Connect to Your Office NAS or Network Drive

Connect to Your Office NAS or Network Drive

Overview

Many offices keep shared files on a network drive or NAS (a file server in the office), often shown as a letter like S: or Z:. This guide shows you how to connect to one in the office and from home, and what to do when it will not open.

Before You Begin

  • The drive's address from your team or IT. It looks like \\servername\sharename or \\192.168.1.20\sharename.
  • Your username and password for the drive. This is often your normal work sign-in.
  • If you are working remotely, a working VPN connection. See Connect to the Company VPN on Windows.

Steps

Map the Drive on Windows

  1. Open File Explorer and click This PC in the left pane.
  2. Click the ... menu at the top, then Map network drive.
  3. Pick a drive letter. Use the letter your team uses so shortcuts and links keep working.
  4. In Folder, type the address, for example \\servername\sharename.
  5. Check Reconnect at sign-in.
  6. If the drive uses a different username than your PC, check Connect using different credentials.
  7. Click Finish and sign in if asked. Check Remember my credentials.

Connect on a Mac

  1. In Finder, click Go, then Connect to Server.
  2. Type the address with smb:// in front, for example smb://servername/sharename.
  3. Click Connect, then sign in.
  4. To reconnect automatically, open System Settings, go to General, then Login Items, and add the mounted drive.

Connect From Home

  1. Connect to the company VPN first.
  2. Open the drive the usual way. A mapped drive that shows a red X usually reconnects once you click it after the VPN is up.
  3. If it still does not open, try the server's IP address instead of its name, for example \\192.168.1.20\sharename. IT can give you the IP.

Troubleshooting

  • If the drive shows a red X: click it once. If it does not open, right-click it, choose Disconnect, and map it again.
  • If you get "access denied": you may not have permission to that folder. Open a ticket with the full path you were trying to open.
  • If it works in the office but not at home: make sure the VPN is connected, then try the IP address version of the path.
  • If you changed your password recently: open Credential Manager from the Start menu, remove the saved entry for the server under Windows Credentials, and connect again.
  • If files open very slowly from home: large files over VPN are slow by nature. Copy what you need to your computer, work on it, then copy it back, or ask IT whether the share can move to SharePoint.

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Need More Help?

Submit a ticket at support.bostonmit.com or email support@bostonmit.com.