How to create an SFTP folder shortcut in Windows Explorer?

Question

I'm currently running a Windows Server 2012 VM in Windows Azure and I need to create a shortcut in Windows Explorer for a remote Ubuntu SFTP server. Usually I can just connect to "mywebsite.com" in an FTP app, enter the login details and done. But Windows only accepts something like "ftp.mywebsite.com" which I don't have. The result is that I'm unable to connect to the shortcut FTP folder.

Anyone able to help me out with this? I can connect via Filezilla but Filezilla can't create a Windows Explorer shortcut which is something I need.

Thanks

Answer 1

Create a shortcut that explicitly starts Filezilla with the appropriate command-line options, from here: https://wiki.filezilla-project.org/Command-line_arguments_(Client) i.e. protocol as SFTP:// etc.

"filezilla.exe SFTP://mywebsite.com" should be all it takes for the command line.

Alternatively, you should be able to create a shortcut using the same URL, i.e. a Windows shortcut with the "location" being "SFTP://mywebsite.com", though it will ask you to authenticate on connecting. However, you'll have to tell Windows how to handle SFTP protocol, via some installed program that handles SFTP, so this is going to take more work.

WinSCP is another option that some people prefer, being more user-friendly. And there is an add-in called "Swish" that is mentioned on several sites, that integrates better with Explorer, but I don't have any firsthand experience with it. See sites like http://www.commentary.com/usman/add-sftp-and-ssh-support-to-windows-explorer.htm for details.