How to Map a Network Drive

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One of the most searched topics on our site is “how to map a drive”. Unfortunately, until now, the searches on this topic didn’t return any result for our users. As a consequence to this, we decided to create this article in which we show you how to create a drive mapping in Windows Vista, 7, 8 and Windows 10.

For those of you who don’t know it, a drive mapping is a letter assigned to a disk or drive. The most common drive mappings are A: for the floppy disk and C: for the primary hard disk. If you are on a network, a drive mapping can reference remote drives to which you can assign a letter of your choice. For example, you can use the letter Z: to refer drive C: or a network server or a specific shared folder to which you have access to.

As you will see for yourself, the procedure of creating a map drive in Windows is very simple. Just follow these steps:

In Vista, first, click on the Computer shortcut from your desktop or from the Start Menu. In the toolbar you will find several buttons, including one called Map network drive.

In Windows 7 and 8, click the “File Explorer” icon from your taskbar and then click the “Computer” link from the left vertical navigation bar. Then just click “Map network drive”.

In Windows 10, on your desktop, click “This PC” icon in the top-left corner of the page. Then click the “Map network drive” icon.

Map a Network Drive

Click on it and the Map Network Drive window will open.

Now, you’ll need to assign a drive letter for the connection and then type the drive or the folder you want to connect to.
The folder can be located on a remote server or computer you have access to, a FTP site or a shared folder on your own computer.

Map a Network Drive

If you want to connect to a remote computer just type “\\” followed by the computer name or the IP address and then “\” followed by the location of the folder you want to connect to.
If you want to create a drive mapping to a folder on your own computer type “\\127.0.0.1\” (this stands for the local host) or “\\computer_name\” and then the path towards that folder.
Sometimes, when you create a drive mapping, you might need to use a special user name and password that allows you to connect to it. In this case, click on the Connect using a different user name link.

Map a Network Drive

Type the appropriate user name and password and click on OK. Now you will return to the previous window. Click on Finish and the drive mapping will be created.

If you access the Computer shortcut again you will see that a new drive having the letter you assigned is listed and you can access it at anytime.

Map a Network Drive

Related articles:
How to enable network discovery and file sharing
How to share files and folders
How to check your Network Connection Status
Windows Network Diagnostic – diagnose network problems the easy way
How to setup a wireless connection
Offline Files – How To Work With Network Files When Offline

Recommended articles:
ITsVISTA Tip 52: Map a Drive to an FTP site in Vista
Remove “Map Network Drive” Menu Item from Windows Vista or XP

60 thoughts on “How to Map a Network Drive”

    • Map Network Drive Button
      This button only appears when you are looking at “Computer” (as the instructions say).

      If you are looking at a folder you will only see the buttons you say you can see.

  3. problem installing software from mapped drive
    According to other sites I’ve seen many others have had the same problems with other programs. I’m trying to install a program on a company computer. The setup files are located on the mapped network drive (on a server). When I try to run the setup it says something like “This application must be installed to a location specified by a drive letter and directory. It cannot be installed to a UNC path. It appears that \servernameprogramsblah does not contain a drive letter. If you browsed to the location usinga Network Neighboorhod please retry using a mapped drive letter.”
    The program will run the installation if setup files are copied to the computer running vista, however it won’t run properly unless it’s run from the networked location.

    Any help?

  4. A weird problem I face…
    My Domain is a Windows 2003 Std. Server. I recently got a Dell laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate. I try to map a network drive, it maps successfully. The very first time on successful mapping it automatically pops up the drive. But, the next time if I have to use it, and I double click the mapped network drive, it gives me 2 different errors for 2 of my mapped drives…
    1. That the drive cannot be loaded because of some permission issues and crap (This is bull shit)
    2. : Application not found…

    I get these 2 crappy errors… Interestingly, one of my mapping out of the 3 works! Also, The UNC paths work for the drives, which give me the above error…

    Anyone who can help?

    • Re : A weird problem I face
      I too am getting the 2nd error “Application not found” when I double click on the mapped network drive.
      I am thinking Vista might be looking for a past drive letter instead of the drive letter your currently mapped to ??
      Not sure but in any case this is bloody annoying !!!

      Hopefully someone has an idea about this .

      Cheers.

      • Spaces
        The issue might be caused by the fact that the path you enter contains spaces.
        For example: \server100program filesadober reader. In this case you might need to put the path between “.

        Like this: “\server100program filesadober reader”. Try it out. It might work!

  5. Ok Im not sure if this is
    Ok Im not sure if this is vista problem,I have a laptop (xp pro SP2)based one that just flat out refuses to connect to my vista based PC,I’ve got the vista based PC to connect to the laptop but not the other way around,I’ve map drives befor to other xp based PC from the laptop.

