Guide to Resolve Windows 11 Mapped Drive Not Showing Up

What Is a Mapped Drive?

A mapped drive is just a shortcut to a drive that is physically located on another computer. This shortcut looks like a shortcut to a local hard drive (such as the C drive) and is assigned its own drive letter, but all files in the mapped drive are actually stored physically on another computer.

It's similar to a shortcut on your desktop, such as a shortcut to open a picture file in a Picture folder, but used to access something from another computer. Mapped drives can be used to access resources on different computers on the local network, as well as files on websites or FTP servers.

What Causes the Mapped Network Drive Not Showing Up?

Many people map their folders when they want to permanently access a folder on another computer, network, or server. Unfortunately, mapped drives don't always work the way we would like them to, and some people may experience issues with mapped network drives not showing up. This issue mainly has the following symptoms:

• You can't see the network drive under File Explorer.
• You can see the network drive under File Explorer but it doesn't show all folders/files.

📌Network Connection Issues: If your computer is not properly connected to the network, the mapped drive may not be accessible. This can happen due to network outages, misconfigured network settings, or issues with the network hardware. 📌Credential Problems: Incorrect or expired credentials can prevent access to a mapped network drive. Ensure that the username and password required for the network drive are correctly entered and up-to-date. 📌Drive Letter Conflicts: If the drive letter assigned to the mapped network drive is already in use by another device or partition, the mapped drive may not appear. Resolving this conflict by assigning a different drive letter can help. 📌Group Policy Settings: In a corporate environment, Group Policy settings can affect the visibility of mapped network drives. Incorrectly configured policies can prevent the drive from appearing. 📌Windows Updates: Occasionally, Windows updates can cause mapped network drives to disappear. This can be due to changes in network protocols or security settings introduced by the updates.

When your shared drive does not show up on Windows 11, how to fix it? Read on to find the solutions.

How to Fix Windows 11 Mapped Drive Not Showing Up

When your mapped network drives are not showing up on Windows 11, here are 3 things you can try to fix the issue and then let you successfully access files on another PC.

👉 Method 1: Restart Your Windows 11 Device 👉 Method 2: Delete Incorrect Mapped Drive 👉 Method 3. Repair Network Drive Not Showing in File Explorer 👉 Method 4. Configure Proxy and SMB to Better Recognize the Network Drive 👉 Method 5. Fix the Mapped Network Drive Not Showing All Files/Folders

Method 1: Restart Your Windows 11 Device

Restarting your Windows 11 device can often fix the issue of a missing mapped network drive. Sometimes, system drivers and services don't load correctly due to conflicts, which can prevent the network drive from appearing in File Explorer. A quick restart can help resolve these conflicts and make your mapped drive visible again.

Method 2: Delete Incorrect Mapped Drive

An incorrectly mapped drive can often cause issues with network drives not appearing. The fix is simple: delete the incorrectly mapped drive and restart the session to restore the network drive option.

Step 1: Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog, type cmd, and press Enter to open the Command Prompt.

Step 2: In the Command Prompt, type the command: net use Z: /delete (replace Z: with the letter of the mapped drive you want to delete).

Step 3: Ensure there are no spaces before or after the // sign and include the correct path and any necessary information.

Method 3. Repair Network Drive Not Showing in File Explorer

Microsoft uses User Account Control (UAC) in its Windows Vista and later operating systems. This mechanism can notify the user whether the application is authorized to use the hard disk and system files, to help prevent malicious programs from damaging the system.

However, because of UAC, a Shell running with standard user privileges cannot view mapped drives configured by applications running with administrator privileges. This may be the reason for the mapped network drive not showing an issue. In this case, you can use the following workaround:

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog. Type Regedit and press the Enter key to open Registry Editor.
2. Locate and then right-click the registry subkey to create a new DWORD Value:

▶ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Name the new value EnableLinkedConnections and then right-click it to modify the Value data to 1. This will enable the "administrator in Admin Approval Mode" user type and all other User Account Control (UAC) policies.

