This article describes the installation and configuration of Gladinet Cloud Desktop -a free application to mount online storage locally- which makes it easily possible to exchange different files.

Introduction: Microsoft Live Mesh vs. Microsoft SkyDrive

One of the best (and free) applications I have used lately to synchronize information between multiple platforms and machines is Microsoft Live Mesh, and although still in technical beta a killer application. Clinton Fitch -Microsoft Windows Mobile MVP- has written an excellent review of Microsoft Live Mesh on the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com website. On the Microsoft Live Mesh website you can read:

“When you sign up for Live Mesh, you automatically get your own personal Live Desktop—your Windows PC on the web—complete with 5 GB of free storage.”

Microsoft offers another online service, Windows Live SkyDrive, which is linked to your Windows Live Account.

“Store, access, and share your files with friends or co-workers, from anywhere online. Free 25 GB online storage means you can easily get to your stuff with just a few quick clicks.”

As you can see there is a great difference in storage space between the two services, but remark that with Windows Live SkyDrive you can also share publically. However my biggest problem with Windows Live SkyDrive was that I hadn’t such a great integration with my Windows Vista powered notebook, like it is the case with the Microsoft Live Mesh client.

I started to search for such a solution in order to be able to quickly exchange files between my notebook and the cloud. Prof Julie from pocketprimer.com advised me from her own experience a perfect and free solution: Gladinet Cloud Desktop. And this is where the journey starts.

What is Gladinet Cloud Desktop ?

“Gladinet Cloud Desktop mounts cloud storage as local folders* and integrates online applications with the local desktop. It is a personal cloud agent, an open online backup platform, and a desktop delivery agent for cloud service providers.”

A great elevator pitch on the Gladinet website, but in simple words it’s a Windows Vista client, which let you easily access the documents in the cloud without the need to connect via Internet Explorer. You can use this personal cloud agent with a wide variety of online storages, and use it for different usage scenario’s as well.

Installation Gladinet Cloud Desktop v1.1

The first steps after double clicking on the installer are accepting the license agreement and chosing a proper location for the installation, which aren’t very spectacular. I will pick-up the installtion and configuration process in the last step, where you close the installation andfirst launch Gladinet Cloud Desktop, as shown in the screenshot below.

Gladinet Cloud Desktop is offered in three different versions, namely starter edition, professional edition and premium edition. The professional edition offers more advanced features (like scheduling etc.) for simple mounting and integrating online storage with your local Windows notebook the free starter edition is sufficient. This is the version I select during the first run of Gladinet Cloud Desktop, as shown in the screenshot below.

The screenshot below shos the next step in the process, namely “selecting a driveletter” which the cloud storage will be mounted into. In this case the content of the Microsoft Skydrive, will be mounted to drive Z: in the Windows Explorer of my Windows Vista powered Lenovo X60 tablet.

“Select directory to store cache for cloud storage” is the next step in the configuration process. The screenshot shows the standard cache location, and I didn’tsee the need to edit this location. I simply followed the “next”-button to continue with the next step.

The screenshot below shows a very important step in the configuration process of Gladinet Cloud Desktop:  “Enable Profile Encryption” I think it is always good to put some extra security measures to protect unwanted access to the information stored in the cloud. Therefore I checked the option to Encrypte the Profile, and remark this can be very very help when you work on a shared workstation having multiple user profiles on it. Ity just gives that little extra security !

The final part of the basic configuration is to “Enable Auto Update of Storage Plug-ins“. It shows that the developers of Gladinet Cloud Desktop are actively working on the further development of the software and improve the interaction with the different cloud storages. In the period that I tested this software, the plug-in of Google Docs was in an experimental stage and got updated a few times. I would advise to check the enable-auto-update box.

The basic configuration process is completed by clicking on the “finish” button, as shown in the screenshot above. The next section of this article will provide a step by step overview of the configuration to connect Gladinet Cloud Desktop with Microsoft SkyDrive.

Mounting Microsoft Skydrive using Gladinet Cloud Desktop

I start Gladinet Cloud Desktop by double clicking on the shortcut of the Windows 7 desktop. Since I enabled the option to encrypted the profile in the basic configuration (a few steps back), I enter my password in the Gladinet Cloud Desktop Login Window. After that you profile is loaded, and Gladinet Cloud Desktop is starting.

By default a pop-up window is shown to let you easily select one of the four most used options:

1. Explore my Gladinet Drive;
2. Mount Disk Storage or Web Storage as Virtual Directory;
3. Let us know you comments;
4. Walk through features (10 minute video);

Luckily there is a check-box to turn this pop-up window off, but at the first you it might be useful to watch the video since it is a nice introduction and summarizes a lot of functionality of Gladinet Cloud Desktop.