  6. XP to Vista Mapping does not recognize username or password
    I need to transfer 30 GB of files from a XP machine to a vista machine. I tried to do it over a network. I can ping my vista machine from XP, I’ve disabled the firewall. When i map the network drive from my XP to Vista, it recognizes the computer and replace the ip address with computer name, i use my admin user account UN and PWD for credentials but it does not accept them. Its driving me nuts. Any hints? I’ve turned on sharing in Vista’s C$ drive, and everything else, it just does not like my UN and pwd.

  7. map local drive
    i want a drive letter for a folder that is not networked.. i am trying to replicate my server drives on the road.. so i want to map a drive letter to c:PDRIVE.. how can i do that?

  8. FTP and Vista
    I am new to FTP
    I have a Program called Web Easy 6 and when I try to upload my website to my host server through the program I am getting a winsock error, I have tried disabling my McAfee and it still won’t work.
    I set up the Mapping and got the website folders through Vista, how do I send the updated folders to my host using
    Vista when I make changes and updates to my website

  9. Auto Remembering Password for network drive
    Everytime I shut down my computer it forgets my network user name and password even though I click remember password. No one at mircosort or gateway can help me either. If anyone can help I would apprciate it.

  11. Sharing Vista’s primary drive
    I am trying to share my main drive , but it say’s I don’t have permission. What settings do you have to change to access the system drive on a vista machine.

  12. Vista Ultimate Not Remapping Drive At Startup
    I’m having the same issue as many others, after I map a drive in Windows Vista (Ultimate 64bits) and explicity tell it to remember user&password, after a reboot or relog, the drive does not map, and windows tell me it has a problem with mapping it, so after I open explorer and go to the mapped drive it asks me for the username & password I already told it to save, and then I can access normally. Adding the credentials on Control Panel/User Accounts did not help either. (Server host is also set into trusted zone). So there seem to be nothing to solve this f*cking issue. Vista never remembers the right username for the mappings.

  13. Freecom Ethernet Hard Drive
    Hi guys this problem has been driving me crazy since purchase of a Freecom 500gb Ethernet HD the supposed solution to a lack of storage. I have Vista Home Premium on my laptop but I cannot configure it to see my HD as a drive on the laptop. If i look under network center it recognises the device is there but not as a drive, when i try to map the drive i get various errors (sorry I havent got these with me) but the fact remains I just cant get it to be seen as a drive. If I try using the command \192….. within the mapping screen it connects to the web interface of the drive.

    Please help!
    Richard

    • Hi Richard,
      The Freecom
      Hi Richard,

      The Freecom Network Drive comes with a CD that holds the program “Freecom Network Storage Assistant”.

      When you install and run this program, it gives you the option to map the Freecom Network Drive to a local drive, like drive F:

      Good luck,
      Henk.

  14. NetCenter Network mapping
    I know how to map the drive. The problem is reconnecting once i restart my computer. The way I usually reconnect is by clicking the Network Icon and wait for the drive to be recognized. Once it is recognized I click on it and the user name and password prompt comes up. I type in the user name and password and click ok, it reprompts me but this time it has the name of my computer followed by a “/” and the user name I typed in. While this is happening there is a green status bar that is slowly filling up on the address bar. If i click ok before it is half way full it will not connect, but if I wait until it is atleast half way then it will connect.
    Once I do that I can map the network drive successfully, the problem is when I restart the computer. If I want to access the folder I have to go through the whole thing again. Any ideas? (I hope I made myself clear)

  15. to be able to connect to a
    to be able to connect to a Vista based PC you have to control panel and network sharing…from there you have to select file sharing ON(default selection is OFF)… when you restart (sometimes you may not need)

    then you can use your vista based user name and password to connect from other PC… do not forget to select the user (any of them, or just select all users) when you turn File Sharing ON…

  16. map network drive
    I have vista PC and cannot map network drive. I purchased six of these Gateway machines and five mapped fine but one will not. I can ping the IP address and I can ping the name of the server, but it will not map. I have turned off the firewall and don’t know what else to do can you give suggestions?

    thanks

  18. On Vista Home Premium
    Hi,

    I was having problem because of Symantec Endpoint Protection’s firewall. Once I create a rule to let the IP I wanted to map go through everything works like a charm.

    Terrance

  19. Logging on to a mapped drive in Vista
    Hi, I must be doing somthing wrong. I cannot actully loggon to my network disk. It says wrong format did somthing change? I can with my XP computer.

  20. Map Network
    is there is any programs that enable me to map network in windows xp like vista does??

    i want to map the network in windows xp like the vista does but i can’t find any programs do that

    plz help me for this…
    thnx…..

