Rclone Mount on Apple Silicon

Create a Rclone Mount on Apple Silicon (M1 Chips)

These steps may work on Intel based machines but are untested and M1 Chips require extra steps due to the unique architecture.

Install Homebrew

Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple (or your Linux system) didn’t. If your familiar with Linux you will find a few normal functions are missing or work differently on MacOS “brew” helps bridge this gap.

You can find out more here: https://brew.sh/

Execute the below command and follow the prompts to install brew.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)

Install MacFuse and Sudo

Execute the following command.

brew install macfusebrew install sudo

Installing Rclone is easy, but once again Apple will have you jump a few hoops to do so. First, you must switch to a root user to allow for Rclone to install. For some reason, running the command directly as your user even with sudo installed will fail due to permissions.

To switch to root, execute the following command.

sudo su

Then enter your Mac password.
You will find your prompt has changed on the left and removed your username
You can now install Rclone with the following command.

curl <https://rclone.org/install.sh> | sudo bash

Once Rclone has been successfully installed, you can exit the root user by typing exit then pressing ENTER.
Now that you are back to your regular user, you need to create a mount folder.
Execute the below command, while replacing <username> with your Mac username.

mkdir /Users/<username>/Documents/Rclone

Create a Rclone Remote to Connect to your Ultra service

The first step is to invoke the rclone config menu by executing the below command.

rclone config

This will present a list of options:

e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q\>

Field	Value
Host	Your Ultra Address (servername.usbx.me) or IP (185.123.123.123)
User	Your Ultra Username
Port	Port 21 is standard. You can press Enter
FTP password	Press Y, then enter your FTP Password. You will be asked for this twice.
Use FTPS over TLS (Implicit)	False
Use FTP over TLS (Explicit)	True
Edit advanced config? (y/n)	Press Y
Maximum number of FTP simultaneous connections, 0 for unlimited	Press enter
no_check_certificate	True
Disable using EPSV even if server advertises support	Press Enter
Enter a encoder.MultiEncoder value. Press Enter for the default ("Slash,Del,Ctl,RightSpace,Dot").	Press Enter
y) Yes this is OK (default)	Press Y to complete the rclone configuration

Configure Mac Permissions for FUSE

Upon your first attempt to mount your new Rclone remote, you will be greeted by a rather angry looking denied message as well as pop up explaining that you need to change your security settings in order to allow macfuse to run.

To change the security setting on your MacBook with the M1 chip, you need to go into macOS Recovery mode:

Turn on your MacBook holding the power button. Click "Security Policy..." on Startup Security Utility". If you do not see the Startup disk, follow the steps below.
Click "Continue of Options" and "Select a user you know the password for : " will appear. Select your account and click Next. Then enter your password. Select "Utilities" on the top left and select "Startup Security Utility". Click "Unlock", enter your password and click "Security Policy...".
On the screen below, choose "Reduced Security", check "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers" and click "OK".
Reboot and visit System Preferences > Security and Privacy > General. Click the lock icon at the bottom, enter your password and click Allow in front of the message that says System Extension by Benjamin Fleischer was blocked.

Test the Rclone Mount

Install screen using brew as it will allow you to keep the mount running without leaving a command window open.

brew install screen

Next, create a screen session. In this example, we will name it mounttest.

screen -S mounttest

Next, execute the below command to mount your Rclone remote.

Make sure to replace remotename with the name you have configured for your Rclone remote.
Make sure to replace <username> with your Mac username.

rclone mount remotename: /Users/<username>/Documents/Rclone

To confirm if successful, you can list the directories present in your remote with the following command.

rclone lsd remotename:

To exit the screen session, press Command + A then D to detach.
The Rclone remote will continue to be mounted in the background.
Now you can navigate to your Documents folder and you should see your Rclone mount.

If you require further assistance, you can open a support ticket here!

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Rclone Mount on Apple Silicon
Create a Rclone Mount on Apple Silicon (M1 Chips)
Install Homebrew
Install MacFuse and Sudo
Create a Rclone Remote to Connect to your Ultra service
Configure Mac Permissions for FUSE
Test the Rclone Mount