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Using Box Drive on macOS File Provider Extension (FPE) mode

Developer , Box Drive , Overview , Article , Product Utilization , Established

Box Drive has a completely new architecture on macOS with Apple File Provider Extensions (FPE). With this new architecture Box Drive provides more seamless and secure access on Intel and Apple silicon devices and no longer requires use of kernel extensions.

The Box Drive installer also now includes two configurations: kernel-based mode and FPE mode. 

 

Download the new version of Box Drive here.

 

Supported operating systems

  • macOS Big Sur (11.5 and above), and
  • macOS Monterey (12 and above)

Supported devices

  • Apple silicon and
  • Intel-based Mac devices

 

Enabling FPE mode

To switch from kernel-based mode to FPE mode, please follow the instructions below: 

  1. Run the following command in Terminal:

    defaults write com.box.desktop MacMode fpe (Important note: This command needs to be run as the current user, not as sudo)

  2. Restart Box Drive.

For admins:

If you're an enterprise admin and want to enable FPE mode for your enterprise's users via JAMF, see this JAMF article to learn how to push commands as current user and not as sudo.

 

Important differences between kernel-based and FPE modes

Please note the following major changes between kernel-based mode and FPE mode:

Added features

  • Mac Packages are now supported.

Unsupported features

  • Custom Mount Location on macOS 11.5 and 12 in FPE mode is no longer supported due to an architectural limitation in Apple File Provider Extensions.

  • Admins will no longer be able to customize the cache size for users.

Notable changes in user experience

  • Overlay icons are refreshed to align with other system icons.

  • The Box folder has a different mount location for FPE, compared to kernel-based Drive:

    • These are controlled by macOS, not Box Drive, and could change without notice

    • In FPE mode: ~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box

    • In kernel-based mode: ~/Box

  • Box is now available under "Locations" in Finder.

  • Items (files or folders) dragged and dropped from a user's local drive into Box are moved instead of copied.  Similarly, items dragged and dropped from the Box folder to user’s local drive are moved instead of copied and hence deleted from Box.

 

Known Limitations:

  • Existing Favorites, including the shortcut to the Box root folder, will not be carried forward from kernel-mode to FPE mode, so you'll need to manually re-add Box folders under "Favorites".
  • Mac Package files opened in iWork will not support real-time collaboration.  You can still edit package files in iWork, but cannot do it using real-time collaboration.  Non-package files opened in iWork will continue to support real-time collaboration.  
  • Box Drive's Custom Mount Location feature is no longer supported on Apple macOS devices configured using the FPE mode of Box Drive(v 2.23.193 or above).  Custom Mount Location continues to work if you're using the legacy kernel-based Box Drive configuration on macOS 11.x and 10.15.  For more details, see this article.

 

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