    • Mapping drives in XP
      Hi all,

      First, on XP, you usually don’t need any special programs to map other computer’s drives, however, you do need a user account with the right privileges on the computer that has the drive you are trying to connect to. If you are attempting to connect to a Windows server’s drive, you’ll need to make sure that the user’s NTFS permissions on the server along with the group policy settings, it’s best to create a “share” sub-group then add the users main group to the share group (You can only add a group to a group on Windows Servers, then add the share group to logon over network and log on locally, also disable simple file sharing (servers, 2000 pro, xp pro only).

      Anyway, back to XP pro, simply go to My Computer, click on Tools, the first option is Map Network Drive.

      There is a bug about XP remembering passwords, so I don’t check the remember box, however, when you go to map a drive, look for a box that says “Reconnect at Logon” and simply check that box, and once that box is checked, don’t also check the remember password box when entering username and password. When checking Reconnect at Logon, Windows automatically remembers the username and password.

      As for connecting over the internet, I wouldn’t advise it, as you would most likely have to enable NetBios Over TCP/IP which is a security risk as well as having to configure Port Forwarding on the computer’s router that has the shared drive.

      Also, I don’t know about Vista or other versions of XP other then pro and Win 2000 pro but those OS’s by default already have shared drives configured for admins which are called Administrative Shares, which is notated by the real physical drive letter followed by a $, you usually need admin rights on the computer your connecting to to use these shares though.

      example \192.168.2.5c$

      If you are connecting from a computer that has the capability to disable simple file sharing you would get the whole drive with full admin rights to the folder. Otherwise you’ll only see publicly available shares.

      Also, the $ can be used to hide the share name, example, if you share a folder on one computer and give it the sharename myfolder$, it can only be accessed by direct path as the name won’t show up in the shared list.

      Maybe this will help some of you out.

      JB

  21. Mapping remote hard drive
    I’m trying to map a folder on my remote hard drive (F:/Music) to use it to store music on (for itunes). I’ve got the folder (F:/Music) to a shared stage but I am unable to use this method to map it as a network drive. I’ve been unable to share the external hard drive (F:) itself in order to map that as a network. Any ideas?
    Cheers,
    Chris

  22. mapping internet folders
    I have succussfully mapped drive letters to server folders over the internet using Novell NetDrive on WinXP.. but that doesnt work on Vista. The method shown here does work fine for a lan but over internet doesn’t work at all.. Is there a step to do this that isnt listed here? BTW there are NO active firewalls that would prevent me from doing this.
    Thanks for any help.

  23. Username and Password?
    Ok im trying to map my mac to my vista computer…but im having one small problem.

    When i map the drive it asks for the username and password….but everything i try doesnt work…

    It used to work…but the connection broke when i turn my mac off obviously…but now they are both on and i cant seem to get the right username and password combination to log me in…

    192.168.1.100.harry-t

    thats where i want to connect to….and im pretty sure that was the username that i used to logon last time….but have no idea what the password is? any ideas how to change it?

  25. map network drive
    I am at my wits end with this. I have a desktop running XP sp2 and a Laptop running Vista connected via a Netgear router gateway, which connects to the internet via cable modem. The laptop is using wireless, whereas the desktop is cabled to the router. I can connect to the internet with either so no problems with basic networking. I can ping either machine from each other but when I try to map a network drive from the laptop to the desktop host it fails with effectively “path not found”. I tried disabling both firewalls provided by Norton360 (the Windows firewalls are already disabled). I have had this work before but it must have been a fluke as I don’t know what made it work.
    Any ideas please?
    laki

  26. How to map a drive between a XP PC and a Vista PC?
    Dear sir,

    I have two PC one has XP and the other has Vista. I am having problem mapping a HD driver.
    And I am using a wireless router to connect two computer together.
    Please help!

    Best regards,
    Kelvin

  27. hello! i have the problem! i
    hello! i have the problem! i try to connect to another pc using map network drive… i wrote an ip and folder name correctly.. but it shows log that i have to write the pasword.. but the password does not exists on that pc.. what i need to do?

    • I just mapped my network
      I just mapped my network drive from a pc at another room, it worked instantly and flawlessly.

      if your other pc with a shared folder is a vista pc, you can go to the network centre and uncheck “share using password” or whatever that is called on a english vista. I’ve got a duth pc so for me it is Netwerkcentrum -> Met wachtwoord beveiligd delen

  29. Permissions on mapped drive
    I am running Vista Home Prem and I map the folder which I want other network users to access and have full control over, I see the drive on my computer but no computer, not even the one in which it exist on, can write to the folder only see what is there. I try to change permissions but have not had any luck. If I go to the folder through explorer I can write but not through the mapped drive.

    Any help is appreciated.

  30. drive not found
    I’m trying to map a drive on my own computer so I can quickly access data. It the folder is shared, but when I try to connect to it through adding a network drive or the net use command it comes back saying the path cannot be found. The weird thing is that it will randomly connect on boot ups. Then on others it can’t find the path. Any ideas?

