Using Windows XP > Home and Small Business Networking

Mapping a network drive

Published: August 15, 2006

Moving files between computers on a floppy disk (the so-called "sneakernet") is a thing of the past. If you have more than one computer in your home, you can share files across your home network. Shared folders from other computers appear in Windows Explorer just as if they were on the computer you're using.

Sharing files is a two-step process:

1.

Share a folder on the computer that stores your files. This step is described in Sharing files.

2.

Create a connection to the shared folder on the computer that you want to use to open the files. You can connect to the shared folder in two ways:

•

You can directly open the shared folder. This is the quickest way to get to your shared files.

— or —

•

You can map a drive letter to the shared folder. This way makes it easier to open the folder in the future.

The steps for both of these ways to connect to a shared folder on another computer on your home network are described below.

Open a shared folder

1.

On your desktop, double-click My Network Places.

Note:  If My Network Places is not on your desktop, click Start, and then click My Network Places on the Start menu.

The desktop with My Network Places selected

2.

In My Network Places, double-click the folder you want to open.

The My Network Places window

You'll see your files in the folder.

Map a drive to a shared folder

1.

Click Start, and then click My Documents.

The Start menu with My Documents selected

2.

Click the Tools menu, and then click Map Network Drive.

The Tools menu with Map Network Drive selected

3.

In the Map Network Drive dialog box, click Browse.

The Map Network Drive dialog box with the Browse button selected

4.

In the Browse For Folder dialog box, click the folder you want to connect to, and then click OK.

The Browse For Folder dialog box with a folder and OK button selected

5.

In the Map Network Drive dialog box, make a note of the drive letter shown, and then click Finish.

The Map Network Drive dialog box with Finish selected

6.

If prompted, type your user name and password, and then click OK.

Microsoft Windows XP will open a folder to your shared files. In the future, you can open the shared folder from My Computer by clicking the appropriate drive letter.