Missing Home Folder or Network Drive on VPN
Details
While working remotely, you might find that your home folder, or network drives that are normally "Mapped" in the My Computer section of your computer are no longer showing up. The steps below show how to work around this temporarily, or how to add a permanent shortcut
Steps
Accessing Your Home Folder or Network Drive Manually
- Press the "Windows" key + "E" on your keyboard
- This should bring up a File Explorer Window
- In the address bar at the top type in the network path to your drive
- For home folders this will be in the format:
- \\home\f\firstname.lastname
- \\home\w\wesley.wildcat
- etc.
- For network shares, this will depend on the servername and the folder you wish to access. Some examples follow:
- \\red\DepartmentName
- \\pearl\ProjectName
- etc.
- For home folders this will be in the format:
- Once the address is typed in, press enter
Adding a Shortcut to Your Desktop for Your Home Folder or Network Drive
- Right click on your desktop
- Select "New" and then "Shortcut"
- In the new window type the path to your home folder, or network drive
- For home folders this will be in the format:
- \\home\f\firstname.lastname
- \\home\w\wesley.wildcat
- etc.
- For network shares, this will depend on the servername and the folder you wish to access. Some examples follow:
- \\red\DepartmentName
- \\pearl\ProjectName
- etc.
- For home folders this will be in the format:
- Click "Next"
- Type in a good description for the shortcut
- Click Finish
- You can now access this network drive or home folder directly from your desktop so long as you are on VPN
Why do these mapped locations disappear on VPN?
Home folders and network drives "disappear" because VPN isn't running when you first log into your computer (obviously since you can't start it until you log in). Unfortunately the log in process is when a home folder and network drive get "mapped". Since the computer can't reach the home folder during login it fails and doesn't map the drive. Windows is sometimes able to re-establish the connection automatically after VPN is launched but it frequently doesn't.