Navigating a computer’s shared folders is
straightforward, and is no different from navigating the folders on your
own computer. However, you might find that you need to access a
particular folder on a shared resource quite often. That’s not a problem
if the folder is shared directly. However, the folder you want might be buried several layers down. For example, you may need to open the Paul folder, then the Databases folder, then Access, and so on. That’s a lot of double-clicking. You could use the network address, instead, but even that could get long and unwieldy. (And, with Murphy’s law still in force, the longer the address, the greater the chance of a typo slipping in.)
You can avoid the hassle of navigating innumerable network folders and typing lengthy network addresses by mapping
the network folder to your own computer. Mapping means that Windows
assigns a drive letter to the network folder, such as G: or Z:. The
advantage here is that now the network folder shows up as just another
disk drive on your machine, enabling you to access the resource quickly
by selecting Start, Computer.
Note
You might also find that
mapping a network folder to a local drive letter helps with some older
programs that aren’t meant to operate over a network connection. For
example, I have a screen-capture program that I need to use from time to
time. If I capture a screen on another computer and then try to save
the image over the network to my own computer, the program throws up an
error message telling me that the destination drive is out of disk space
(despite having, in fact, hundreds of gigabytes of free space on the
drive). I solve this problem by mapping the folder on my computer to a
drive letter on the other computer, which fools the program into
thinking it’s dealing with a local drive instead of a network folder.
Creating the Mapped Network Folder
To map a network folder to a local drive letter, follow these steps:
1. | Select
Start, right-click Computer, and then click Map Network Drive. (In any
folder window, you can also click Map Network Drive in the toolbar.)
Windows 7 displays the Map Network Drive dialog box.
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2. | The
Drive drop-down list displays the last available drive letter on your
system, but you can pull down the list and select any available letter.
Caution
If you use a
removable drive, such as a memory card or Flash drive, Windows 7 assigns
the first available drive letter to that drive. This can cause problems
if you have a mapped network drive that uses a lower drive letter.
Therefore, it’s good practice to use higher drive letters (such as X, Y, and Z) for your mapped resources.
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3. | Use the Folder text box to type the network address of the folder, as shown in Figure 1. (Alternatively, click Browse, select the shared folder in the Browse for Folder dialog box, and then click OK.)
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4. | If
you want Windows 7 to map the network folder to this drive letter each
time you log on to the system, leave the Reconnect at Logon check box
activated.
Tip
By default, Windows 7
connects you to the network folder using your current username and
password. If the network folder requires a different username and
password, click the Different User Name link to open the Connect As
dialog box. Type the account data in the User Name and Password text
boxes, and then click OK.
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5. | Click Finish. Windows 7 adds the new drive letter to your system and opens the new drive in a folder window.
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To open the mapped
network folder later, select Start, Computer, and then double-click the
drive in the Network Location group (see Figure 2).
Mapping Folders at the Command Line
You can also map a network folder to a local drive letter by using a Command Prompt session and the NET USE
command. Although you probably won’t use this method very often, it’s
handy to know how it works, just in case. Here’s the basic syntax:
NET USE [drive] [share] [password] [/USER:user] [/PERSISTENT:[YES | NO]] | /DELETE]
| drive | The drive letter (following by a colon) of the local drive to which you want the network folder mapped. |
| share | The network address of the folder. |
| password | The password required to connect to the shared folder (that is, the password associated with the username, specified next). |
| /USER:
user | The username you want to use to connect to the shared folder. |
| /PERSISTENT: | Add YES to reconnect the mapped network drive the next time you log on. |
| /DELETE | Deletes the existing mapping that’s associated with drive. |
For example, the following command maps the shared folder \\PAULSPC\Paul\Writing\Books to the Z: drive:
net use z: \\paulspc\paul\writing\books \persistent:yes
Disconnecting a Mapped Network Folder
If you no longer need to map a network resource, disconnect it by following these steps:
1. | Select Start, Computer to open the Computer window.
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2. | Right-click the mapped drive, and then click Disconnect.
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3. | If
there are files open from the resource, Windows 7 displays a warning to
let you know that it’s unsafe to disconnect the resource. You have two
choices:
Click No, close all open files from the mapped resource, and then repeat steps 1 and 2. If you’re sure there are no open files, click Yes to disconnect the resource.
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