This guide explores all available ways to map network drives in windows 10/11. Mapping network drives is the process of assigning drive letters to shared network folders, so that you can easily access shared folder data via File Explorer.
As with the Windows 7 and 8 operating systems, Windows 10/11 makes it easy to assign drive letters to network shared folders to quickly and easily access your network folders and their files directly from File Explorer.
Mapping a network drive in Windows 10/11 can be done via File Explorer, Command Prompt, and PowerShell, and this article provides step-by-step instructions on how to do it.
How to Map a Network Shared Folder to a Drive Letter in Windows 10/11.
Method 1: Map a Network Drive using File Explorer.
Using File Explorer is probably the most common way to map network shared folder files to drive letters in Windows 10/11.
1. Open File Explorer and select This PC from the left side panel.
2. Now, right click in this PC and choose map network drive, or select the same on the options toolbar Computer on.
3. In the ‘Map Network Drive’ window, do the following and click it Finished:
a. Choose letter Drive to assign to a network drive (or leave “Z:” the default).
b. Type in the “Folder” box the full path* of the network shared folder you want to map as a network drive, or click it Explore to search for and select shared folders on the network.
* Note: The folder path to the network shared folder must be typed in one of the following ways:**
\\Computer-Name\Shared-Folder-Name \\Computer-IP-Address \Name-of-Shared-Folder
Where…
Computer-Name=network computer name with shared folder. (eg. “desktop1″ in this example) Computer-IP-Address=IP address of the network computer with the shared folder. Name-of-Shared-Folder = shared folder name (e.g. “shared_folder” in this example)
c. Select tick Reconnect on login box if you want to make the mapping permanent so you connect to a network shared folder every time you connect to your computer.
d. Choose Connect using different credentials check boxif the credentials required to connect/access the shared folder are different from those you use to log in to Windows.
4. (Optional) Type the credentials to access the network shared folder if prompted and click OK.
5. Once done, the network drive will now appear in File Explorer under the This PC section.
Method 2. Map a Network Drive using the RUN Command.
If you know the Name or IP Address on the computer with the shared folder, you can assign a drive letter to the network shared folder as follows:
1. Press the button windows + R to open the “Run” command box.
2. In the RUN command box, type one of the following commands, to view the shares on the network computer and press it enter:*
\\Computer-Name \\Computer-IP-Address
* Note: In the above command change:
1. “Computer-Name” with the name of the network computer with the shared folder, eg. “Desktop1″
2. “Computer IP Address” with the IP address of the network computer with the shared folder, eg. “192.168.1.70″
Example. To see the shares on computer “desktop1” with the IP address “192.168.1.70”, you can type:
\\desktop1 \\192.168.1.70 
3. After pressing Entertype in the credentials to connect to the network PC (if prompted) and tick checkbox Remember my credentialsif you want to permanently map the drive.
4. Right click on the shared folder you want to map to the network drive and select it Map network drives.
5. Finally, select the drive letter you want to map the shared folder to, and press Finished. Mapped network drives will appear in File Explorer.
Method 3: Mapping a Network Drive Using Command Prompt.
Another way to map network drives in Windows is to use the “net use” command. To do this:
1. Open Command Prompt and use one of the following commands to map a network shared folder and press Enter:*
net use X: \\Computer-Name\Name-of-Shared-Folder net use X: \\Computer-IP-Address\Name-of-Shared-Folder
* Note: In the above command change:
Letter “X” with the drive letter you want the shared folder to map to (e.g. “Y” in this example). “Computer-Name”, with the network computer name with
shared folders. (ex. “DESKTOP-AIFS0G0″in this example)”Computer IP Address”, with the network computer IP Address with
shared folder.”Shared-FolderName”, with the name of the shared folder (eg.
“public” in this example)
Example1: The following command will assign drive letter “Y” to “Public” shared folder on computer “DESKTOP-AIFS0G0″:
net use Y: \\DESKTOP-AIFS0G0\Public 
2. To map a network drive and let Windows automatically assign a drive letter, type an asterisk after typing “net use”:
net use * \\Computer’s-Name-OR-IP\Name-of-Shared-Folder
* Note: Asterisk option
in the command above instructs Windows to allocate any drive letter not currently in use to the mapped shared folder. e.g. 
net use * \\DESKTOP-AIFS0G0\Public 3.
To map a network drive using credentials different from those you use to log into Windows and make the mapping permanent, issue the following command:* net use X: \\Computer-Name\Shared-Folder-Name
PASSWORD/user:USERNAME/persistent:yes
* Notes: 1. In the above command change“PASSWORD“And”USERNAMES
“, with credentials for the network share.
2. The “persistent” option keeps folders mapped even after reboot.
Example: To authenticate on computer “DESKTOP-AIFS0G0″ with username “admin” and password “12345” and to map shared folder “Public” to drive letter “H:”, issue the following command: 
net use H: \\DESKTOP-AIFS0G0\Public 12345/user:admin/persistent:yes
When you finish the steps, the network folder will be mapped on the device and will appear in File Explorer.
Method 4: Map a Network Drive Using PowerShell in Windows 10/11
Finally, you can use PowerShell in Windows 10/11 to map network shared folders to drive letters. 1.
Open Windows PowerShell. 2. In PowerShell, issue the following command to map a network drive and hit it
enter:*New-PSDrive-Name”X”-PSProvider”FileSystem”-Root”\\Computer-Name-OR-IP\Shared-FolderName
“-Persist * Note: In the above commandchange
:
Letter “X” with the desired drive letter where you want to map the shared folder (eg. “H” in this example).”Computer-Name-OR-IP”, with the name or IP Address of the network computer with the shared folder. (eg. “192.168.1.70″ in this example) “Shared-FolderName”, with the name of the shared folder (eg. “Public” in this example)
Example: New-PSDrive-Name”H”-PSProvider”FileSystem”-Root”\\192.168.1.70\Public”-Fixed 3a.
To map a network drive using different credentials than the one you use to log into Windows, issue the following PowerShell command and press Enter:New-PSDrive-Name”X”-PSProvider”FileSystem”-Root”\\Computer-Name-OR-IP\Name-of-Shared-Folder
“-Persist-Credential USERNAME * Note: In the above command change
USERNAME with the username for the network share. e.g. “Admin” in this example: 
New-PSDrive-Name”H”-PSProvider”FileSystem”-Root”\\192.168.1.70\Public”-Persist-Credential Admin 3b. In the “request credentials” window, type in the password for the network share and hit itOK
. 3c.
After completing these steps, the shared network folder will be mapped to your computer and will appear in File Explorer.
Final Words.
In short, mapping network drives in Windows 10/11 is a simple process that makes access to network resources easier. You can map network drives using Windows Explorer, Command Prompt, or PowerShell and have shared folders as if they were on your own computer.
There he is! Which method worked for you?
Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving a comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
Closing
Thus the article about How to Map a Network Drive in Windows 10/11 from Explorer, Command Prompt, or PowerShell.
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