Sharepoint Designer Mapping a Network Drive OTS PUBLICATION: SPD6 REVISED 06-4-00 TRAINING@TOWSON.EDU OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES =Shortcut =Advice =Caution Introduction A Web site is a collection of files and folders that is kept (hosted) on a special computer called a web server. Towson University has two servers on campus dedicated to web publishing, one called Tiger for student publishing of Web sites and one called Pages for Faculty and Staff publishing of Web sites. In this self help document, you will learn how to connect to the appropriate server through a process called mapping. Once connected, you will be able to launch Sharepoint Designer to upload or modify your Web site. Process Summary Introduction Understanding Browser Server Communication Mapping a Network Drive in Vista. Mapping a Network Drive in XP. Understanding Browser-Server communication When a user launches a web browser, they are using specialized software designed specifically to communicate with a web server. A Web browser connects to the Internet (essentially a large collection of computers) and sends out a request to locate a Web site (such as www.towson.edu). The request is routed to a Web Server which then locates the appropriate Web Page and sends it back to the user. When a user maps a network drive, they are creating a direct connection to the files and folders on the web server. This then allows a user to add, modify and delete content directly (Fig ). 00 Towson University -This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. Details available at http://www.towson.edu/otstraining.
Mapping a Network Drive in Vista SHAREPOINT DESIGNER: MAPPING A HARD DRIVE. Click on the Start Menu located in the bottom left hand corner of the screen (Fig, ).. Choose Computer from the right hand side of the menu (Fig 3, ). Figure Figure 3 Figure 4 3. The Computer window will appear. Choose Map Network Drive from the turquoise menu at the top of the window (Fig 4, ).
4. The Map Network Drive dialog box will appear (Fig 5). 5. Choose a drive letter from the drop down arrow on the Drive button (Fig 5, ). Figure 5 6. In the Folder text box, type in the server and share location (Fig 6, ). Figure 6 Pages Server: Tiger Server: 7. Click Finish (Fig 5, ). \\tuweb\wwwnetid$ \\tiger\netid\www Substitute the word NetID for your NetID login username. Do not place a period after the www Make sure you add a $ sign 3
Figure 7 8. The new drive will open (Fig 7) and the drive contents of your site will appear. Towson University provides each person with a pre-formatted website containing basic information. This information can be modified within Sharepoint Designer The mapped drive will house each of the files and folders that have all of the pre-formatted content. 9. The new drive will now map (connect) each time the computer logs onto the network. The new drive will appear in the My Computer window (Fig 8) however, file additions, modifications and deletions should take place from within Sharepoint Designer so as to keep the sites navigational structure and hyperlinks intact. Figure 8 4
Mapping a Network Drive in Windows XP. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer from the Windows Start Menu.. From the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive (Fig 9, ). A new Map Network Drive window opens. Figure 9 3. In the Map Network Drive window, choose an available drive letter from the dropdown list located next to the "Drive:" option (Fig 0, ). Any drives already mapped will have a shared folder name displayed inside the dropdown list, next to the drive letter. Figure 0 3 4. Type the name of the server and share location (Fig 0, ) Pages Server: Tiger Server: \\tuweb\wwwnetid$ \\tiger\netid\www 5. Click the Reconnect at logon checkbox (Fig 0, 3) if this network drive should be mapped permanently. Otherwise, this drive will un-map when the user logs out of this computer. 6. Click Finish. 5