Setting Up Direct Access to File Drives | Computing for Arts + Sciences

Setting Up Direct Access to File Drives

CAS Managed

If you are working on a CAS IT Services Dell or Apple computer, then your computer is set up to automatically connect to Home (H:\), Shared (S:\), and Research (R:\) drives.

Network Locations

Since Windows 10, CAS no longer maps the network drives automatically. However, the Drive Locations are still easily accessible in your This PC (fka: My Computer); as shown:

Network Locations

If you prefer to have the drive letters, you can simply Right Click the Network Location and select Map Network Drive. Alternatively, to consider just pinning it to your Quick Access section with the Pin to Quick Access option. You can see the options highlighted here:

Network Location Right Click

Note: We decided to switch to Network Location due to performance issues when logging into a laptop from off-campus or the WiFi when not connected to the VPN. Having these mapped drives that couldn't be communicated with caused extreme delays with:

  • Logging in: extreme delays while attempting to communicate with the non-accessible mapped drives.
  • Opening a file that wasn't in your recent history: as the software tries to communicate with the non-accessible mapped drives.
  • Saving a file to a new location (i.e. Save As): as the software tries to communicate with the non-accessible mapped drives.

Self Managed

If you're working from a self-manged or privately owned computer and you need to connect to the network drive, you can follow the steps below. If you are off-campus or connected to the UNT WiFi, you will need to be connected to the UNT VPN before you can connect to the drives.

Microsoft Windows

Windows machines can access volumes of files by connecting to network drives with paths. These UNC (universal naming convention) paths will connect your device to the larger network. You connect by entering these path names into Windows Explorer or the "Start/Run" field:

  • \\cas-home.unt.ad.unt.edu\home
  • \\cas-shared.unt.ad.unt.edu\shared
  • \\cas-research.unt.ad.unt.edu\research
  • (limited access) \\files01.untsystem.edu\at-Research
  • (For CI Users) \\files01.untsystem.edu\at-shared

Once you have entered the UNC path name, simply use your UNT EUID (in the format: UNT\euid) to complete the connection.

Apple macOS

Mac users have to "Connect to Server" under the "Go" selection in Finder, as seen below:

Once you click "Connect to Server," you'll be brought to a dialogue box that will ask you to supply a "server address"

For the server address, simply put in the following UNC codes and connect to your desired drive:

  • smb://cas-home.unt.ad.unt.edu/home
  • smb://cas-shared.unt.ad.unt.edu/shared
  • smb://cas-research.unt.ad.unt.edu/research
  • (limited access) smb://files01.untsystem.edu/AT-Research
  • (For CI Users) smb://files01.untsystem.edu/at-shared

If you have any questions about this process, please contact us.