How to map a drive in Windows 11

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If you often need to connect to remote folders or drives shared on the network, mapped drives or Windows 11 Folder location on your PC will save you a lot of time. Otherwise, using a mapped network drive feels the same as plugging any other drive into your PC.

If all of this sounds perfect to you, let’s take a quick look at how to map a network drive on Windows 11.

First, configure Windows for the network drive

Click the Start button and enter Control Panel. Click the search result or Open button.

After entering the control panel, click "Network and Internet".

Click "Network and Sharing Center".

Click "Change advanced sharing settings."

Click "Turn on network discovery" and then click the "Save Changes" button. Accept any prompts that may arise.

After making this change, your PC should be able to find your network folder or drive and be discoverable by other PCs and devices on your network.

It’s time to map the drive to your Windows 11 PC.

5 Ways to Map a Drive on Windows 11

After configuring your Windows 11 PC for mapping as mentioned above, you can now proceed to map the drive on your PC. Here are the various ways to map a drive on Windows 11 operating system.

Method 1: Use File Explorer

Press the button to go to "This PC" Win key e. In the Quick Access window, click the This PC shortcut.

The next step is to click on the three-dot menu and select "Map Network Drive" from this list of options.

#You should see a pop-up titled "Map Network Drive." Complete the following to select a preferred drive letter for the remote location: Enter the URL of the network folder in the pop-up window, and then click Finish. You can also click the Browse button and select a shared folder.

Tip

• If you want Windows to automatically reconnect to network folders after startup, check " Reconnect at login" option.
• If you use a different set of login credentials than your PC to access your shared folders or drives, check the "Connect using different credentials" option. Windows should ask for a username and password when trying to connect to a remote location. Check "Remember my credentials" to save your credentials instead of entering them every time you connect.

# After verifying the credentials, Windows should open the remote folder immediately.

You should be able to find the newly added network location in the This PC window.

That’s it! You have successfully mapped a network location to your Windows PC.

Method 2: Using the shared drive’s context menu

Another, easier way to connect to a shared drive is to navigate to the shared network drive or folder in File Explorer and then Use the context menu to map it as a drive on your PC.

You can access shared drives through File Explorer in several ways. First, press Win E to open File Explorer. Now click on Network in the left pane.

# Select the system sharing the drive by double-clicking it.

Then right-click on the folder or drive you want to map and select Map Network Drive...

The familiar "Map Network Drive" ” window will open. Select the drive letter for the mapped drive and click Finish to map the drive.

Your drive/folder will now be mapped and available on the This PC page.

If you know the IP address of the system sharing the drive, simply click in the address bar and type the IP address in the following format:

\\IP_address

Make sure to change IP_Address to the IP address of the shared network.

Then right click on the drive/folder you want to map and select Map Network Drive as shown above.

You can enter your own IP address or type 127.0.0.1 to check your shared folders.

Method 3: Using CMD

You can also map the drive in Windows 11 via CMD. Use the tutorial below to help you get started.

Press Windows S keyboard and search for CMD. Once it appears in your search results, click "Run as administrator."

Enter the following command and press the Enter key on your keyboard. Please replace "DLetter" with the drive letter of your choice and "PATH" with the path to the specific folder you want to map.

net use DLetter: \\PATH /PERSISTENT: YES

The selected drive will now be mapped into Windows 11, and It should now show up in File Explorer.

Method 4: Using PowerShell

Use the tutorial below to easily map a drive in PowerShell.

Press Windows Skeyboard and search for PowerShell. Once it appears in your search results, click "Run as administrator."

Now enter the following command and press Enter key on your keyboard to execute it. Replace DLetter with the assigned letter of the relevant drive and PATH with the path to the folder you want to map.

New-PSDrive -Name "DLetter" -PSProvider "FileSystem" -Root "\\PATH" -Persist

The selected drive and location should now be mapped in Windows 11. Open File Explorer and the drive should now appear in This PC.

Method 5: Map one drive for all users at once

Shared drives provide access to multiple users, so it is convenient to map the same drive for all users. To do this, we first have to create a batch (.bat) file. Here's how to do it:

Press "Start", type Notepad, and then open it.

Then type the following command:

net use * "\\server\files" /p:yes

Be sure to replace "server" with the network name or IP address of the user making the share, and replace "file" with the folder, drive, or file you want to map.

Then click on the file in the upper left corner.

Select to save as .

Select a location to save and name the file. Then change the file extension from .txt to .bat.

Then select All files from the Save as type drop-down menu.

Then click Save.

After saving, go to the location and copy this .bat file.

Now, press Win R to open the RUN box. Now type the following:

shell:common startup

And click OK.

This will open the startup application folder. Ctrl VPaste the .bat file here by pressing or right-clicking and selecting the Paste button.

When prompted, click Continue.

From now on, whichever user logs into your system will automatically connect to the network drive mentioned in the script.

How to find the path to a mapped network drive

You can easily get the full UNC path to a mapped network drive using one of the following tutorials. Get started with whichever method best suits your current needs.

Method 1: Use CMD

Press Windows S keyboard and search for CMD. Once it appears in your search results, click Run as administrator.

Enter the following command and press the Enter key on your keyboard.

net use

You will get a list of all network devices connected to the current user account on your PC. In this list, you will see the network drive you mapped, with its full UNC path displayed for you to view on the screen.

Method 2: Using PowerShell

Press Windows Skeyboard and search for PowerShell. Click "Run as administrator."

Now enter the following command and press Enter key on your keyboard to execute it.

Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkConnection | ft "RemoteName","LocalName" -A

Currently available All network drives and their UNC paths accessed by your PC and user account should now be available on your screen.

How to disconnect a mapped network drive

After you complete the tasks related to using a shared network drive, disconnect and unmap the network drive. Doing this is a piece of cake. Here's how to do it:

Method 1: Using File Explorer

Press to open File ExplorerWin E. Right-click on the mapped drive and select Disconnect.

Alternatively, click the three-dot icon in the toolbar above.

Then select Disconnect the network drive.

Then select the mapped drive and click OK.

The network drive will now be unmapped.

Method 2: Use CMD

to open an elevated instance of the command prompt.

Then type the following command:

net use z: /Delete

Replace "z" with the network drive's Drive letter.

Then press enter

If multiple drives are mapped, type the following to disconnect all drives :

net use * /Delete

and press Enter.

Quick Tip: If you receive an error message saying "There are no entries in the list," try running Command Prompt without administrator privileges.

When prompted, type Y.

Then press Enter.

Your mapped network drive will now be deleted. You can also use these commands in the PowerShell terminal. Additionally, if you do not receive any entries with elevated PowerShell, try running PowerShell without administrator privileges.

I can't map a network drive in Windows 11

There is a common registry fix that seems to make network drives work on almost every system, no matter what issue you are experiencing.

Start by mapping a drive using any of the methods given above. If this doesn't work, use the Registry Editor fix given below.

In the tutorial below, we have discussed creating a new registry value on your PC that should help you easily map a network drive without any issues.

Press Windows S keyboard and search for Regedit. Once it appears in your results, click and launch the app.

Navigate to the following path given below. You can also copy-paste the same content in the address bar at the top.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network

Your drive should be listed under Network represented by its drive letter. Click and select the drive letter folder and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Click OK to confirm your choice.

Navigate to the following path given below.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Map Network Drive MRU

The registry value of the mapped network drive will vary depending on the system , configuration, and mapped drives, so the values ​​you find here may be different. Please look for any string values ​​on your system that are associated with previously mapped drives and delete them using the Delete key on your keyboard. Click OK to confirm your selection and delete the values.

You should now delete any previous registry values ​​that may conflict with the current settings. Just follow one of the methods in the tutorial above to remap the network drive to your system and then reboot the system.

Once completed, launch the Registry Editor again and navigate to the path given below. Replace DLetter with the drive letter of the drive you recently mapped to your PC.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\DLetter

Click and select the drive letter on the left, then right-click on the empty space on the right and select "New".

Now select "DWORD (32-bit) Value".

Enter "ProviderFlags" as the "Value Name" and set the "Value Data" to "1".

Now click OK.

Restart the system for good results.

That's it! The selected drive should now map to your system without any issues.

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