What does it mean to "map" a drive?
On most home computers, you're probably familiar with the drive letters A:, C:, and maybe D: -- these letters are usually used to represent the floppy drive (A:), the computer's hard-drive (C:) and the CD-Rom drive (D:).
When you logon to a computer that is connected to a network, it may be necessary to access files that exist on a different computer (ie. a server). In order to access that file, you have to make a connection to that server. You do so by "mapping" a drive from the server to your computer.
If you want to map a drive...
- you'll have to know the name of the server that has the file you want to access.
- you'll need to know the name of the share ( or folder) on that server that contains the file.
How do I map a network drive?
- Right-click on the icon labeled "My Computer" OR the icon labeled "My Network Places."
- Click on "Map Network Drive".
- Select the drive letter you want to use from the drive drop-down list. For example, our Public Drive uses the drive letter "T"
- In the box labeled "Folder", type in the server and share name you want to connect
to, if you know what that is. Enter the information in the format \\server\share, for example
\\eagle4\public. Be sure you use the \ (backslash -- usually found over the "Enter"
key on your keyboard) not the / (forward slash -- on the key with the ?), otherwise the system
won't be able to connect the drive.
- If you're connecting from a computer that is not a University owned computer
(i.e. your personal computer) you must tell Windows what username to use when making the connection.
Click the hyperlink labeled "different user name." You'll be shown a "Connect
As..." dialog box similar to the one shown here. Enter "labdom\<your network username>"
in the box labeled "User name:" then enter your network password in the "Password:"
box. Remember -- you MUST include the domain name (labdom) when you connect. This tells Windows
to use your username and password from the University's domain . Once you've entered the required information, click the "Ok" button to return
to the previous dialog box.
- If you want to connect this drive each time you logon to this computer, check the box labeled
"Reconnect at logon." If you're connecting as a different user, you'll have to enter
your password each time you start Windows if you want to continue using the files and folders
on this drive.
- Please note that your logon id must have permission to access a share before you can actually
use the files it contains. If you have a question about your network permissions, contact Computer
Services.
- Once you've selected the share you want, click "Ok." The drive letter you mapped should now be available under "My Computer" just like your local drives.
When mapping a drive, if you aren't sure of the server or share name, you can click "Browse"
to display a list of all resources available on the network, as shown below. Click the + beside
an item to expand the list of resources available for that item.
To make things easier for you, Computer Services has set up a login script that runs each time you logon to the Ozarks network. This logon script takes care of mapping the most commonly used drives, such as your personal drive, Z:\.
Remember -- when you logon to your personal computer, this network logon script does not run. In this case, you'll need to manually connect to any network resources you want to use.
To manually connect your Z:\ drive, use the path \\eagle16\stu\<yourlogon> if you are a student
