Access Network Storage Shares from a Windows Computer
Introduction
How to access your userfiles (a.k.a. U: drive), department network storage shares, or project network shares on Storage, and other network shares from a Windows computer.
Instructions
If you are off-campus with any computer, you first need to establish an Amherst VPN connection.
If you are running Windows 10, you may need to turn on the older SMB networking protocol as follows:
Start > Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off > SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support
Then follow the instructions below to access a network share. If you're on campus with your personally-owned computer, note that you’ll need to connect using your Amherst credentials instead of your local credentials.
You will need to know the name of the server and the name of the share to which you are trying to connect. Please contact us at AskIT@amherst.edu, if you do not know the name of the share you are trying to access. The following table lists the servers commonly available to Amherst users.
| Server Name | Use |
| \\userfiles.amherst.edu | User files (U: drive) for most users. Share name is your Amherst username. |
| \\fs001.amherst.edu |
User files (U: drive) for administrative users; I: drive for administrative departments |
| \\fs002.amherst.edu | U: drive and I: drive for Controllers Office |
| \\storage.amherst.edu | Personal and departmental project-oriented storageshares. |
| \\unix-nt.amherst.edu |
Workspace on the Unix/Linux system, web space on the legacy webserver. |
| \\software.amherst.edu | Location of software installers. Windows installers are in the winsoft share (the K: drive). Not available from off-campus. |
| \\scratch.amherst.edu | Location of the scratch share, used for non-secure, temporary file transfers. Items placed on the scratch share are automatically deleted within 24 to 48 hours. Not available from off-campus. |
| \\scans.amherst.edu | Location of the scans share, used for scans made on the Xerox multi-function devices (MFDs) for copying, scanning, faxing. |
Click the Start button, then in the Search box, type the full path to the share in the following format:
\\server-name.amherst.edu\share-name
Press Enter on the keyboard.
If you have trouble logging-in, enter your Amherst username with the suffix @amherst.edu as in mamherst@amherst.edu.