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Williams Shared Network Drives

Williams offers shared department network drives that are accessed from either your File Explorer (for Windows) or Finder (for Mac) . The data on these network drives are not stored on your computer. Each department has a shared drive that is accessible by members of that department. That means anything stored in the network drive is automatically shared with others in that department. This is ideal for on-campus faculty and staff collaboration.

Google Drive or Network Drive? In general, OIT recommends that you use Google Drive for sharing and collaborating on simple files. Some files contain information that should be protected from exposure and are required to stay off the cloud.  Please consult the OIT Data Classification Policy and Usage Guidelines and your department to ask about sharing conventions within your specific department.

Connect to a Network Drive

There are some instances where access to another department’s drive is granted to an individual and the drive mapping needs to be done manually. Choose your OS for directions:
NOTE: If you are off campus you will need to make a VPN connection before connecting to a network drive.

  • Once logged into Active Directory (AD) the shared drive associated to your department will automatically map. To map another drive do the following:

    1. Right-click  ‘Computer’ icon on the Desktop
    2. Select ‘Map Network Drive…’
    3. Select a drive letter that isn’t in use
    4. Click the ‘Browse’ button
    5. Select ‘Network’
      (note: if message appears about ‘Network Discovery’ being turned off please follow steps that are at the bottom of the page FIRST)
    6. Wait several seconds……
    7. Enter the full path to the drive (example: \\files2.williams.edu\department name)
    8. Locate the Shared folder, open it
    9. Click the  OK button
    10. Make sure there is a check mark in the “reconnect at login’

    Turning on ‘Network Discovery’:

    1. Go to ‘Start’ > ‘Control Panel’
    2. Use the “View by” option: “Small Icons”
    3. Open ‘Network and Sharing Center’
    4. In the left column select “Change advanced sharing settings”
    5. Underneath the ‘Network discovery’ section select “Turn on network discovery’
    6. Now you are set to continue with the first set of instructions!
    1. While on the Desktop view click on Go on the top Toolbar
    2. At the bottom of the drop-down menu select "Connect to Server"
    3. Enter the following in the Server Address field:  smb://<server name>.williams.edu/<department name>/shared
      ---- For example to connect to the CES share type in:   smb://files2.williams.edu/ces/shared
    4. Click the Connect button
    5. Enter your Username (do not add @williams.edu) and the password used for email
    6. Click Connect

Department Network Drive list

College network file servers have changed from Novell to Microsoft a number of years ago.  The overall naming convention also changed from personal names (e.g. Hector) to a basic numbering scheme (e.g. Files2). See below for your departments drive listing

    • Files1 (formerly Athena and Achilles)
      • XXstudents Home Directory Volumes (from Achilles)
      • Projects (from Athena)
      • Courses (from Athena)
      • Argus (from Athena)
      • Econ_Shared (from Athena)
      • ESRIData (from Athena)
      • StateData (from Athena)
    • Files2 (formerly Hector plus one other volume)
      • Admissions
      • AlumniAdmin
      • Anthropology
      • Art
      • AsianStudies
      • Astronomy
      • Biology
      • BSC
      • BuildingGrounds
      • CDE
      • CenterHu
      • CES
      • Chaplain
      • Chemistry
      • Classics
      • CompSci
      • Conference
      • Control_ScanDoc
      • Controller
      • Dean
      • DeanFac
      • Dining
      • Economics
      • English
      • FacSec
      • FinAid
      • ForeignLangs
      • GeoSciences
      • GermanRussian
      • History
      • LearningInAction
      • Math
      • Personnel
      • Alumni_Review (from Tyrone)
    • Files3 (formerly Helen)
      • Affiliate (Affiliate Home Directories)
      • CampusLife
      • ChapinLIbrary
      • Communications
      • GISData
      • Library_Video
      • MultiCultCenter
      • Music
      • Mystic
      • OFCHealth
      • OfficeServices (note the OfficeServices Dropbox for submitting course packets has NOT moved)*
      • Payroll
      • Philosophy
      • Physed
      • Physics
      • PoliSci
      • PreMed
      • President
      • Provost
      • Psychology
      • Registrar
      • Religion
      • RomanceLangs
      • SawyerLibrary
      • Security
      • Theater
      • Trust_Estate
      • Visitors (Guest Account Home Dirs)
      • VPAdminTreas
      • VPSPID
      • WCCC
      • WCMA
    • Files4 (formerly Tyrone & Rhodus)
      • Peoplesoft\PSFT (from Tyrone\Peoplesoft\PSFT)
      • Peoplesoft\PSFT-Docs (from Rhodus\Peoplesoft\PSFT)

    *Instructions for course packets are available at http://faculty.williams.edu/teaching-advising/course-reading-packet-instructions/