Windows Mount Remote sFTP Drive Local

Ever wanted your remote storage to perform like a local NVMe drive on your Windows system? This guide will show you several approaches to optimize remote storage performance on Windows 10/11, with benchmark-proven results.

Prerequisites

• Remote storage with SFTP access (most cloud/NAS systems support this)
• 10GB+ free local disk space for caching
• Rclone for Windows (program to access remote storage)
• WinFsp (allows mounting remote storage as a drive)

Setup

1. Install required software

• Download and install Rclone from https://rclone.org/downloads/
  • Extract the rclone.exe from the zip to C:\Scripts
  • Test installation: Open Command Prompt and type rclone.exe version – you should see version information
• Download and install WinFsp from https://winfsp.dev/rel/
  • Download the latest stable release .msi file
  • Accept all defaults during installation
• Restart your computer after installing WinFsp (this is mandatory)

1. Create necessary directories Open Command Prompt as administrator (right-click Start > Command Prompt (Admin)) and run:

   if not exist "C:\RemoteCache" mkdir C:\RemoteCache
  

3. Configure rclone Open Command Prompt and run:

   c:\Scripts\rclone.exe config

Follow these steps:

• Type n for new remote
• Name: storage-sftp (type exactly this)
• Storage type: Type sftp and press Enter
• Host: Enter your storage server IP address or hostname
• User: Enter your username
• Port: Enter SSH port (usually 22)
• Password: Enter your password (or leave blank and use y if you want to use key authentication) For the remaining options, press Enter to accept defaults until configuration is complete. Test your configuration by running:

   rclone.exe lsd storage-sftp:/

This should list directories on your remote storage. If you see an error, double-check your credentials.

4. Create mount script Create a batch file by opening Notepad and pasting the following:

   @echo off
   echo Starting Rclone mount...

   REM Check if already mounted
   if exist X:\* (
     echo Drive appears to be already mounted.
     goto :eof
   )

   REM Ensure directories exist
   if not exist "C:\RemoteCache" mkdir C:\RemoteCache

   REM Mount the drive
   start /min rclone.exe mount storage-sftp:/remote/path X:\ ^
       --dir-cache-time 72h ^
       --cache-dir=C:\RemoteCache ^
       --vfs-cache-mode full ^
       --vfs-cache-max-size 10G ^
       --buffer-size 256M ^
       --vfs-read-ahead 512M ^
       --vfs-read-chunk-size 128M ^
       --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 1G ^
       --transfers 4 ^
       --checkers 8 ^
       --contimeout 60s ^
       --timeout 300s ^
       --low-level-retries 10 ^
       --file-perms=0777^
       --volname "Remote Storage"

   echo Waiting for mount to initialize...
   timeout /t 5

   REM Verify mount was successful
   if exist X:\* (
     echo Mount successful! Your remote storage is now available at X:\
   ) else (
     echo Mount appears to have failed. Check for errors above.
   )

Save this file as C:\Scripts\mount-remote.bat

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Replace /remote/path with the actual path on your remote server.

5. Test the mount script Right-click on C:\Scripts\mount-remote.bat and select “Run as administrator”. After it runs, check if your remote storage is accessible by opening File Explorer and navigating to X:\. You should see your remote files.
6. Create unmount script (optional but recommended) Create another batch file with Notepad:

   @echo off
   echo Unmounting remote storage...

   taskkill /f /im rclone.exe

   echo Waiting for unmount to complete...
   timeout /t 3

   if not exist X:\* (
     echo Unmount successful!
   ) else (
     echo Unmount may have failed. If issues persist, restart your computer.
   )

Save this file as C:\Scripts\unmount-remote.bat

7. Set up automatic mounting at startup Create a shortcut to the batch file in the Windows Task Scheduler:

• Press the Start Menu and Select Task Scheduler.
• From the Action Menu click Create Task.
• Under the General Tab, Name: Remote Mount
• Location: Leave as is.
• Select Run only when user is logged on.
• Check Run with highest privileges.
• Under the Actions Tab.
• Click New.
• Action: Start a program.
• Program/scripts, Select Browse. Browse to C:\Scripts\mount-remote.bat
• Click OK
• Now click the Conditions Tab.
• Uncheck Start the task only if the computer is on AC power.

That’s it, now reboot to double check the automount and you should be good to go!