Furthermore you can see that there is a Gladinet Cloud Desktop tray icon (bottom right), and by clicking on this icon an action menu is opened. Remark the “My Gladinet Drive (Z:), with the previous configured drive letter. Later on in this article I will have a more detailed look at the action menu. I would advice to choose option 2 from the pop-up window: “Mount Disk Storage as Virtual Directory” The screenshot below provides a nice overview.

After I selected the option “Mount Disk Storage as Virtual Directory”, a three-step process will guide me through the configuration of mounting an online storage in the cloud. The first step has a general character, and from a drop down list you can select a wide range of online storages: EMC Atmos, Box.net, Google Picasa, Google Docs, Windows Live SkyDrive, Amazon S3, WebDav Server or even your own FTP Server! In this article I selected Windows Live SkyDrive, and in my testing period also Google Docs was used without any problems.

After choosing the online storage in the first step, the screenshot below shows the second step: “Entering you creditials and login information“. In the case of Windows Live SkyDrive I need to enter the Windows Live ID and password.

The final and third step in the configuration process is accepting the downloaded plug-in for Windows Live SkyDrive and by clicking on the “yes” button you agree with the according EULAs. Furthermore the plug-in filename (WOSSPSkyDrive.dll) is shown, as well as the plug-in’s version number.

Finally you see the checkbox “Open virtual directory when finished”, which simply does what the message tells.

Microsoft Skydrive ready for use; integrated with Windows Explorer

In one of the previous sections above I explained that Gladinet Cloud Desktop loads a tray icon, in the bottom right of the taskbar. By clicking on the tray icon you can easily open a action menu which is shown in the screenshot below.

The most important item in the action menu is “My virtual directories“, which opens a sub-menu with at the top the just configured and mounted “Windows Live SkyDrive”. The second option is called “Mount storage as virtual directory”, which is in fact a shortcut to the three-step configuration process of connecting with an online storage.  The third option is the “virtual directory manager”, which opens a window in which a clear overview is shown of the online storage which are configured. If you have more than one configured you can easily dismount and mount different online storages, and edit the name of the online storages.

Furthermore you see the action menu item “My applications“, where you can easilyconfigure and enable / disable cloud applications. It includes the whole Google package: Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, Google Picasa, Google Mail. Also configuration of the default imageviewer and the default flashviewer are included. The configured applications are used to open and edit the files in your virtual directories, and when nothing is configured the Windows default applications on your notebook are used.

Another importante action menu item is “My Safe Cards“, where the login information of your various cloud storages are saved. This reminds me of applications like SPB Wallet (“SPB Wallet 2.0 for iPhone and desktop review“) , SBSH Safewallet (“SBSH SafeWallet and PC Companion for iPhone review“)and Iliumsoft eWallet, while a question about how secure are these safe cards stored pops up. I guess that this information is stored in your encrypted profile, since in the applications mentioned above, these are critical design parameter and you need to proof the security algoritms.

The other options are aimed at the other versions of Gladinet Cloud Desktop, and form part of the 30-day trial of the Professional version.  The final two screenshots are aimed to show how well the Gladinet Cloud Desktop integrates the virtual directory into the Windows shell. At first you see the opened Windows Live SkyDrive folder, with the familiar sub-drectory structure ! Remark also the the text in the location and search bar.

And finally you can see that Windows Live SkyDrive is simply shown in the “My Computer” overview as a Network Location. You can use this directory as you are used to do under Microsoft Windows.

Concluding thoughts

Gladinet Cloud Desktop is a great application, which makes it easy to exchange files between your local Windows powered computer and the web. You can work as easily in the cloud as you are used to work on your local hard drive, with Gladinet Cloud Desktop being the enabler of this feeling. Remark that I used the free Starter Edition, and it worked well with Windows 7 RC build 7100.

Furthermore the configuration and management of different storages in the cloud very easy due to the step-by-step wizards. In addition Gladinet has summarized a lot of information in whitepapers avaiable from the wiki-section of the Gladinet website.

I recently have written an article about:  “Mobile Net Switch – The Network Connection Manager“, which I consider to be a must have for Windows powered computers. With the growing importance of cloud computing, I think Gladinet is also one of these must have programs on you desktop, notebook and netbook. I truly believe that Gladinet Cloud Desktop has the ability to increase your efficiency, so you might even consider to purchase  one of the more advanced version from the Gladinet online shop.

Finally special thanks to Prof Julie from pocketprimer.com for advising me from her own experience this perfect and free solution: Gladinet Cloud Desktop.