Accessing Files From Your Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Instructional Server Accounts via WebDAV

This article is composed of the following sections:

What is WebDAV?

Webdav is a service offered by ACS to instructional account holders. It provides access to your ACS storage directories from locations outside ACS labs, e.g. home or from laptops connected to the campus wireless network. It can provide read/write access to your files and is currently the only way to access files stored in folders in your ACS supported Windows XP or MacOSX profiles from remote locations.

Accessing Your Files

From a Web Browser

You can access a read only version of your files from any location using a web browser. This means that you will be able to view your files and save them to your computer, but you will not be able to upload or modify them.

To access your files, what you need to do is point your browser to:

https://webdrive.ucsd.edu/~(Your username)

Note: You may have more than one ACS account (username). Typically, all students have an ACS e-mail account; in addition, you may have an ACS course specific account, or accounts, which come and go as you take different classes. To see storage directories connected to a course specific account, please enter that username here. To see storage directories connected to your ACS e-mail account, or ACS oce account, please enter that username here.

The server will then prompt you for your user name and password. After logging in, you will see folders for each instructional server connected to this account, which may include class storage and public folders, and/or your Mac and PC Documents folders.

Using Webfolders via Internet Explorer

You are able to connect to the webDAV server using webfolders, which lets you use the server just as you would any directory on your computer (Windows only). To open a website as a webfolder, you need to go to File->Open... and you will get a box asking for the location, and a box labeled 'Open as Webfolder'. Check this box and type in the address https://webdrive.ucsd.edu/~username - where username is the login name for your ACS Student account.

You will then be prompted to enter your username and password, after which you will get a window showing all the storage directories connected to this account. These may include home directories on various instructional servers, class accounts, and/or a directory containing your Mac and PC Documents folders.

Here you see a typical setup for a CSE major, showing two OCE classes' folders, OCE home directories on three ACS servers, and a Windows Storage folder.

From Windows XP

There are a few ways to access your files from Windows XP. First, you can use webfolders in Internet Explorer (shown above). An alternative way to create a webfolder is to add the webDAV server as a Network Place. If you go to 'My Network Places' (typically found through 'My Computer' then clicking on 'My Network Places' on the left -- If you do not see this link you probably need to go to Tools->Folder Options then switch to 'Show Common Tasks' instead of 'Windows Classic View'), you can then add a Network place through the link on the left. After you enter the Setup Wizard, follow these steps:

  1. Click Next
  2. Click 'Choose another network location...' then click Next
  3. Enter https://webdrive.ucsd.edu/~username (using your username) as the location, then click Next.
  4. Enter your ACS username and password.

This should now setup a folder along the lines of 'username at webdrive.ucsd.edu' which, when opened, should look something like the pictures shown above.

Please Note: Using webDAV as a Network Place has some complications; If you are trying to use your files interactively (e.g. opening it directly, editing, and then saving) then this connection will only behave properly with Microsoft applications. If you want to work interactively with your files, we recommend using our WebDrive software to mount the WebDAV server as a network drive, i.e. as if it were just another hard drive on your computer.

UCSD affiliates can download WebDrive for free from our ftp server: ftp://acsftp.ucsd.edu/WebDrive/

To use WebDAV, start the program and you should be prompted with a new window.

Click on the button "New Site" located at the bottom left. You should be prompted for the name and address of the new site. Feel free to name your new site anything you want (UCSD Webdav in this case). For the site address/URL, enter "https://webdrive.ucsd.edu/~username" (using your ACS username). When you're done, just click on "Finish".

Webdrive will return you to the original window along with the new information. Here, be sure to change the server type to WebDAV.

Next, click on the box "Anonymous/Public Logon". This will let you enter in your ACS username and password.

Finally, click on the button "Connect". This will connect you to your folder where you can access your files.

By default, Windows will call your network folder "W:\". You can access your files via this drive in any program or by going to "My Computer".

From OS X 10.3 and below

We recommend using the Goliath client to connect to the webDAV server from OS X versions below 10.4 . This is similar to the webDAV client for Windows, and easy to use. You can download it for free from here:

http://www.webdav.org/goliath/

To use Goliath, start the program up and you should be prompted with a login menu. Type in https://webdrive.ucsd.edu/~(YOUR USERNAME) for the URL, then your AD username and password.

After you have logged in, you should see something similar to this:

Here you can see the Windows Storage directory, two class accounts and 3 oce unix accounts typical for a CSE major.

From OS X 10.4 or above

  1. From the Finder, under the Go menu select Connect to Server

  2. For Server Address, type in https://webdrive.ucsd.edu/~(YOUR USERNAME)

    To save this address for the future, click the plus to the right of the address. This will add this address to the list of Favorite Servers below. You can then double-click the address to quickly connect.

  3. Click connect

  4. Enter your username and password, and click OK. If you would like your computer to remember your password, click "Remember this password in my keychain" -- a secure, system-wide password file kept on your computer.

  5. Shortly, a window listing all your computing accounts should pop up. Use it as you would a USB drive. You are done!