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How to Redirect a Client Drive in Terminal Services

The information in this article applies to:
bulletMicrosoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
bulletMicrosoft Windows 2000 Server
bulletMicrosoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
bulletMicrosoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
This article was previously published under Q272519

SUMMARY

When you use Windows 2000 Terminal Services with a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client computer, client-side drive redirection is not available by default.

MORE INFORMATION

To use client-side drive redirection, use one of the following methods:

bulletUse the Drive Share utility from the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit. You can download the Drive Share utility from the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.windows2000.com or

DRIVEMAP.EXE

For additional information about the Drive Share utility, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

244725 Using Drive Share with Terminal Services

bulletUse the net use command with a persistent switch to redirect or map a client's local drive so that it can be used in a Terminal Services session. To do this, follow these steps:

 
  1. Share the drive on the client computer that is to be mapped. For example, to redirect drive A, start Windows Explorer, right-click Drive A, click Sharing, and then click Share this folder.
  2. From the client computer, establish a session with the Terminal Services server.
  3. Open a Cmd.exe prompt and type the following syntax to map the drive:net use driveletter: \\clientname\sharename /persistent:yes

    where driveletter is the drive letter that you want to use for redirection, and sharename is what the drive was shared out as on the client computer. You need to run this command only once in the session. After that, every time the connection is made, the drive is mapped.

For example, to map the drive C on the client workstation to the drive X in the Terminal Services client session, following these steps:
 

  1. Share drive C on the client as "C".
  2. Connect to the Terminal Services server, and in the session, open a Cmd.exe prompt.
  3. Type net use X: \\clientname\C /persistent:yes

You should now see drive X in Windows Explorer.

If a session originates from one client computer, when the session is disconnected, and then reconnected from a different computer, redirection does not take place in the new session.

If different users log on to the Terminal Services server from the same workstation, place the net use command listed in step three (without the /persistent:yes switch) in a logon script.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection must be initiated before you attempt drive redirection. Drive redirection does not work through an Internet connection.

    


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Last modified: 05/14/12.