Mapping Drive to Share on Same Computer

[owensdj]

I need to move the data for a database application off of the server and onto one of the two workstations that run the app. The app is set to find the data on a network drive(S, so I need to have an S: on the computer with the data so the app can find it. On the 2nd computer I can just remap the S: to the new share on the workstation. How should I set up the 1st computer? I think I read that it's a bad idea to map a network drive to a share on the same computer. Should I use the SUBST drive to get a S: drive that points to the data? Thanks for any tips you can give me.

 

[yuppiejr]

Assuming you are talking about Windows XP workstations...

- Copy the data to a folder on the workstation you want to host it.
- Create a share for the folder hosting the data(right click - Sharing and Security... etc...) - make sure you set write permissions if needed since default is read only
- Execute a "net use" command to map the S: drive to your local \\computer\share name.

Example: net use S: \\MYPC\myshare

I just tested this on my local workstation and it works perfectly.

You can use the same syntax to map the drive on both machines assuming they can do name resolution to the PC name and the S: drive isn't already in use.

 

[sieistganzfett]

either net use (map a net drive to the local pc that exists on that pc) or the subst (substitute a virtual with a real drive) will work for your situation. i never read anywhere about doing a net drive -> local pc was "a bad idea" and interested in how it could be, when i seen it so many times from servers to wksts without an issue. rarely have i seen the subst, maybe because it would confuse people into thinking they have multiple real physical drives if they didnt know anything and touched it.