4. Click OK to save the new value and then exit Registry Editor. Then, restart the computer.

Method 4. Configure Proxy and SMB to Better Recognize the Network Drive

If the above method did not work, you could try the other two methods to see your Windows recognize the network drive better:

▶ Configure the Network Proxy Settings in Windows 11

1. Press Windows + I to open Settings. Then navigate to Network & Internet -> Proxy.

2. Here you can add a script to manually configure the proxy so it can be managed easily.

▶ Turn on the SMB Features in Windows 11

1. Type programs and features in the search box and click Turn Windows features on or off to open the Windows Features window.

2. Scroll down to find the features that started with SMB. You need to make sure that all SMB folders were checked here. Then click OK.

3. Reboot the computer so that the changes can take effect.

Method 5. Fix the Mapped Network Drive Not Showing All Files/Folders

If your Windows 11 mapped drive not showing all folders/files, the reason may be that the folders/files are hidden on the NAS drives, including the mapped network drive and network drive. To show them normally, please refer to the following step.

1. Press Windows + E to open File Explorer.
2. Click on the View tab -> Show -> Hidden Items.

Once you have finished this process, all hidden drives, folders, and files should appear in their original location.

Quick Fix for Windows 11 Mapped Drive Not Showing Up

As mentioned earlier, many users map their folders, files, or drives just to be able to access files on one computer from another. If you're stuck with a mapped network drive not showing up, don't get frustrated, here's a quicker solution - use the free powerful sync software, AOMEI Backupper Standard, to sync drives/files/folders from one computer to another without mapping them. 

Steps to Access Files/Folders Without Mapping the Drive

In this section, I'll show you how to sync folders on your computer to a network location so you can access files from one computer to another. Before you start, you need to do some preparations:

¤ Create a new folder on the target Windows 11 computer where you originally wanted to map the drive and open Windows 11 File Sharing first. Change the folder network access to Everyone. ¤ Download AOMEI Backupper Standard on your source Windows 11 computer.

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper, and choose Sync -> Basic Sync subsequently.

Tips✍: Three synchronization features are also available in advanced editions. ✬ Real-Time Sync: Automatically monitors and syncs changes in the source directories instantly. ✬ Mirror Sync: Ensures the target directory is always an exact copy of the source directory, deleting any changes in the target. ✬ Two-Way Sync: Keeps both source and destination directories in sync, reflecting changes in either location.

2. Click +Add Folder and select the folder you want to access on the other computer.

3. Click Add Share or NAS Devices and enter the destination network path for the new folder you created earlier. Type username and password if it prompts.

4. Confirm all your settings and click on Start Sync to perform the operation.

Besides syncing files to a network location, syncing or backing up files to the cloud is also a good way to keep data safe. AOMEI Backupper provides users with their own cloud drive - AOMEI Cloud. When you sign up for an AOMEI account, it will give you 1TB of free storage space for 15 days.

FAQs about Mapping Network Drive on Windows 11

#1. Why are my mapped network drives not displaying?

Check the network connectivity and ensure that the network drive is still accessible. If there are connection issues, try reconnecting the drive or restarting your computer. You can also check if the mapped drives are visible in the Command Prompt, by using the "net use" command to see all the mapped drives on your device.

#2. How do I enable mapped drives in Windows 11?

To map network drive on Windows 11, you can go to File Explorer > click on More > select Map network drive, and follow the on-screen guide to finish the mapping process.

#3. Mapped drive is visible in File Explorer but shows as inaccessible. What should I do in Windows 11?

Verify the network permissions and credentials. Re-enter the correct username and password when prompted, and ensure that the user has the necessary permissions to access the shared drive.

#4. After updating Windows 11, my mapped drives are gone. How do I recover them?

Windows updates may reset network settings. Remap the drives using the same process as before. If the issue persists, check for compatibility updates for your network drivers.

Final Words

This guide outlines three methods to resolve the issue of a mapped network drive not showing up in Windows 11. You can either follow these steps to fix the problem or use another quick method mentioned to access files on other computers.

AOMEI Backupper offers robust protection for your computer, covering both the operating system and your data. By creating a system backup in advance, you can quickly restore your Windows 11 system to normal in case of issues like Windows 11 stuck on preparing Windows.