Tuesday 17 June 2008

SBS 2003/8 - SharePoint Mapped Network Drive

For some of our clients we are facilitating the transition to SharePoint as a default document and file storage location by creating a mapped network drive to a folder on the Companyweb SharePoint site.

By default on SBS 2003 we have the startup script (SBS_LOGIN_SCRIPT.bat) that is located in the scripts folder under SysVol on the server. That is where the following entry would be placed.

Out of the box, SBS 2008 does not use a logon script. So, we need to create the logon script under the SysVol scripts folder and update the User Roles with the Logon.bat file name. Any users already created will need to be either updated manually or use the Change a User Role Wizard to redefine the appropriate user accounts once the User Roles have been updated.

To do this (note that the "" are required):
  • SBS 2003 Companyweb SharePoint v2
    • net use m: "\\companyweb\DavWWWRoot\General Documents"
  • SBS 2008 Companyweb SharePoint v3
    • net use m: "\\companyweb\DavWWWRoot\Shared Documents"
Note that the mapped drive is not at the root of the SharePoint site.

From there we can create a folder structure that will be accessible via Internet Explorer internally or via the Internet as well as Windows Explorer and any application with ease.

We find that once users get used to toggling the "Explorer View" in the SharePoint site they tend to forget about the mapped network drive for most tasks.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

10 comments:

stryqx said...

Hi Philip,

Thanks for the excellent post! Quite timely, as I need to do this very thing this week to support a legacy application accessing SharePoint resources.

Philip Elder Cluster MVP said...

Chris,

Very welcome!

Philip

Unknown said...

Our SBS server doesn't have a DavWWWRoot file share on it, how do you enable this?

Philip Elder Cluster MVP said...

Anthony,

Open Windows Explorer and type in the address bar:
\\Companyweb\DavWWWRoot

You should get your Companyweb root folder.

Philip

Unknown said...

All I get is Network Path Not Found. Don't know if there is a setup step I've missed with Sharepoint. It is a fresh install of SBS 2008 Standard, are there any further steps required to enable this functionality?

Philip Elder Cluster MVP said...

Anthony,

Did you follow our SBS 2008 Setup Checklist?

Also, you will not be able to open the share path on the server.

You can do it from a workstation or even via a startup script or GP Preference to get it to your workstations.

Philip

gg said...

Hi Philip,

thanks for this post. What I do not understand: All the documents are then stored in the SharePoint content database file? Also, I am getting "cannot open [the document]" error message even though the document does open. Would be annoying for the users.
Georg

Andy said...

Hello Philip Is possable to add existeding share folder to be docment libary ?

I manged to get map share docment folder

Philip Elder Cluster MVP said...

Andy,

You can map a letter to a subfolder of the root SharePoint WebDAV share if you need to set access to that folder only via Windows Explorer.

Philip

andrew said...

I just can't seem to get this to work. Where exactly I am I supposed to enter this script? I've followed most of your setup guide already

Thanks alot