Windows – Can’t map to second share on remote computer

network-shareswindows 7

PC1 & PC2 are both running Windows 7 Professional. 64-bit & 32-bit respectively.

PC1 contains a secondary internal HDD, as D:\

PC1 also has an external HDD as E:\

D & E are shared on PC1.

On PC2, I can map to \\PC1\E, using the credentials of PC1's admin user.

On PC2, if I attempt to map to \\PC1\D, using the credentials of PC1's admin user, I receive an error:

The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different
user name and password.

To connect using a different user name and password, first disconnect
any existing mappings to this network share.

If I open cmd and run net use, I see that \\PC1\E is mapped, but \\PC1\D is not mentioned.

Why can't I map to \\PC1\D on PC2? Thanks.

Best Answer

On Windows 7, once you've authenticated against a server, you don't have to reauth for other mappings.

In fact, if you map a share to a drive letter, and then try to map a different share on the same server to a different drive letter, and then enter on the Map Network Drive dialog the same username and password used on the first drive mapping, you get this confusing error message:

The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password.

Despite the network folder not being mapped at all, and the username and password used not being different.

This baffled me for a while until I realized that once you have mapped to "server1" using those credentials, you can map to different shares on the same server without re-specifying the credentials.

(source)

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