What Is Net Use Command and How to Map a Network Drive with It

PAGE CONTENT:

What Is Net Use Command?
Net Use Command Syntax and Options
How to Use Net Use Command in Windows?
How Do I Map a Network Drive Using Net Use?

What Is Net Use Command?

Net Use Command is a command-The Net Use Command is a line tool that was introduced in Windows 2000 and is now available in all subsequent versions. It is used to manage network connections, allowing users to map network drives, connect to shared folders, disconnect from shares, and more.

The Net Use Command is a useful tool for automating network management tasks, allowing users to connect or disconnect shared resources, display information, and set user-specific settings with ease.

The Net Use command is used to map a network drive to a local drive letter. To use it, you need to specify the drive letter you want to map, the UNC path of the network drive, and the username and password if the network drive requires authentication.

net use command map a drive

Net Use Command Syntax and Options

The Net Use Command syntax refers to the order of parameters required to perform a specific task, while options modify the command's behavior.

Net Use Command Syntax:

Here is the syntax of the Net Use Command:

net useThe command is rewritten as: "net use [{devicename | *}] [{password | *}] \\[computername\sharename[\\volume]] [{password | *}]/user:[domainname\]username or /user:[dotteddomainname\]username or /user:[username@dotteddomainname]/home [{devicename | *} [{password | *}]] /persistent:{yes | no} /smartcard /savecred /delete /help /?".

Net Use Command Options:

The Net Use command has several options that can be used to perform various tasks. These options include:

devicename: Specifies the name of a device to assign to a local resource, such as * for all devices, or a specific device name, such as "MyPrinter" for a printer. This attribute is used in conjunction with the `device` attribute to specify which device a resource should be assigned to.

\\computername\sharename: This is the network path to the shared resource.
volume: This is an optional parameter that specifies the storage volume label of the shared resource.
password: To highlight the password to use when connecting to a shared resource, you can surround the password with double asterisks `**` like this: `**password123**`. This will draw attention to the password and make it stand out when viewing the shared resource connection details.

/user: If the user name is not specified, the currently logged-on user will be used.

domainname: The user account's domain to log on with.

username: This is the user name with which to log on.

dotteddomainname: The Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) name of the user account you want to log on to is reflected.

/home: The command uses the user's home directory specified by the UserName or the currently logged-on user.

/persistent:{yes | no}: Highlights whether the redirection is persistent.

/smartcard: Uses a Smart Card for authentication.

/savecred: The credentials used for this connection should be saved by Winlogon and reused when this resource is accessed.

/delete: This setting determines whether to remove connection entries, such as passwords and usernames, from the Local Security Authority (LSA) when the connection is deleted.

/help: The /help command is used to display the help information for a command. The /help command can be used with the name of a command to display its help information.

/?: Same as /help.

How to Use Net Use Command in Windows?

To use the Net Use command in Windows, first, open the Command Prompt as an administrator. Then, type the command "net use" followed by the drive letter and path you want to map, and press Enter.

Step 1: Go to Command Prompt and type net use.

Use net use command in windows

Step 2: The Net Use command will display the current connections if no parameters are specified.

Net use command line

Step 3: To see the available options with the Net Use Command, type `net use /?` or `net use /help` and press Enter. For more information on a specific connection, use the `/?` option, such as `net use /? Persistent` and press Enter.

How Do I Map a Network Drive Using Net Use?

Mapping a network drive is a process of connecting to a shared network folder, allowing you to access it like a local drive using Microsoft Windows. You can map a network drive using the Net Use Command, which will be explained here.

Before starting, you need to know the following things:

Computer name that you want to connect to

The name of the shared folder on that computer

If the shared folder requires a different set of permissions or credentials than your normal logon provides, you may need to use a different user account or credentials to access it, or use the "run as" feature to run the application with the required permissions. This can be done by right-clicking on the application and selecting "run as" and then entering the required credentials.

Steps to map a network drive

Step 1: Search Command Prompt and select Command Prompt (Admin).

Step 2: To map a shared folder to a drive letter, open the Command Prompt window and type the command "net use [Drive:] \\[ComputerName\ShareName]" and press Enter. For example, to map the root of the shared folder named Share on ComputerName to the Z: drive, type "net use z: \\computername\share" and press Enter.

map a network drive using net use

Step 3: To enter the credentials, simply type your username and password, then press the Enter key on your keyboard. This will submit the credentials for verification.

Note: If you want to use different credentials than your current logon provides, you can type the command "net use [Drive:] \\[ComputerName\ShareName] /user:[DomainName\Username] [Password]" to access a shared resource.

To map the root of the shared folder named Share on ComputerName to the Z: drive using the User1 account in the Contoso domain, type the command "net use z: \\computername\share /user:contoso\user1 password".

Step 4: To verify that the shared folder is mapped to the drive, type "net use" in Command Prompt and press Enter, which will display a list of all mapped drives.

Step 5: To disconnect a mapped network drive, open Command Prompt, type "net use [drive:] /delete" and press Enter, replacing [drive:] with the actual drive letter of the network drive you want to disconnect.

To disconnect a mapped drive, such as the Z: drive, type the command "net use z: /delete" and press Enter.

Note: You can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character to delete all mapped network drives.

To map a network drive using the Net Use command, follow these steps. First, open the Command Prompt as an administrator. Then, type the command "net use" followed by the drive letter and the UNC path of the network share you want to map.

What Is Net Use Command and How to Map a Network Drive with It