How to set up Rclone Browser on Linux
Rclone is a command-line utility that allows Linux users to quickly and easily connect to any cloud storage service (using Dropbox, Google Drive, Open Drive, and many more). The trouble is, Rclone is complicated and tedious to use for the average user.
If you need to use Rclone to connect to your favorite cloud storage service on Linux, there’s a better way. Introducing Rclone Browser. It takes away the difficulty of doing everything from connecting to uploading/downloading files with an elegant UI. Here’s how to set it up on your system.
Installing Rclone Browser on Linux
The Rclone Browser makes using the Rclone command-line tool a breeze. The trouble is, it does not come pre-installed on any Linux operating system. So, before we can go over how to use the Rclone Browser, we need to demonstrate how to install it on Linux.
Installing the Rclone Browser is done differently depending on what Linux operating system you are using. To start the installation, launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Once the terminal is open, follow the instructions below that correspond to the Linux distribution you use.
Ubuntu
To install the Rclone Browser on Ubuntu, enter the following Apt command below.
sudo apt install rclone-browser
Debian
Are you using Debian Linux? Install the Rclone Browser with the Apt-get command below.
sudo apt-get install rclone-browser
Arch Linux
You can get the Rclone Browser working quickly by downloading this pre-compiled package from the “Chinese Community” repo on Arch Linux.
wget https://repo.archlinuxcn.org/x86_64/rclone-browser-1.8.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
Install Rclone via the “Chinese Community” repo with the pacman command below.
sudo pacman -U rclone-browser-1.8.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
Don’t want to use the “Chinese Community” package? You can also install Rclone Browser on Arch Linux via the AUR.
Fedora
Rclone Browser is available for Fedora 31, 32, and 33 in the primary “Fedora”
software repository. To install the app, run the Dnf command.
sudo dnf install rclone-browser
OpenSUSE
Sadly, OpenSUSE Linux does not have a pre-compiled binary package for Rclone Browser. If you want to use the program, you will need to build it from source and install it by hand.
Build from Source
First, install all of the Rclone Browser build dependencies. These need to be installed on the system, or the program’s source code will fail to compile correctly. To install it, use the command below.
sudo zypper ref && sudo zypper --non-interactive install git cmake make gcc-c++ libQt5Core-devel libQt5Widgets-devel libQt5Network-devel
After installing the dependencies on your computer, use the git clone command to download your computer’s source code.
git clone https://github.com/kapitainsky/RcloneBrowser.git
With the source code downloaded, move into the “RcloneBrowser” folder using the CD command.
cd RcloneBrowser
From here, create the “build” directory.
mkdir build
Move into the “build” directory using the CD command.
cd build
Run the cmake command to create the makefile.
cmake ..
Build the source code using the make command. Keep in mind that this code compilation will take a bit of time to complete.
make
Finally, install Rclone Browser on OpenSUSE using the sudo make install command.
sudo make install
Setting up Rclone Browser
To set up Rclone Browser, launch the program on the Linux desktop by searching for it in your app menu. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Find the “Config” button at the bottom left-hand section of the screen and click on it to start the configuration.
Step 2: Press n for “New remote.”
Step 3: Enter a name for your new remote connection next to “name.”
Step 4: Look through the list of possible cloud storage connections in the list and type in the number next to it. For example, to set up a connection to Open Drive, you’d type in 24.
Step 5: Enter your username in the “username” box.
Step 6: Press the Y button to enter your user’s password. Then, enter it in the text box.
Step 7: Press N on the keyboard to tell Rclone Browser you do not want to edit the configuration.
Step 8: Press Y to tell Rclone Browser that the configuration you’ve made is OK. Then, press Q to close the config editor.
To access your new cloud storage connection in the Rclone Browser, select the connection you’ve set up in the “Remotes” tab, and select the “Open” button on the bottom left.
After selecting “Open,” your files should load in the browser. From here, you can look through your files, upload new ones, delete existing files, create new folders, and download all through the Rclone Browser.
Mounting folders
Want to mount your remote storage in Rclone Browser to an existing folder on your Linux PC? Click on the “Mount” button. Then, use the file browser pop-up to select a folder to mount your remote Rclone Browser folder to.
