Shared networks make accessing data easier for everybody on the network. For instance, you can set up a dedicated network drive on your computer and let everybody in your family access it. This makes it easy to share things like family photos with your family members.
But finding and navigating to a specific shared folder every time someone wants to access it is pretty annoying. To save time and energy, you can map a network drive just like it’s a local drive. Here’s how to map a network drive in Windows 10.
How to Enable Network Discovery on Windows 10
Before you map a network drive, make sure the network discovery is turned on. Otherwise, your PC won’t be able to find the network that you want to connect to.
- To turn on network discovery, press Win + S to bring up the search bar, type Control Panel, and choose the relevant option to open the Control Panel.
- Once in the Control Panel, click on View network status and tasks under Network and Internet.
- Next, select on Change advanced sharing settings to open the Advanced sharing settings panel.
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Finally, make sure the Turn on network discovery is enabled. If it isn’t, click on the checkbox and then hit Save changes.
How to Map a Network Drive in Windows 10
After turning your PC’s network discovery option on, follow the steps down below to map a network drive.
- Open File Explorer by pressing Win + E and click on This PC in the left-hand tab.
- While in This PC, hit Computer in the top left corner, and then go to Map network drive > Map network drive.
- In the Map Network Drive panel, choose a drive letter that you aren’t already using. This will act as the drive letter for your network drive.
- Next, press Browse and navigate to the shared network folder that you want to map.
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Finally, click on Reconnect at sign-in and then hit Finish.
Making Network Drives Easier to Find on Windows 10
Once you map a shared folder, it will appear in your PC’s file explorer like a local drive. In other words, you don’t have to look for that folder every time you want to access it. This eliminates the sheer monotony of retracing the same process again and again.
If you really want to take your storage to the next level, why not get a drive that “lives” on your network? A Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a great way to give every device on your LAN somewhere to store their files.
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