How to Map a Network Drive on a Mac

Create shortcuts to navigate quickly around your Mac

By
Luis E. Chavez Saenz
Luis Chavez
Luis E. Chavez Saenz
Writer
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology
Luis Chavez is a former Lifewire writer and a System Administrator with 5+ years' experience writing about technology for end users.
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Updated on September 14, 2022

What to Know

  • Launch Finder in the Mac Dock. Select Go in the menu bar at the top of the screen and choose Connect to Server.
  • Enter the path for the network drive and select Connect. Click Connect again to confirm.
  • When the drive is mapped, it appears on the desktop as a mounted drive or under Locations in a Finder window.

This article explains how to set up a mapped drive on your Mac running macOS so you can share it with all your devices. It includes information on automounting the network drive so that it remains after a reboot.

How to Map a Network Drive on Mac

Instead of downloading or copying the same data to all your devices, save the data in a single folder and then share the folder with your other devices. Once you have shared the location of this data via a UNC path, you can then map the network drive to all your devices with a few simple steps.

  1. Launch Finder.

    Launching Finder

  2. Click Go > Connect to Server.

    Go > Connect to Server

  3. Enter the path for the network drive you'd like to map and click Connect.

    Connect to smb

  4. If you're prompted for a confirmation, click Connect.

    Confirm server connection

    Accounts that don't have permissions to access this file/folder are unable to create a connection to the network drive.

  5. Once the network drive has been mapped, it will appear under your desktop as a mounted drive or under your Locations menu in any Finder window.

    Network drive in Finder

    Since mapped drives show up as mounted drives on your macOS device, you're able to disconnect from them by ejecting the drive.

How to Automount a Network Drive on macOS

If you want to ensure the previously mapped drive remains after a reboot, you must enable automounting via Login items under your user account preferences.

  1. Click the Apple Logo > System Preferences.

    System Preferences

  2. Click Users & Groups.

    Users & Groups

  3. Select the username that has access to the network drive.

  4. Select the Login Items tab.

    Login Items

  5. Navigate to the item you wish to add. Click once to select it, then click Add.

    Add item
FAQ
  • Can I map a Windows network drive to my Mac?

    Yes, sharing files between a Windows machine and your Mac is possible by using OneDrive, or with a properly formatted external or USB flash drive, Setting up file sharing on your Mac, or using Windows file sharing will also work.

  • How do I map a network drive to my Mac using AFP?

    From the Finder menu bar select Go > Connect to Server > then enter "afp://" followed by the IP address of the drive and select Connect. Choose a user name and password for the drive when prompted.

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