How to connect to network resources in Windows XP without mapping a drive or a port

This article describes how to use Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names with My Network Places to connect to network resources without mapping a drive or port.

You can access a file on a shared network resource when you type the location of the file in UNC format, or when you browse My Network Places.

To specify a file by using UNC format, use the following syntax:
For example, to open a file named Report.xls in the Current\Month folder on a share named Documents, on a computer named Sales, type the following: You can also use UNC names to connect to shared resources on NetWare servers. The NetWare syntax, Server/volume:folder, translates to the following UNC name: To open a file by using its UNC name, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run. Or, in the currently active program, click Open on the File menu.
2. In the Open box, type the UNC name of the file that you want to open, and then click OK (or Open).

To open a file whose UNC name you do not know, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click My Network Places. Or, in the currently active program, click Open on the File menu, and then click My Network Places in the Look in box.
2. Click Entire Network.
3. Double-click Microsoft Windows Network.
4. Double-click the appropriate domain or workgroup, and then double-click the computer that you want to connect to.
5. Double-click the folder that you want, and then double-click the file.

For more information about how to connect to another computer or a shared resource on another computer in Windows XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: