Sometimes it can be handy to expose a directory on your hard drive as a 'virtual' drive. That is, make a directory appear as if it were another hard drive on your computer such that you can refer to it as 'D:\' for example.
Well, for honesty's sake, this is really rarely handy but hey.. One case I ran into recently involved sharing some files via Remote Desktop session. Unfortunately, RDP allows you to share drives, but not specific directories. Sharing all of C-drive did not make me feel warm and fuzzy, so I opted to just share specific directory, and that involved making Windows perceive it as a hard drive.
My solution is rather silly:
- Share the directory as a windows share
- Navigate to \\127.0.0.1 - your own computer
- Map the shared directory as a network drive
Share the Directory as a Windows Share
- 1. In Windows Explorer, right click on the folder you want to turn into a 'drive' and select 'Properties"
- 2. Click on the 'Sharing' tab
- 3. You may have different options depending on which type of sharing you have configured, but essentially you just want to share the folder. I use 'Advanced Sharing' so I click on the 'Advanced Sharing' button and check off 'Share this folder' checkbox.
- 4. OK/Apply/Close to close the dialogs.
Map Shared Directory as a Drive
- 1. Start/Run or Start/Search (Windows7) or in the Windows explorer address bar enter '\\127.0.0.1' and press Enter
- 2. You should see the shared directories of your computer. Select the one you want to map as a drive.
- 3. Right-click on the directory and select 'Map Network Drive...'
- 4. Chose the desired/available drive letter and press OK/Finish.
That is all.
Cheers!
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