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VistaMapADrive

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How to Map a Folder/Drive in Vista

This guide shows you how to map a shared folder on a networked computer. Mapping a shared folder makes it easily accessible via an assigned drive letter.

Prerequisites

Before you can map a shared folder you need to make sure a few things are set up.

All computers on the network are on the same workgroup.

1. Open the Control Panel, open System, and then click Advanced System Settings in the left column.
2. Click the Computer Name tab in the System Properties window and then click Change.
3. By default your computer is set to the workgroup named workgroup. Simply erase workgroup and name your workgroup whatever you like.
4. Click OK. You’ll have to restart your computer now.

All the computers on your network have their network locations set to Private.

• Home or Work (Private): This location type is meant for computers located in home or office networks that are behind a gateway protecting them from people outside their private network from accessing their computers. This is the case for most home and office networks behind a router or broadband modem. Network discovery is turned on which lets you browse the network and other people on the network access shared folders on your computer.
• Public: This location type is meant for public networks like wireless hotspots at coffee shops, airports, and libraries. Network discovery is turned off making you virtually invisible to others on the same network.

1. Open the Start Menu and type network in the search box and then click Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click Customize all the way to the right of the network you want to change the location type. In this example I’m changing the location type for the SERVICE_PUBLIC network from Public to Private.
3. Select Public (Home or Work) or Private for the network location type and then click Next.
4. Click Close in the next window that tells you your network location type was successfully changed and you’re done.

Network Discovery is turned on.

Changing your network location type to private does this by default but it’s always a good idea to double-check.

1. Open the Start Menu and type network in the search box and then click Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click the down arrow all the way to the right of Network Discovery.
3. Check off Turn on network discovery and then click Apply.

Share the folder/drive you want to map

1. Open the Control Panel and then open Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click the down arrow to the right of File Sharing to expand it.
3. Click Turn on file sharing and then click Apply.
4. Open the Network and Sharing Center just like you did above and expand Password protected sharing.
5. Select whether you want it on or off.
6. Right-click any folder and click Share.
7. If you’re not password protecting your shares click Share in the File sharing window.
8. If you are password protecting your shares select the individual users you want to have access to this share from the drop down list next to the Add button. When someone browses to your computer they will need to know the user name and password of any of the accounts you add here to access this share.
9. The user you’re logged in with when you create the share is automatically added to the list. Add All users to give access to the share using any user account on the computer.
10. Click Share.

Map a Shared Folder or Drive

1. Click the Start button and then open Computer.
2. Click Map network drive at the top of the Computer window.
3. The first thing you need to decide on is what drive letter you want to use. The default drive letter is the last available letter of the alphabet.
4. After you decide on the drive letter you need to give the location of the shared folder you want to map. There are two ways to do this.

• Browse to the shared folder:
  • Click the Browse button and wait for the computers on your network to populate.
  • Double-click the computer with the shared folder and then double-click the shared folder. Click OK once you’ve double-clicked the shared folder you want to map.

• Type the address of the shared folder:
  • If you know the address of the shared folder you can type it in the folder box. Examples of addresses of shared folders are:
    • Using IP Address: \\192.168.1.2\Pictures
    • Using Computer Name: \\fileserver\Pictures
  1. If the shared folder you’re mapping is password protected and the user name and password on the computer accessing the shared folder is different than the folder being mapped you need to click Connect using a different user name.
  2. Type the user name and password in the Connect as window and click OK when you’re done.
  3. If you always want to have access to the mapped folder make sure Reconnect at logon is checked off.
  4. Click Finish. If everything goes through the mapped folder will open automatically letting you know it worked.

Now that the shared folder is mapped you can access it by clicking the Start button and then click Computer. The mapped folder will be listed under Network Location.

Disconnect a Mapped Folder

1. To delete a mapped folder you need to disconnect it by right-clicking the mapped folder and select Disconnect.

Referencing

MAXIMUM PC Guides Retrieve on 25 May 2008

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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