  31. Sorry for double post, but I
    Sorry for double post, but I unshared the file and tried to turn file sharing back on. It is saying “cannot communicate with \my ip addres”

  33. Wrong username/password?
    To those who are having problems with “Wrong username or password” you need to know this:
    – User “Bill” on PC1 is not the same user as “Bill” on PC2! Those are completely different “Bill”s even if they have the same password!
    – Because of this, you need to tell which “Bill” i.e. which user you mean (also if the names are not the same as in this example different)
    – Instead of typing “Bill” as username, try “ComputernameUsername”, for example “BillsComputerBill”. By this you explicitly express that “Bill” is not a user on YOUR computer, but on the computer “BillsComputer” which you are trying to access.

    Hope it’s kinda understandable what I mean, please report if this helped.

  34. Error message!!!!
    I installed a network driver for my device it worked fine a couple of times but then it started acting up so I deleted it and installed the driver again. But this time it wont let me install the driver again I get an error message saying ” The network name is no longer available.” I don’t know why this is happening. I even put in the port for this device to run through. Please HELP!!

  36. Connecting to Remote Computer (Question #1, step-by)
    I have the IP address for the “\server” part of it, but I dont know what the “share” is…

    Example: \servershare

    …Am I supposed to create a folder somewhere or something? Where? How?
    (Im somewhat of a layman, be gentle).

    Thanks.

  37. Doesn’t Work
    Firewall or no firewall, this doesn’t work going to a Windows Vista box (perhaps it’s because I have Home Edition and MS has crippled this functionality while still offering it in the menus).

    1. Connect an external drive to your Windows Vista machine (E:).
    2. Share the E: drive, calling it “E Drive” (without quotes), allowing the admin full access.
    3. Go to your laptop and ping the Windows Vista box’s IP to ensure you can reach it (assuming okay).
    4. Map a network drive with your laptop, pointing it to \192.168.1.101E Drive (use the IP you pinged, of course), and use the admin credentials of that Windows box.

    Result: “The network path \192.168.1.101E Drive could not be found”

    It doesn’t work.

  38. Reply for this website
    I am working as a technical support Engineer , I was afraid to map the network drive . Thank you for this link . You Guys did a great Job !
    Now I just need to give the Link and All SET !

  39. Uanble to map a NAS in VISTA but works in Xp and Win7
    I have a LG NAS model N2B1-DD2 (and a DLink-NAS model DNS-323) that I can´t map as a network drive on my VISTA machine. But it wokrs on a XP machine and on a Win7 machine *but I had to map manually by ehnetring the path / it couldnt serach and find the units

    I try to map with \LGNASvolume_1 AND with the ip-nr but it says – for both the NAS that it cant find

    I DO can see an ikon for ecah NAS in the explorer window but I cant reach the volume on them.

    They are all on the same wireless network and in the same workgroup and I dont have the VISTA firewall active.
    I use Norton 360( but have tried to disable the firewall when I try to connect.

    The LGNAS is new but the Dlink NAS worked some weeks ago on the same VISTA machine. Then there was an upgrade of the VISTA *patvhes9 that I installed / and after that I lost the contact with the Dlink/NAS *and could not connect the LG NAS( . At the same time I renamed the LG NAS why I thought that might have been the reason whyt it not worked / but now I think there must be something in VISTA

    I can se the local VISTA PC and a ntebook / but same problem / I cant connect to them either.

    I have only one account administrator

  40. mapped network drive
    Hie

    It is refusing to connect to mapped network drive though it is shared and given maximum rights to access the drive.

    it says the mapped network drive could not be created because the following error has occurred.

    Logon failure:the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer

    these computers are on workgroup not connected to any domain.

    thanks .

  41. error
    Hi , i m trying to make a map drive in VISTA to which i have maped my own PC XP drive D . but i m getting the below mention error.
    The MAP drive could not be created because of following error has occured .

    error – there are currently no logon server available to service to logon request

    please help

  42. Username wrong
    When I try maping the network drive using other credentials in windows 7 it automaticaly adds the domain name into the user name and I cant seem to stop this. So the network drive can’t recognize the username because the domain name is automatically added before it

  43. Great Output
    For Me, It was like downloading a app in ipad. Here are the steps that i did: (Win, 10)

    1, Open file explorer and click ”This PC”

    2, click “computer” on the upper left hand corner then click ”map network drive”.

    3, A Map network Drive dialog will appear.

    4. Make sure that the drive letter is Z:

    5, If you didn’t make a file yet, Click browse then click the arrow beside the ”Public” file.

    6,Click on “Create New Folder” ( Name doesn’t matter! )

    7, After creating, click Ok.

    8, Finally, click Finish.

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