Setting Up FileFortress on Multiple Devices

Use FileFortress across all your computers

What You'll Learn
  • Requirements for multi-device setup
  • Setting up additional devices
  • Syncing your file index
  • Managing devices from the dashboard
  • Best practices for multi-device usage

Requirements

To use FileFortress on multiple devices, you need:

  • Custom password encryption - Machine-specific encryption won't work across devices
  • Same FileFortress account - Sign in with the same credentials
  • Same encryption password - All devices must use the same password
Important

If you set up FileFortress with automatic (machine-specific) encryption, you cannot use it on multiple devices. You'll need to reset your local installation and set up again with a custom password.

Setting Up a New Device

Step 1: Install FileFortress

Download and install FileFortress on your new device from the Downloads page.

Step 2: Initialize with Same Password

# Use the same password as your first device
filefortress --password YourSharedPassword setup

# Or with a key file
filefortress --key-file /path/to/shared/keyfile.key setup

Step 3: Authenticate

# Run setup to authenticate
filefortress setup

Step 4: Add Your Remotes

Add the same cloud storage remotes you use on your other devices. The file index is stored locally on each device, so you'll need to scan to build the index.

# Add Google Drive or OneDrive using your own OAuth credentials (recommended)
filefortress remotes add oauth

# Scan to build local index
filefortress remotes scan --all
Why use remotes add oauth?

The remotes add oauth command lets you connect Google Drive and OneDrive using your own Client ID and Secret. FileFortress never handles your access or refresh tokens — the entire authorization flow happens directly between your browser and the provider. This is especially important on shared or new devices where you want to be certain no credentials are stored on FileFortress servers.

Managing Devices

View and manage all your registered devices from the FileFortress dashboard:

  • View all devices - See device names, last active time
  • Revoke devices - Remove access from lost or old devices
  • Rename devices - Give devices friendly names
Pro Tip

Use a key file stored in a secure cloud location (like your password manager) to easily set up new devices without remembering the password.

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