Mount Nextcloud via WebDav to an Ubuntu Linux leaves mounted dirs invisible

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The Basics

  • Nextcloud Server version (e.g., 29.x.x):
    • 32.0.6
  • Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04):
    • Ubuntu Server
  • Web server and version (e.g, Apache 2.4.25):
    • 2.32-rc4
  • Reverse proxy and version _(e.g. nginx 1.27.2)
    • none
  • PHP version (e.g, 8.3):
    • replace me
  • Is this the first time you’ve seen this error? (Yes / No):
    • I am new to Nextcloud. So "Yes"!
  • When did this problem seem to first start?
    • replace me
  • Installation method (e.g. AlO, NCP, Bare Metal/Archive, etc.)
    • replace me
  • Are you using CloudfIare, mod_security, or similar? (Yes / No)
    • No

Summary of the issue you are facing:

updated /etc/fstab and davfs2/secrets as described in Accessing Nextcloud files using WebDAV — Nextcloud latest User Manual latest documentation .

Did the mount to “mnt/nextcloud” and it seems to work. But when changing there, even the “ls -la” does not work. It returns “ls: reading directory ‘.’: Invalid argument

I can switch (e.g.) “cd IOBroker” to a known directory and the new pwd is then “mnt/nextcloud/IOBroker” as is expected. And when trying to switch to an undefined directory, the switch fails with an appropriate message.

I even can edit a know file “nano test.txt” works and shows the known content.

But “ls”, as said, does not work. No file, no directory is seen.

/etc/fstab:

http://gombers-smarthome/remote.php/dav/files/iobroker`` /mnt/nextcloud/ davfs user,rw.auto 0 0

Steps to replicate it (hint: details matter!):

Log entries

Nextcloud

Please provide the log entries from your Nextcloud log that are generated during the time of problem (via the Copy raw option from Administration settings->Logging screen or from your nextcloud.log located in your data directory). Feel free to use a pastebin/gist service if necessary.

PASTE HERE

Web Browser

If the problem is related to the Web interface, open your browser inspector Console and Network tabs while refreshing (reloading) and reproducing the problem. Provide any relevant output/errors here that appear.

PASTE

Web server / Reverse Proxy

The output of your Apache/nginx/system log in /var/log/____:

PASTE HERE

Configuration

Nextcloud

The output of occ config:list system or similar is best, but, if not possible, the contents of your config.php file from /path/to/nextcloud is fine (make sure to remove any identifiable information!):

PASTE HERE

Apps

The output of occ app:list (if possible).

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Well you did not as described in above link. There is always https:// used, but you use http:// in your /etc/fstab. So use https://

Oh an i just noticed your

also looks wrong in general. What looks wrong? The yellow marked:
http://gombers-smarthome/remote.php/dav/files/iobroker`` /mnt/nextcloud/ davfs user,rw.auto 0 0
is wrong.

Hey @JunkerJoerg welcome to the nextcloud community :waving_hand:

there are several ways to mount Nextcloud WebDAV into your Ubuntu Desktop…

recommended methods

  • in Ubuntu online-accounts add your nextcloud account → HTTPS is required! enables WebDAV mount on the fly

  • your method, mount davfs via fstab → HTTPS is required, enables WebDAV mount at boot

  • third party app, use rclone to mount WebDav, HTTPS required, on the fly or scripted: rclone mount "$SOURCE" "$TARGET"

generally most modern apps and OS-integrations will require the source (nextcloud instance) to have a valid SSL certificate. self-signed certificates not recommended!

see

I’m not sure, how the apostophes came into the post - they are part of the fstab-entry.

NextCloud says: http. I’m starting with NextCloud and until now, I will only use it within my private network. I therefore do not need TLS-encryption.

you personally might think you don’t need a valid certificate, but Nextcloud needs it and most modern apps and operating systems will not connect to unencrypted, insecure services!

I thought, I might need TLS. But the description does not tell, that it is required. There are several text-blocks saying “If encrypted do this or that”.

In the /etc/fstab file you showed us, you’re using a period instead of a comma between “rw” and “auto”. However, the separator between options in /etc/fstab is a comma, not a period.