FTP client for Windows, as a drive letter.
FileZilla and WinSCP put the server in a transfer window. ExpanDrive gives it a drive letter, where Explorer and every Windows app open the files directly. ExpanDrive mounts any FTP or FTPS server as a drive on Windows 10 and 11: plain FTP, FTPS-explicit, and FTPS-implicit, active or passive mode, streamed on demand. Free for personal use, installed from a signed MSI.
The FTP client that is a drive, not a window.
A drive letter per server.
Each FTP connection gets the letter you choose and shows up in This PC like any other drive. Open it, search it, pin folders to Quick Access, drag files onto it. Nothing to sync first.
Every Windows app opens the server directly.
Excel, Photoshop, Visual Studio, PowerShell, a build script: each one reads and writes files on the server as local storage. No download, edit, re-upload cycle, and no stray copy in Downloads.
Plain FTP and FTPS, both modes.
Plain FTP for the legacy endpoint with no TLS, FTPS-explicit for everything modern, FTPS-implicit for the banking and government servers that still mandate it. Explorer's own ftp:// support speaks none of the encrypted modes.
Streams on demand.
Only the files you open transfer, and they are cached locally so the second open is fast. A large server mounts in seconds; nothing downloads until you ask for it.
Built for a Windows fleet, not just a desktop.
The parts that matter once the FTP mount has to exist on more than one machine.
Signed MSI with silent install.
Push it through Group Policy, Intune, or SCCM with the msiexec flags you already use. Connections can be pre-configured and locked from the Web Management Console so users get the drive without the setup.
Active and passive modes.
Passive by default, which is what NAT and most firewalls want. Active mode is a toggle in the connection setup for the legacy servers that require it.
Credentials in the Windows credential vault.
Passwords live in the Windows credential store, never on disk in plaintext, and never in a site-manager XML file that ends up in a backup.
Where the usual Windows FTP options stop short.
Good tools, all of them. The gap is the same in each: a transfer window is not a drive.
- FileZilla and WinSCP are transfer windows.Free and capable, and every file still downloads before an app can open it and uploads after you save. WinSCP's scripting is excellent for automated transfers; neither one gives Explorer a drive.
- Explorer's ftp:// is plain FTP only. Add a network location with an ftp:// address and you get a basic browse-and-copy view with no FTPS, no caching, and a habit of forgetting the connection.
- ftp.exe is a 1990s command line. Still in Windows, still without TLS, still without passive mode by default.
The same Windows app mounts the destinations FTP teams move to.
One install covers the protocol you have today and the ones you are moving toward.
SFTP
Mount any SFTP or SSH server as a local drive on Mac or Windows - browse and edit remote files without syncing.
WebDAV
Connect to any WebDAV server directly from your desktop - mapped as a network drive with full file access on Mac, Windows, or Linux.
Amazon S3
Connect to Amazon S3 or any S3-compatible storage as a network drive — multi-threaded transfers and full bucket browsing on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Questions about FTP on Windows.
Free clients, Explorer, security modes, deployment, and where the server side comes from.
Need a File Orchestration Platform, not just a drive?
The cloud connectors mounting your drive on macOS, Windows, and Linux are the same ones that run on Files.com's high-performance cloud File Orchestration Platform — used by 4,000+ businesses including Equifax, Rag & Bone, Cognizant, and Michelin. If you need automations, audit logs, SFTP / AS2 servers, or compliance reporting on top of your file estate, that lives there.
Try it free.
Mount everything.
Free for personal use. Runs on every Mac, PC, and Linux box built in the last decade.