The shortcut on your local hard drive looks just like the shortcut on your local computer or device, but the files are physically stored on a different computer or device altogether.
Mapping allows you to open files as if they were stored on your own computer, while mounting allows you to open a file as if it were a folder.
If you’re using a mapped network drive, it’s important to keep in mind that it depends on a working network connection. If the connection is down, or if there are any problems with the network, you won’t be able to access your files in the mapped drive. ..
How To Map a Network Drive On Windows 10
In Windows 10, you can map a network drive using either File Explorer or the Command Prompt. ..
Using File Explorer to Map Network Drive Windows 10
In the Network & Internet settings, click on the Connection tab and select your network drive from the list. Click on the Properties button and enter your network name and password in the fields. Click on the OK button to finish setting up your network.
Change the advanced sharing options on your computer to make it easier to share files with others.
Turn on network discovery to get a better understanding of your network.
If you want to enable Network Discovery on your computer, follow these steps:
- Open the Control Panel.
- Click on Network and Internet.
- Under the Networking tab, click on the Properties button.
- On the General tab, under Enable network discovery, click on the checkbox next to it. ..
Open File Explorer by pressing the Windows logo key+E. Click This PC and go to the Computer tab. Alternatively, search for This PC with Cortana.
In the main window, check the letters for each drive you see and note them down so that you don’t create duplicate ones. Avoid using letters C, D and F as these are usually assigned to the local storage and removable media like USB drives and discs. This also ensures you don’t encounter complications down the line.Click the Map Network Drive button (helps you connect to a new remote resource on the network).
- In Windows 10, open File Explorer by clicking on the Start button (or pressing Windows+X) and typing “explorer.”
- In File Explorer, open your computer’s main drive (usually C:).
- On each drive that appears in File Explorer, make a list of its letters (for example, A, B, C).
- Note which letters are used for which drives in this list so that you don’t accidentally create duplicate drives or folders!
- To connect to a new remote resource on your network using Map Network Drive: a) Click the Map Network Drive button in File Explorer’s toolbar (it looks like a green plus sign). b) In the resulting window, click on any of your listed drives to select it. c) Type in a name for this new connection (for example “My Documents”), and then click Connect. ..
To browse the network drive, select Browse in the popup menu.
To access your network drives, click the Browse button.
In the Folder box, type the folder or computer path, or click Browse to find it.
Reconnect at sign-in to connect each time you log into your computer. It ensures the mapped drive is available to you every time, but if you don’t want this, uncheck the box.
To access the shared folder on your computer, open File Explorer and navigate to the location where the folder is stored. If you need to access the shared folder using credentials for a different account, tick Connect using different credentials. ..
To connect to the network, you’ll need to provide your username and password. Use a password that you can remember in case other colleagues or family members need to use it.
If you have a NAS device with a username and password, you may need to enter it to access the drive. ..
After you assign a drive letter to your new network drive, you can view and open files from the shared folders on the drive. ..
The computer I’m trying to connect to is not working.
You can open the network drive in File Explorer and drag files such as documents, media or others to it. You can also copy/cut and paste as you would with other files and folders.
When you’re finished using the mapped drive, just right-click on it and select Disconnect. ..
Using Command Prompt to Map a Network Drive Windows 10
Net use can be used to access mapped drives in Windows by using the net use command. This can be useful if you want to work with a mapped drive in a more advanced way than just using the Windows Explorer or the File menu.
To open the Command Prompt, type “cmd” in the Start menu search bar and click on the Command Prompt icon that appears. ..
In the Command Prompt window, type net use DRIVE: \tower\entertainment and press Enter.
net use g: \tower\entertainment /user:OTT bringthatbeatback -password
When you restart your computer, the mapped drive may disappear, as they’re not persistent by default. If you want to make sure they stick around, you can add the /persistent switch. To create a persistent connection, type /persistent:Yes so future connections made using this command will be persistent until you turn it off using the /persistent:No toggle. ..
To delete the mapped network drive in command prompt, specify the drive letter and add/delete switch as follows: To delete the mapped network drive in command prompt, use the following syntax: net use DRIVE: /delete. For example, to delete the mapped network drive on computer “G”, you would type the following command: net use G: /delete ..
How To Map a Network Drive On Windows 7, 8 & XP
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7 as of January 2020, but you can upgrade to Windows 10 so you can get regular security updates and tech support. If you want to keep your computer running on the same platform as before, you can still upgrade to Windows 7 or 10.
Computer and then select Map network drive.
To map a network drive in Windows XP:
- Open Windows Explorer.
- In the Folder field, enter the UNC path to the network drive you want to map.
- Click Finish. ..
In this guide, we’ve covered how to map your network drive using the steps we’ve covered. Let us know in a comment below if you were able to map your drive using our instructions.
