Accessing files over http

[NiKiZe]

I would like to access files over http, this might be a premature question since I have yet to do proper research...

I have seen some references to httpfs, but not yet found anything in regards to this on windows.

I would like one of these:

• Mount a ISO over http, range requests being done as needed - (similar to how @ipxe does access with sanhook/sanboot over http)
• Mount some other fs from an image over http
• Mount some http index, guess that is closest to how httpfs does it - but again not done my research here yet.

I want this to work in WinPE - the use-case is to access sources directory of ISO or windows installation media, without having anything other than internet access (and blocked RPC ports)

If anyone have suggestions or ideas while I continue research that would be greatly apricated.

[billziss-gh]

WinFsp is low-level software that allows developers to create file systems. WinFsp is not a file system itself. (Think of it like this: WinFsp is a file system "maker", and not a file system.)

A file system could conceivably provide the functionality you are looking for and such a file system could be written on top of WinFsp. While there are many file systems that use HTTP, I am not aware of one that provides the exact functionality that you want.

[NiKiZe]

Thank you, got most of that.

Probably with https://github.com/billziss-gh/winspd or similar would be the better approach since we are talking about a "disk image" (?) - Note to self: test if it does ISO mount.

[billziss-gh]

WinSpd is also low-level software that allows developers to create "storage devices" (i.e. devices that look like "disk drives" to the operating system). So yes, this may be closer to what you need.

[NiKiZe]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this.. can WinSpd in its current form expose as optical device as well? For my usecase a disk device would probably expose fine, but just in case I would like to know how close it could get. (Just in case WinPE, or windows setup would start behaving badly for some reason)

[billziss-gh]

I am not sure what you mean by "optical device". If you are asking if it can present a device that looks like a CDROM/DVDROM/etc. I do not believe so (at least not without additional work).

[NiKiZe]

Yes optical device = cd/dvd, thanks for always taking the time to answer everyone's questions, very appreciated!