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Mounting SSH drives in KDE

One of my favorite features in Linux desktops is the ability to directly mount SSH drives without the need for 3rd party software.

This is a really simple and more secure way to transfer files to your web-host, office/school server or any other location to which you have SSH access.

The remote site looks and behaves exactly like any folder on your computer, so transferring files and editing remote documents becomes very easy — and secure.

This how-to only discusses how to mount SSH drives in KDE, if you are using Gnome check out this how-to instead.

Step 1:

Right click on the desktop and select Create New>Link to Location (URL)…

Step 2:

Give a name for your new connection and fill in the server’s address in the form:
fish://server.company.com:1234/home/marcus
where 1234 is the port number and /home/marcus is your home directory.

Step 3:

Enter the username and password for the server and choose whether you want to save the password or not.

Step 4:

If you selected to save the password and haven’t set up KDE Wallet you will be requested to do so. Enter a password for the Wallet and click finish.

The KDE Wallet is a application that stores your passwords in a more secure manner, it requires you to enter a single password the first time you use it during a session and will after that provide you access to your stored passwords for different applications.

Step 5:

You should now see the contents of your remote computer and be able to open files normally and drag and drop files between the two locations.

That’s all there is to mounting a SSH location in KDE. A shortcut to the newly created connection will be created on the desktop. Clicking it will open the remote site in Konqueror like a normal folder without asking you for the password if you stored the passwordg.

Now if only this was possible in OS X without expensive 3rd party applications..