Is it possible to use FUSE with windows?

Question

(FUSE) Preferably without admin rights. An example would be sshfs, maybe via msys?

Answer 1

As far as I understand, Windows doesn't ship with anything that would let you define your own filesystem without adding some code to the kernel (i.e., a driver). So you would need admin rights.

The FUSE FAQ mention a few potential alternatives, but they all look like vaporware except for Dokan (which advertises sshfs support).

It looks like your best bet to use FUSE under Windows is to run Linux in a virtual machine or CoLinux.

Answer 2

There is something called Dokan, but it does not work too well; it supports SSHFS.

Answer 3

While not ideal, a way you could achieve "FUSE for Windows" could be by running a small Linux installation in a VM, with just FUSE and Samba installed, where Samba then exposes the mounted FUSE folders as shares.

Answer 4

Windows doesn't include support for userspace filesystems by default so you would need admin rights to install a Windows equivalent of FUSE like Dokan (such a driver needs to hook into the kernel after all).

Answer 5

I've seen links to this Windows library Callback File System that seems to be a commercial port of FUSE. I haven't tried it though. And it seems to be $2,500+ for commercial usage.