Mapping Foreign Printers & Drives

Mapping Disk Drive Shares

Primary Procedure For Mapping Drives (using the GUI)

1. Hit the <FLAG-M> key to minimize all the windows on the system. This will allow you to see the desktop. (Unfortunately, it won't allow you to see these instructions. You might want to shrink the browser so you can see both these instructions and the "My Computer" Icon in the upper right hand corner of the desktop).
2. Right (mouse) click on the “My Computer” Icon in the upper left corner of the display (desktop).
3. Alternatively, you use <FLAG-E> to right click in the Windows explorer on the “My Computer” Icon or even right click on "Network Neighborhood" Icon (also on the desktop).
4. Select the destination share (computer, drive and directory) using either technique (i or ii, but not both):
   1. Type in the share name explicitly in the drop down combo-box called "Path" on NT4 or "Folder" on Win2000. Example:

      \\FAFNIR\C$

      In this example, FAFNIR is the name of the computer we want to connect to. Specifically, we want to connect to drive C which has an administrative share of  C$.

      Here is another example:

      \\GRANE\C

      Grane is running Windows 95 so it does not have any administrative shares so you do not need to type a "$".

      Neither of these examples uses a directory as part of the share. Generally, in our private office, we don't have a need only a directory.

      NT and Windows2000 often have administrative shares which requires you type the "$". CDs (compact disks) never seem to be administrative shares. Disks on Windows98 and Windows95 never have administrative shares -- just normal shares.

      This will not work, if the shares (in the above examples, drives) have not been shared, however.

   2. You may click the browse button to get a list of computers and drives. However, 
      1. the administrative shares are not displayed,
      2. the display is often out of date, and
      3. it takes a long time.

      It's educational, however, and you should try it when you have lots of time.

      This will not work, if the shares (in the above examples, drives) have not been shared, however.

5. On NT4, there is another combo box called "Connect As". Usually we leave this blank and click OK and that is sufficient. Occasionally it will come back and prompt for the user name and password. Typically we connect as Administrator.

Alternate procedure for the Console Prompt

1. At the console prompt type "net use". This will give you a list of drive designators for foreign (remote) shares.
2. Type "net use d: \\FAFNIR\C$" to map the C drive on FAFNIR to the local pseudo drive d. It may come back and prompt you for the Administrative password. Curiously, it never asks for the account "Administrator".

Mapping Print Shares

Troubleshooting

1. You may need to share some drives on the remote computer.
2. The administrative shares are present but not visible.
3. The remote machine may need to be powered on and booted.

Send mail to webmaster@SIGNITEK.com with questions or comments about this web site.