Mount Remote CIFS/SMB Share as a Folder not a Drive Letter

Just to map a network share directory you would use this command:

net use \\Server\ShareName\Directory

This mapping would:

  • not be persistent
  • would have to be established and authenticated at user login
  • you would access the share using the UNC path, and not a local drive letter

If you want to access the network share through a location on your local C: drive, you'll want to set up a symbolic link:

mklink /d  C:\Folder\ShareName \\Server\ShareName\Directory

Now when you navigate to C:\Folder\Share you'll see the contents of \\\Server\Sharename\Directory. You'll still need to provide authentication for the resource with something like net use (or just be logged into a domain account on a domain system that has access) otherwise the link will probably error out angrily.