How to encrypt folders of a share from a NAS using Cryptomator? - Best practice

Hello all,

I am new to the forum and hope for your help.

I use a Synology NAS that I only access locally, i.e. in the home network, with two computers

Synology’s hardware encryption is too complicated for me (I’m a beginner).

For this reason, I would like to encrypt some folders (with the files inside) of a share using Cryptomator.

Can someone please explain to me how best to do this in practice?

I have already searched the internet and some forums …

but unfortunately I didn’t find anything that would suit me or I didn’t understand it.

Thank you very much!

(Answers also welcome in German).

Newbie picco

Hi Picco,
I am using Cryptomator features with QNAP NAS. At this point the concept does not change, the brand should have little influence. Once you have enabled the services on the NAS to be able to access via Windows or MacOS, you should see a local folder in your pc.
Open your Cryptomator application and select/choose the path of your NAS folder. At this point, is so easy because you need to create a strong password and thats it.

If you do NOT see the NAS folder it is because initially cryptomator may have problems detecting an existing “network” folder. No problem.

Log out and access the NAS directly from the Cryptomator application.

Hello 7k518xmp,
thank you very much for your very quick reply.
So far I understand … but let me ask some further questions please:

If I want to access the encrypted container at the NAS later:

  1. Do I have to mount the share (of the NAS) first or is it possible to directly mount the container instead?
  2. In case I want to access the container with the iOS/ipadOS app, the only way seems to be using WebDAV … so I think I have to activate the WebDAV Server on my NAS, too. - right?

(I am working with macOS and iOS/ipadOS)

Thank you :slight_smile:
picco

Hi Picco,

I didn’t use WebDAV in my life, but I will try to support you as much as possible with my knowledge. Consider that I’m an Apple user too (iPhone and MacOS).
If it will be necessary, I could try to test with my NAS.

Do I have to mount the share (of the NAS) first or is it possible to directly mount the container instead?
First of all you should decide where you need to access your data, for example if you would like to access from outside your network, you need a VPN server. (Or limit the access to your data only inside your network)

Decided what I described above, you can choose to expose a shared folder (NFS = Windows ; AFP/SMB = MacOS) or expose Cryptomator folder/container with WebDAV (I don’t know how this should be implement, but maybe I can try to do).

In case I want to access the container with the iOS/ipadOS app, the only way seems to be using WebDAV … so I think I have to activate the WebDAV Server on my NAS, too. - right?

If you have the possibility to enable WebDAV Server and expose your Cryptomator folder/container, yes you could try to do.
Another possibility is that the Synology application could create a (shared) folder between the local device (iPhone or iPad) and the NAS itself. In this case, by entering the local path (after accessing the NAS from the application), you may be able to access the Cryptomator folder/container.

Please consider seriously the VPN server, because it could be dangerous to expose NAS and (WebDAV) server on the internet…

I hope I was helpful, for further support you can continue with the threat of this topic. It will be a pleasure to help you.

Hello again 7k518xmp,

I’m afraid I’ve caused some confusion.

All access to the NAS only takes place in the local network, no access from the outside (Internet) is configured or planned.

Regarding the first question “Do I have to mount the share (of the NAS) first or is it possible to directly mount the container instead?” :

I have tried the following, which seems to work:

I mount the share using the Finder.

Go to > Connect to Server > smb://name_of_my_synology/name_of_the_share

then I open Cryptomator and open the desired vault.
The vault has the path: /Volumes/name_of_the_share/name_of_the_cryptomator_container

… this seems to work, but I am not sure if this is the right way. - What do you think?

My question now was whether, instead of mounting the share via the Finder, I can simply mount the cryptomator_container created in it directly with:
Finder > Go to > Connect to Server > smb://name_of_my_synology/name_of_the_share/name_of_the_cryptomator_container
…and then open it in the next step with the Cryptomator application


Regarding my second question::

You wrote "

Do you think the WebDAV server has any advantages/disadvantages compared to your second suggestion? (once again: everything should only take place in the local network, without access from outside/from the internet)

…hmmmhhh … but how can I access the (shared) folder with the application on my mobile device?
I think the only way is WebDAV?

Or is there any other way?

Many thanks in advance!
picco

You can actually also use SMB.

  1. Go to the Files app.
  2. Select “Connect to Server” at the top right under the circular “…” button.
  3. Enter your SMB credentials.
  4. Go to Cryptomator.
  5. Use “Other File Provider” and select the SMB connection you’ve just added.

Eureka :exclamation:
That’s it! :slight_smile:

Thank you tobihagemann

Perfect! Happy to have helped you! :smiley:

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Thank you 7k518xmp :slight_smile:

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