Here are a few points to ponder concerning My Network Places: ⻬ Viewing the resources that are available on the network by way of My
Network Places is also known as browsing the network. Unfortunately, browsing the network through My Network Places may be painfully
slow if a large number of computers is connected to your local network workgroup.
⻬ If your network has fewer than 32 computers, Windows automatically displays icons for each shared network resource when you open My
Network Places. If you are on a larger network, you may need to set up icons for the network resources you use. You can do so by clicking Add
a Network Place in the My Network Places window. Contact your net- work guru for details about how to use the Add a Network Place wizard
to set up your network places.
⻬ A trick known as mapping lets you access your favorite shared network folders quickly without having to browse the entire network. For more
information, see the next section, titled “Mapping Network Drives.”
Figure 2-2:
My Network Places lists
the shared resources
on your network.
27
Chapter 2: Life on the Network
Mapping Network Drives
If you find yourself accessing a particular shared folder frequently, you may want to use a special trick called mapping to access the shared folder more
efficiently. Mapping assigns a drive letter to a shared folder. Then you can use the drive letter to access the shared folder as if it were a local drive. In
this way, you can access the shared folder from any Windows program with- out having to navigate through My Network Places.
For example, you can map a shared folder named \Wal’s Files to drive G on your computer. Then, to access files stored in the shared \Wal’s Files folder,
you would look on drive G.
To map a shared folder to a drive letter, follow these steps:
1. Open a My Computer window by double-clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. Choose Tools➪Map Network Drive.
This action summons the Map Network Drive dialog box.
3. Change the drive letter in the Drive drop-down list, if you want to.
You probably don’t have to change the drive letter that Windows selects in Figure 2-5, drive Z. But if you’re picky, you can select the drive letter
from the Drive drop-down list.
4. Click the Browse button. Then use the Browse For Folder dialog box to find the shared folder you want to use. When you find the folder,
select it and click OK.
5. If you want this network drive to be automatically mapped each time you log on to the network, check the Reconnect at Logon option.
If you leave the Reconnect at Logon option unchecked, the drive letter is available only until you shut Windows down or log off the network. If
you check this option, the network drive automatically reconnects each time you log on to the network.
Be sure to check the Reconnect at Logon option if you use the network drive often.
6. Click OK.
That’s it You’re done. Your network administrator may have already set up your computer with one
or more mapped network drives. If so, you can ask him or her to tell you which network drives have been mapped. Or you can just open My Computer and
have a look. Mapped network drives are listed in My Computer using the icon shown in the margin. For another method of mapping network drives,
see Chapter 6.
28
Part I: Getting Started with Networking
⻬ Assigning a drive letter to a network drive is called mapping the drive, or linking the drive by network nerds. “Drive H is mapped to a network
drive,” they say. ⻬ The drive letter that you use to map a drive on a network server doesn’t
have to be the same drive letter that the server uses to access the file. For example, suppose that you use drive H to link to the server’s C drive.
This is confusing, so have another cup of coffee. In this scenario, drive H on your computer is the same drive as drive C on the server computer.
This shell game is necessary for one simple reason: You can’t access the server’s C drive as drive C, because your computer has its own drive C
You have to pick an unused drive letter and map or link it to the server’s C drive.
⻬ Network drive letters don’t have to be assigned the same way for every computer on the network. For example, a network drive that is assigned
drive letter H on your computer may be assigned drive letter Q on some- one else’s computer. In that case, your drive H and the other computer’s
drive Q are really the same drive. This can be very confusing. If your network is set up this way, put pepper in your network administrator’s
coffee.
⻬ Accessing a shared network folder through a mapped network drive is much faster than accessing the same folder via My Network Places. That’s
because Windows has to browse the entire network to list all available computers whenever you open My Network Places. In contrast, Windows
does not have to browse the network at all to access a mapped network drive.
⻬ If you choose the Reconnect at Logon option for a mapped drive, you receive a warning message if the drive is not available when you log on.
In most cases, the problem is that the server computer isn’t turned on. Sometimes, however, this message is caused by a broken network con-
nection. For more information about fixing network problems such as this, refer to Chapter 6.
Four Good Uses for a Shared Folder
After you know which shared network folders are available, you may wonder what you’re supposed to do with them. Here are four good uses for a network
folder.
Use it to store files that everybody needs
A shared network folder is a good place to store files that more than one user needs to access. Without a network, you have to store a copy of the file
on everyone’s computer, and you have to worry about keeping the copies
29
Chapter 2: Life on the Network
