What the agent may reach
The list of shared folders — rootPaths in the settings file — is the whole of Filemote's
access to your machine. It is not a suggestion or a default view: a path outside every entry
in that list does not exist as far as the agent is concerned, for you, for a share link, and
for the AI.
Adding folders
In the configurator, Add… picks a folder and Common folders adds Documents, Desktop, Downloads and Pictures in one click. Each entry is a separate root; there can be as many as you like, and they need not be related to each other.
With more than one root, the file manager opens on a list of them rather than on a single tree — the "All devices" style view, one level down.
The agent refuses to start with an empty list. That is deliberate: an agent with no roots would be a running service with no purpose, and the failure would be silent.
How the boundary is enforced
Every request is turned into an absolute path first, and only then compared to the roots.
Normalising first is what makes traversal pointless: Documents\..\..\Windows becomes
C:\Windows before the check happens, and C:\Windows is not inside C:\Users\you\Documents,
so the request is refused.
The comparison is case-insensitive, which matches how Windows treats paths, and a root matches itself as well as everything under it.
Sharing a whole drive
A bare drive letter works: D: shares the whole of drive D.
There is a wrinkle worth knowing, because it used to bite: on Windows, D: on its own means
"the current directory on drive D", not "the root of D". Filemote normalises D: to D:\
before using it, so a root of D: is the drive — but if you type a drive letter somewhere
else and get the install folder instead, that is why.
Choosing roots well
- Share the narrowest folder that does the job. A root of
C:\puts your entire system behind one password. - Remember what is inside. Documents folders often contain saved credentials, tax documents and private keys.
- Roots are followed as the user the agent runs as. A folder your account cannot read is not reachable through Filemote either — and on Linux the service unit runs as your user rather than root, so the same applies there.
- Symlinks and junctions are refused, not followed. A link inside a root — and any link
on the way to a file — is rejected with
is a symbolic link or junction point, so a link pointing outside cannot widen access. If a path you expected to work is denied, a reparse point somewhere along it is the usual reason.
Changing the list later
Edit it in the configurator or in app_settings.json — see
configure the agent by hand — then restart the agent.
The list is read when the agent starts.
Removing a root does not delete anything. It only stops that folder being reachable, which is also the fastest way to take something out of circulation without touching the files.
Where this shows up elsewhere
- The file manager shows exactly these roots, and nothing else.
- Share links can only point inside them, so a link cannot be made for a file you have not shared with your own agent.
- The AI file agent, when enabled, obeys the same list — see using AI chat.
One list, one boundary, enforced in one place. If something is reachable that should not be, the answer is always in this list.
Updated 2026-08-06