How to map NFS shares on Windows 11
Are you looking to access your NFS shares on a Windows 11 computer but don’t know how? We’ve got you covered! In this guide, we’ll show you how to configure your Windows 11 system to use the NFS protocol so you can access your shares from the comfort of your PC.
Downloading and installing the NFSClient application for Windows 11
You can connect to Unix-hosted NFS shares on Windows 11, however, you cannot do it within Windows 11’s Explorer app. Instead, you must install a third-party NFS client. There are quite a few third-party clients for Windows. In this guide, we’ll use the NFSClient app.
To get your hands on this app, head over to the NFSClient’s download page on SourceForge, and download the latest release to your Windows 11 PC. After downloading the EXE to your system, open up the Explorer EXE app.
Inside the Explorer app on your Windows system, search for the downloaded NFSClient installation EXE and double-click on it. After double-clicking on it, the installation wizard will appear.
In the NFSClient installation, you’ll see “Welcome to the NFS Client Setup Wizard.” Read the “Warning” at the bottom of the installation page. Then, click on the “Next” button to continue to the next page.
On the next page in the NFSClient installer, you’ll be prompted to tell the installation tool where to put the program on your computer. By default, it installs your program files folder. If you wish to change to another folder, select the “Browse” button. Click the “Next” button when done to move to the next page. After specifying the location, you’ll need to click “Next” a second time to start the installation.
The installer will now ask you to grant it admin access so that it can install on your computer. In the User Account Control pop-up, find the “Yes” button, and click on it to let it make changes to your computer.
Once you’ve let the installer make changes, you’ll see a second installation wizard appear. This wizard is the “DokanLibraryInstaller”. Read the EULA, and click the “I Agree” button to continue installing DokanLibrary.
After clicking on the “I Agree” button, select the components you wish to install via the checkboxes and click on the “Install” button. When you select the “Install” button, the DokanLibrary installer will tell you that you do not have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Runtime. Click the “No” button to ignore this message, as Windows 11 does not need it.
Once the DokanLibrary files are installed, click the “Close” button to return to the NFSClient installation wizard. When you return to the NFSClient installation wizard, allow it to finish.
How to connect to NFS servers on Windows 11
Now that the NFS Client is installed, open up “NFSClient” via the Windows 11 Start menu. Once the app is open, you’ll see a pop-up window that says “AddServer.” In this window, there is a server name box, server address box, NFS protocol selector, and other options.
In the “Server name” box, name your NFS server. In this example, we’ll use “Ubuntu Server.” After adding a name, make your way to the “Server address” box, and enter the NFS server address. In this example, we’ll use “10.218.1.95”. Yours may differ.
With the name and address added, you’ll need to select the type of NFS protocol used. In this guide, the NFS server is v4.1. However, your NFS server may use a different version.
After specifying the type of NFS protocol, click the “Save” button to save your connection information to the NFSClient app. You can then click on the “Connect” button at the top of the app. When you select “Connect” you’ll see all available NFS shares for the specified server.
Once you’ve connected, select a specific NFS share in the client on the right side of the app. When you select the share, all files and folders available on the NFS share will appear.
When you have access to the files in your NFS share via the NFSClient app, select a file (or folder), and press F5 to copy it to your Windows 11 system. By default, NFSClient will copy to your user folder on Windows. To change this, click on the “Browse” button, and browse for a new location.
Disconnecting from your NFS server
The NFSClient UI makes it very easy to disconnect from an NFS server at any time. If you need to disconnect from your NFS server in the app, locate the “Disconnect” button. After selecting it, it’ll unmount your share from the app. You can re-connect at any time by selecting the “Connect” button.
