How to Connect to Networked Drives

Note: U: Drives are replaced by OneDrive

U: Drives are no longer created for new students or employees. It has been replaced by OneDrive, which is included as part of your Office 365 account. OneDrive is accessible from any device without the need to map a drive, and it comes with one terabyte of storage!

Some classes still utilize the U: Drive for applications that need to store data on a mapped network drive (e.g., ArcGIS, R Statistical Software). Instructors may request U: Drives for their students using this request form: Request U: Drive for Students

Most campus desktop computers will automatically map network drives for faculty and staff. However, you may need to manually map those drives in situations like these:

  • Students who are also Employees (they will automatically map the U: Drive but not the P: Drive)
  • Faculty and staff who use laptops or home computers
  • Mac and Linux users who map to network shares using SMB
  • Some departments may have specific network shares that are not mapped automatically for all faculty, staff or students

Before you Begin

Your computer must be on the campus network (wired or wireless), or connected using VPN. If you are connecting from off-campus, first connect to Western's Virtual Private Network.

Mapping Network Drives on a Windows PC

Map your network drives by creating shortcuts on your desktop to these locations, or right-clicking "This PC" and selecting "Map Network Drive" while connected to the VPN:

  • Creating a Shortcut by right clicking on your desktop and selecting "New Shortcut"
    Right-click on an empty area of your Desktop, the select "New" and then "Shortcut"

 

  • Mapping a drive directly by right-clicking "This PC" in File Explorer
    Selecting "Map Network Drive" after right-clicking on "This PC" in Windows 10's File Explorer

 

Then, for the location of the shortcut (or address of the network drive) you want to connect to, use one of the following:

Drive types and addresses
Drive type Address
Facshare (P) \\msfs-share.cts.wwu.edu\facshare
Class (S) \\msfs-share.cts.wwu.edu\class
Home (U) for Students \\msfs-student.univ.dir.wwu.edu\stu\your_username (this should be your universal username, without @wwu.edu)
Home (U) for Staff/Faculty \\msfs-facstaff.univ.dir.wwu.edu\user\your_username (this should be your universal username, without @wwu.edu)
Software (X) \\msfs-util.cts.wwu.edu\software
Applications (W) \\msfs-util.cts.wwu.edu\app
Admin Applications (Y) \\msfs-util.cts.wwu.edu\adminapps
CampusWeb \\msfs-share.cts.wwu.edu\campusweb

For additional departmental drives, please contact your departmental desktop support.

When prompted for your credentials, enter the following:

  • Username: wwu\your_username
  • Password: your_password

Mapping Network Drives on a Mac

Map the drives manually using Finder:

  1. Go to Finder, then select Go > Connect to server from the top menu or just press ⌘ (command) and K from desktop
  2. Enter the following for the Server Address:
    • U (Home) for students: smb://msfs-student.univ.dir.wwu.edu/stu/username
    • U (Home) for staff & faculty: smb://msfs-facstaff.univ.dir.wwu.edu/user/username
    • P (Facshare): smb://msfs-share.cts.wwu.edu/facshare
    • S (Class): smb://msfs-share.cts.wwu.edu/class
    • X (Software): smb://msfs-util.cts.wwu.edu/software
    • V (CampusWeb): smb://msfs-share.cts.wwu.edu/campusweb
  3. You will need to sign in as a "Registered User" with WWU\username and your Universal Password to connect to the network share, which will open in Finder once you do so.

Mapping Network Drives on a Chromebook

Click to view our instructions for mapping network drives on a Chromebook.

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