firefox

NFS Network URLs on a Mac

Posted on Updated on

In Mac OS X, if someone gives you a Linux path that looks like:

/net/server/path/to/some/folder/

you can load that folder by swapping out “/net/” with “nfs://” and using a feature of the Mac OS X Finder.  In the Finder, go to:

Go - Connect to server...

And then specify the server address of:

nfs://server/path/to/some/folder/

If you are allowed to connect, a drive will be mounted on your desktop.

On a related note.  If you are using Firefox and come across one of these “nfs://” URLs, Firefox may not automatically mount the drive for you or even prompt you for an application to handle that URL.  Instead, you will need to tell Firefox that you want the Finder to handle those kinds of URLs.

I have tested these instructions on Firefox 3.6:

  1. In Firefox’s address bar, go to: 
    about:config
  2. If you have never been there before, it might warn you about editing these settings.
  3. Once you get past the warning and can see a table listing all of your browser settings, right-click anywhere in that table and choose: 
    New - Boolean
  4. For the name, specify: 
    network.protocol-handler.expose.nfs
  5. For the value, specify: 
    false

The next time you try to click one of those links, Firefox will prompt you for a program to handle it and then that program will launch the appropriate network drive.  At least on a Mac, you will need to choose:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

Additional information on protocol handling in Firefox can be found at:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Register_protocol

This entry was posted in firefox, mac and tagged , , , , .