 3 Apr 2007, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy Howard

Bron has been studying how Windows XP implements DAV, and has made some adjustments to the FastMail.FM file storage implementation to make it work better with this OS. In my testing, I've found that Windows XP now works really well with FastMail.FM file storage.

I've written a step-by-step guide: http://blog.fastmail.fm/?p=610 . Please try it out and let me know what you think!

I've been waiting for this feature for sometime. Thank you, it works great!

**Sherry** · 3 Apr 2007, 11:26 AM

OK, seeing it works for others I did more checking and it is "now working"

. It was a combination needed but can not pin down the exact problem. At first it was the spelling of messagingengine being there during most of the testing. When I fixed that I reversed and changed things in ZoneAlarm and some IE settings etc. Anyway, the important thing is it works.

Oh, forgot to say, after it started working I made a new one and added files to the end of the URL so I wouldn't have to go through the extra step of opening the files folder.

'https://dav.messagingengine.com/username.fastmail.fm/files/'

Thanks for the help Jeremy and if using files in the URL hurts anything on your end please let me know.

Sherry

Jeremy Howard · 3 Apr 2007, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherry

Thanks for the help Jeremy and if using files in the URL hurts anything on your end please let me know.

That's fine.

tlvee · 3 Apr 2007, 01:41 PM

Hi All,
This seems to work well -- a bit faster than netdrive perhaps?
One question, tho... is there any way to map a drive letter to a webdrive like this? I try in XP and can browse to the directory I want, but the OK is grayed out.
Thanks,
Tom

hadaso · 4 Apr 2007, 07:14 AM

I can get to my files. What I don't see is the shared files I have from another account (I can see them in the file storage screen in the web interface. Bron enabled this sharing a few days ago and promised it's not going to be 100% working - it's sort of pre-beta. And it's not really important to me. I post this just to let you know in case it was supposed to show up).

And it seems not to garblle non-ascii characters in filenames like Netdrive does! On the other hand it seems less capable than Netdrive in that it doesn't allow openning a file directly or creating a new file using file->new->...

Jeremy Howard · 4 Apr 2007, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

I can get to my files. What I don't see is the shared files I have from another account (I can see them in the file storage screen in the web interface. Bron enabled this sharing a few days ago and promised it's not going to be 100% working - it's sort of pre-beta. And it's not really important to me. I post this just to let you know in case it was supposed to show up).

Don't include the '/username.domain' part in the URL, in order to see shared files.

2 Apr 2007, 02:15 PM	#1
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	File storage with Windows XP Bron has been studying how Windows XP implements DAV, and has made some adjustments to the FastMail.FM file storage implementation to make it work better with this OS. In my testing, I've found that Windows XP now works really well with FastMail.FM file storage. I've written a step-by-step guide: http://blog.fastmail.fm/?p=610 . Please try it out and let me know what you think!

3 Apr 2007, 01:41 PM	#13
tlvee Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 172	Map drive letter? Hi All, This seems to work well -- a bit faster than netdrive perhaps? One question, tho... is there any way to map a drive letter to a webdrive like this? I try in XP and can browse to the directory I want, but the OK is grayed out. Thanks, Tom

2 Apr 2007, 02:44 PM	#2
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	Hi Jeremy, I gave it a try but I must be doing something wrong? I copy/pasted and changed the user/domain and think I had to click on next (your blog doesn't show that) but then I got a little popup window say "The folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another." Sherry

2 Apr 2007, 02:46 PM	#3
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	Try using just 'https://dav.messagingengine.com/' as the URL then.

2 Apr 2007, 03:01 PM	#4
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	I'm not getting to far with this. Using that URL it got to the username/password window. If I kept a check in "Remember password" it just brought the little window back without the password. If I didn't check to remember it then it went away and back to the first window with the same error. I'm thinking virus/firewall so I'll check that then try again... Sherry

2 Apr 2007, 03:18 PM	#6
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	Jeremy, without virus/firewall still no then a PC restart and same error. I'm using a test Guest account but haven't turned on any web access for it. Do I need to do that first? Thanks for checking that David. Sherry Edit: I do have some access in the account. I forgot I had used it to check the photo stuff when it was on beta.

3 Apr 2007, 06:46 AM	#7
Atanamis Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 8	Instructions are bad: from https://dav.messagingenging.com/username.fastmail.fm == Enter the address ‘https://dav.messagingenging.com/username.fastmail.fm’, replacing username.fastmail.fm with your actual username and domain (as you can see, you need to replace the ‘@’ with a ‘.’ here). == Should be: == Enter the address ‘https://dav.messagingengine.com/username.fastmail.fm’, replacing username.fastmail.fm with your actual username and domain (as you can see, you need to replace the ‘@’ with a ‘.’ here). == (Notice that messagingengine is spelt wrong.) Other than this problem, DAV appears to work smoothly with XP so far.

3 Apr 2007, 08:17 AM	#8
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	Oops - thanks Atamanis! Fixed now. Sherry, if the window keeps coming back up, it means you've got your username or password wrong. Perhaps you are using the wrong domain? Or are trying to log in using an alias?

3 Apr 2007, 11:26 AM	#11
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	OK, seeing it works for others I did more checking and it is "now working" . It was a combination needed but can not pin down the exact problem. At first it was the spelling of messagingengine being there during most of the testing. When I fixed that I reversed and changed things in ZoneAlarm and some IE settings etc. Anyway, the important thing is it works. Oh, forgot to say, after it started working I made a new one and added files to the end of the URL so I wouldn't have to go through the extra step of opening the files folder. 'https://dav.messagingengine.com/username.fastmail.fm/files/' Thanks for the help Jeremy and if using files in the URL hurts anything on your end please let me know. Sherry

4 Apr 2007, 07:14 AM	#14
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,857	I can get to my files. What I don't see is the shared files I have from another account (I can see them in the file storage screen in the web interface. Bron enabled this sharing a few days ago and promised it's not going to be 100% working - it's sort of pre-beta. And it's not really important to me. I post this just to let you know in case it was supposed to show up). And it seems not to garblle non-ascii characters in filenames like Netdrive does! On the other hand it seems less capable than Netdrive in that it doesn't allow openning a file directly or creating a new file using file->new->...