Exercise 11.1: Mapping a Network Drive

Exercise 11.1: Mapping a Network Drive

Objective: Use the NetBIOS-based UNC path to map a drive letter to a network share.

Estimated time: 10 minutes

1.	Double-click Windows NT’s Network Neighborhood application. Locate another computer for which network shares have been defined. Another useful tool for finding network shares is the Server Manager application in Windows NT Server’s Administrative Tools group. To use this tool, click the Start menu and choose Programs, Administrative Tools, Server Manager.
2.	Click the Start menu and go to the Windows NT command prompt. (Choose Programs, Command Prompt.)
3.	Enter the following command:
	net view
4.	The net view command lists the NetBIOS names of computers in your domain. Look for the computer you located using Network Neighborhood in Step 1.
5.	Type the following command
	net view \\computername
	where computername is the NetBIOS name of the computer you located in Step 1. This command lists the network shares available on the computer.
6.	Locate a directory share in the share list. Then type the following command
	net use * \\computername\sharename
	where computername is the NetBIOS name of the computer you located in Step 1, and sharename is the name of the share you located in this step. The asterisk maps the next available drive letter to the share. You could also specify a particular drive letter (followed by a colon) instead of the asterisk. A message will appear on your screen giving you the drive letter that Windows NT used for the connection and indicating whether the command was successful.
7.	Now enter the following command
	net view \\computername
	where computername is the name of the computer you chose in Step 1. The drive letter you mapped to the share should appear beside the share name, and the share type in the column should be titled Used as.
8.	Enter the drive letter assigned in Step 6 at the command prompt, followed by a colon. For instance, enter I:.
9.	Enter the command dir and press Enter. A directory listing of the shared directory should appear on your screen. You now have accessed the shared directory through the mapped drive letter. You must have the necessary privileges to access the shared directory. Check with your network administrator for details.
10.	To delete the network drive mapping, enter the following command
	net use drive_letter: /delete
	where drive_letter is the drive letter assigned in Step 6. You also can map drive letters through Windows NT Explorer. To do so, pull down the Tools menu and select Map Network Drive.