# File Access on host from remote client

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/file-access-on-host-from-remote-client/741>\
**Category:** Archived Topics\
**Created:** [July 20, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/file-access-on-host-from-remote-client/741 "2008-07-20T16:00:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Travis.Cox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Travis.Cox](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Travis.Cox)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/file-access-on-host-from-remote-client/741/21 "2013-03-07T18:56:57Z")

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That is because you are binding the name property to the file path, you need to set the file path property.

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**Author:** ![gcampbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ab097/32.png) [@gcampbell](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/gcampbell)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/file-access-on-host-from-remote-client/741/22 "2017-10-11T17:31:38Z")

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> [@Carl.Gould](#):
>
> No, that doesn't make sense. In order to use windows filesharing, you'll have convince windows that you have permissions to the file. So either you configure the share on the host computer to let anyone read from it, or you log in first.
> 
> The other option is to use something other than windows filesharing. Conveniently, you already have a web server (FactoryPMI Gateway) installed. If you drop files under the C:\Program Files\Inductive Automation\FactoryPMI\tomcat\webapps\ROOT directory, they will be served up over http, and you can access them like this:
> 
> [your.ip.here:8080/yourfile.pdf](http://your.ip.here:8080/yourfile.pdf)

Carl,  
I tried this, I have the Root Directory in the File explorer set to C:\Program Files\Inductive Automation\Ignition\webserver\webapps\main of the server pc and I am having some interesting issues. If, I open the client from the server pc (using remote desktop) I can access all the files that I have saved to this directory. As shown here:

 ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/e/e47a4b0fadc83fb36e3c7510a6910723bed7621a.png) However, if I open the client from my pc I only see the following:  
 ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/2/222836f583b479630fdeaef6d55f02dd6c716aab.png)  
Furthermore, if I open this from any other pc in my plant when I access this screen, the files that show up in the file explorer window are of the client pc itself and not from the server pc.  
My pc and all the other client pc are on the same network yet they are not on the same network as the ignition server pc.  
I understand this is an old thread but, I am sort of stumped thanks.

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**Author:** ![Carl.Gould](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/carl.gould/32/7262_2.png) [@Carl.Gould](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Carl.Gould)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/file-access-on-host-from-remote-client/741/23 "2017-10-24T17:14:21Z")

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You’re mixing up “network” and “filesystem”

The file explorer explores the filesystem local to the client pc, and isn’t appropriate for what you’re trying to do.

Like that old thread mentioned, files you put in the \webserver\webapps\main folder will then be accessible over HTTP, so you’d access them using a URL like [http://myserver:8088/main/mypdf.pdf](http://myserver:8088/main/mypdf.pdf)

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