How to Map a Network Drive on Windows

Overview

There are various shared folders on the network that are set up to be accessed by specified UAH users. These shared folders are sometimes referred to as "network drives" or "file shares". Note that these are different than Google Shared Drives. Learn the difference between network drives and Google Shared Drives.

For some departments, a group policy has been created to automatically place a shortcut on the user's desktop. In other cases, a user may need to manually map the drive to their device.

Steps

Follow the steps below to map a network drive to your UAH Windows device.

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to This PC (My Computer on PCs with W7 or earlier)
   
2. Open the Map Network Drive tool. The tool location varies a bit between Windows 10 and Windows 11:
   
   On Windows 10: To access the tool, click Computer and then click Map Network Drive
   
   On Windows 11: To access the tool, make sure you're on "This PC", then click the "three dots" button at the far right of the tool bar, then click "Map network drive"
   
3. In the "Map Network Drive" window, fill the following fields:
   1. Drive: choose a drive letter (whatever you prefer from the list of options). The options will only contain drive letters that are not already occupied or mapped.
   2. Folder: Enter the path to the directory you want to map the drive letter to. The path will usually start with "\\ds.uah.edu\shares\" followed by the rest of the path. If you need clarification on the directory path, please reach out to the help desk. It's also possible that your department staff know the directory paths as well.
   3. Reconnect at sign-in: This is optional, but recommended. This re-mounts the drive for you automatically when you sign in to Windows.
   4. Connect using different credentials: You will typically leave this unchecked. This option is for mounting file share paths that your everyday Charger ID does not have access to. This is pretty rare for our users.
      
4. Click Finish and the drive will now show in File Explorer. Note that if you are prompted for credentials then you will need to use those of the person needing access to the drive.
   

Still Need Help?

If you have additional questions about this topic, please contact the OIT Help Desk.