What

  • Goal: Mount an AWS S3 bucket as a Windows drive letter (e.g., S:) using rclone.
  • Scope: One S3 remote via rclone config, one batch file to mount, optional auto‑start.
  • Prerequisites:
    • AWS account + S3 bucket + IAM user with access to that bucket.
    • rclone for Windows.
    • WinFSP (required for rclone mount on Windows).

Why

  • Faster access: Browse S3 in File Explorer without separate apps or consoles.
  • Simplicity: Open, copy, rename like a normal drive letter.
  • Integrations: Any Windows app that works with drive letters can work with S3.

How

  • Step 1 — Install rclone + WinFSP

  • Step 2 — Add rclone to PATH (optional but recommended)

    • System Properties → Environment Variables → Path → add the folder containing rclone.exe.
    • Verify: open PowerShell → rclone version.

  • Step 3 — Create an rclone S3 remote

    • Run: rclone config
    • Choose:
      • New remote → name (e.g., rclone-mapped-drive)
      • Storage: s3
      • Provider: AWS
      • Region: your bucket region (e.g., us-east-1)
      • Access Key ID / Secret Access Key: use IAM user with bucket-scoped policy
      • Leave advanced defaults unless you need SSE/ACL tweaks
    • Test: rclone ls rclone-mapped-drive:your-bucket

  • Step 4 — Make a mount batch file

    • Example (template; adjust paths/names/drive letter):
start /min "" "C:\Progs\rclone-v1.71.1-windows-amd64\rclone.exe" mount "rclone-mapped-drive:aws-bucket" S: ^
  --cache-dir "%LOCALAPPDATA%\rclone\vfs" ^
  --vfs-cache-mode full ^
  --vfs-cache-max-age 720h ^
  --vfs-cache-poll-interval 5m ^
  --vfs-cache-max-size 200G ^
  --dir-cache-time 5m ^
  --vfs-read-chunk-size 16M ^
  --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 512M ^
  --buffer-size 32M ^
  --no-modtime ^
  --attr-timeout 1h ^
  --log-level INFO ^
  --log-file "%USERPROFILE%\rclone_mount.log"

  • Step 5 — What each part does

    • start /min "" "<path>\rclone.exe" mount "<remote>:<bucket>" S:
      • Starts minimized; runs rclone mount to map the remote bucket to S: drive.
      • rclone-mapped-drive is the remote name from rclone config.
      • ws-bucket is the S3 bucket name.
    • --cache-dir "%LOCALAPPDATA%\rclone\vfs"
      • Local on-disk VFS cache location (per-user, safe by default).
    • --vfs-cache-mode full
      • Enables full read/write caching so apps that expect random-access writes work reliably.
    • --vfs-cache-max-age 720h and --vfs-cache-poll-interval 5m
      • Keep cached files up to 30 days; poll to purge expired items.
    • --vfs-cache-max-size 200G
      • Cap total cache size. Tune to your disk space.
    • --dir-cache-time 5m
      • Cache directory listings for 5 minutes; reduces API calls.
    • --vfs-read-chunk-size 16M and --vfs-read-chunk-size-limit 512M
      • Read large objects in chunks; grows as needed up to 512 MB for throughput.
    • --buffer-size 32M
      • RAM buffer per open file for smoother reads.
    • --no-modtime
      • Don’t try to preserve mod times (S3 semantics differ; avoids extra calls).
    • --attr-timeout 1h
      • Cache file attribute lookups for 1 hour.
    • --log-level INFO --log-file "%USERPROFILE%\rclone_mount.log"
      • Write an operational log to your profile folder for troubleshooting.

  • Step 6 — Run it

    • Double-click the batch file. You should see a new drive in Explorer (e.g., S:).
    • Test copy/open operations.

  • Step 7 — Start at sign-in (optional)

    • Easiest: press Win+R → shell:startup → place a shortcut to your batch file here.
    • Or use Task Scheduler:
      • Create Task → trigger “At log on” → action “Start a program” (your batch file) → Run whether user is logged on or not → Hidden.

  • Step 8 — Stop/unmount

    • Close the rclone mount process:
taskkill /IM rclone.exe /F
  • Any open handles to the drive should be closed first to avoid force kills.

Notes

  • Permissions: Use an IAM policy scoped to the specific bucket to minimize blast radius.
  • Costs: Each listing/read/write is an S3 API call. Caching flags above reduce chattiness.
  • Performance: LAN-like speed is not realistic over WAN. Large sequential reads/writes work best.
  • Security: Do not hardcode keys in scripts. Keep credentials inside rclone config.

Troubleshooting

  • Drive doesn’t appear: Ensure WinFSP is installed; check the log file path in the batch.
  • Access denied: Verify IAM policy allows object list/get/put/delete on the bucket and region matches.
  • Frequent re-listings: Increase --dir-cache-time; ensure time sync on Windows.