Guide · OpenMediaVault
How to access your OpenMediaVault NAS from anywhere
Install one plugin, pick an address, and your OpenMediaVault opens as a drive on your computer — from any network on earth. No port forwarding, no VPN to configure, no cloud account. Here's the whole thing, with real screenshots at every step.
60-second walkthrough: OpenMediaVault → your address → a drive on your PC.
What you'll need
- An OpenMediaVault NAS (v6 or v7) with internet access
- Your OMV admin login (and one NAS user for file access)
- A Windows or macOS computer for the app
- About 5 minutes
Add the RocketZero software source
Before the plugin can show up in OpenMediaVault, you register its software source — once. Open the OMV shell (or SSH in) and run this single command:
curl -fsSL https://pkg.roze.to/omv/add-repo.sh | sudo sh
It adds RocketZero's signed APT repository and refreshes the plugin list. That's the only command line in this whole guide.
Install it from System → Plugins
Now open the OMV web interface and go to System → Plugins. openmediavault-rocketzero now appears in the list — select its row and click the Install (download) button in the toolbar, then confirm. It downloads and installs like any built-in plugin, and future updates show up in the same place. Prefer not to touch a shell at all? You can also download the .deb and install it by hand.
Pick your address and Activate
In the OMV menu open Services → RocketZero. Type a short RocketZero ID — lowercase letters, digits and hyphens — and click Activate. That becomes your NAS's permanent address: https://<your-id>.roze.to, with HTTPS built in. Within a few seconds the page shows ● Connected, your address, and which services are reachable — all over an encrypted tunnel, nothing exposed to the internet.
Open your NAS from a browser — anywhere
That's it for the NAS side. From any computer or phone in the world, open https://<your-id>.roze.to and you land on your OpenMediaVault's own login page — the real one, served straight from your NAS over the tunnel. No router settings, no VPN client, no public IP. Sign in with your OMV account as usual.
Get the RocketZero app for your computer
A browser is handy, but the real magic is opening your NAS as a drive. Head to roze.to/download and grab the Windows app (there's a macOS build too). Run the installer and click through — Welcome → Install → Finish. It sets up everything needed to mount network drives for you.
Connect the app to your OpenMediaVault
Open the app and enter your RocketZero ID — the same one you activated on the NAS. It finds your OpenMediaVault and shows it as Online. Then sign in with a NAS account (an OpenMediaVault user allowed to access your shares). Tick Stay signed in so your drives come back automatically every time you start Windows.
Map your NAS as a drive
Once connected, the app lists your shared folders. Pick one from Map another folder…, choose a drive letter, and click Map. Your NAS folder is now a drive on your PC.
Open your files like a local disk
File Explorer opens straight to your new drive. Documents, photos, projects — everything on your OpenMediaVault, open, edit and save exactly like a local disk, from wherever you are. Behind the scenes it's a real SMB connection running over an encrypted, direct peer-to-peer link (falling back to an encrypted relay only when the network blocks it).
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to open ports on my router for this?
No. RocketZero makes an outbound connection from your OpenMediaVault to a coordination server, so your router's firewall stays completely shut. That also means it works behind CGNAT, where port forwarding is impossible anyway.
Does RocketZero work on any OpenMediaVault version?
It's a standard Debian package for OpenMediaVault 6 and 7, on both Intel/AMD and ARM boards. It installs from System → Plugins like any other plugin and updates the same way.
Is my NAS exposed to the internet?
No. There's no public login page and no forwarded port. Your address <id>.roze.to only answers over RocketZero's encrypted tunnel, and the file connection is a direct, end-to-end encrypted link between your computer and your NAS.
Can I change my address later?
Yes. Reopen Services → RocketZero, enter a new RocketZero ID and Activate again. The old address stops working and the app on your computers will need the new one — so only change it if you need to.
The app says my drive folder is empty or unreachable — what's wrong?
That usually means SMB file sharing isn't on yet. On the RocketZero page, File sharing (SMB) should show On. If it doesn't, turn on the SMB/CIFS service and add a writable share — see our OMV SMB guide.
Open your OpenMediaVault from anywhere
Two installs, one address, and your NAS is a drive on every computer you own.
Get RocketZeroWalkthrough music: “Deliberate Thought” by Kevin MacLeod — licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.