How to fix Windows 11 Map Network Drive Missing

What is mapped network drive on Windows?

The Mapped Network Drive feature in Windows 11 allows you to view files and folders on other machines without physically touching them. In other words, it allows you to access data saved on network drives.

This feature has made data sharing on Windows easier than ever before. This shortcut seems to be a shortcut to a local hard drive and has its drive letter, however, all contents in the mapped drive are saved on another machine.

It's comparable to a desktop shortcut, such as one to open a photo file in the Pictures folder, except it's used to access something on another computer. Mapped disks allow you to access resources on other machines on your local network and data on websites or FTP services.

Why Windows 11 map network drive missing?

Unfortunately, the mapped network disk is not yet completely trustworthy and may occasionally fail. More significantly, these problems can develop for a variety of causes, and debugging them is a time-consuming effort. It’s just one of all problems that map network drive option not showing on Windows 11. Here, we show two possible causes that may raise this problem:

▶  The network drive is not shown in File Explorer.

▶  The network drive is visible in File Explorer, however not all folders/files are shown.

How to Fix map network drive in Windows 11 not showing

When your mapped network drives do not appear in Windows 11, because the solutions are fairly complicated, an ordinary user may have difficulties resolving such situations. Here are various workarounds you may attempt.

Method 1. Restart your Windows 11 device

The device restart, like any other problem, has been discovered to be a good choice for this issue as well. Due to unavoidable conflicts, system drivers and services may fail to load correctly at times. In this instance, the Map Network Drive problem may not appear in your File Explorer. If that's the case, a simple restart should solve the problem.

Method 2. Delete incorrect mapped drive

A poorly mapped drive can frequently result in map network drive missing difficulties. Fortunately, the solution is once again straightforward. All you have to do is erase the wrongly mapped device and restart the session. This will restore the map network drive choice to its proper location.

Step 1. Press the Windows key + R to launch the run command, then type "cmd" and press the Enter key.

Step 2. When it opens your Command Prompt, type the following command: Use net Z: /delete depending on the specified disk.

Step 3. You need to avoid any errors, such as putting a space before or after the // sign. Also, make sure you include the right route, as well as any necessary information.

Method 3. Repair network drive not showing via modifying Registry

Microsoft's Windows Vista and subsequent operating systems have User Account Control. To assist in preventing malicious applications from harming the system, this technique can warn the user whether the application is permitted to utilize the hard disk and system files.

Due to UAC, a Shell with regular user credentials cannot see mapped drives set by apps with administrator access. This might be the cause of the mapped network drive not appearing issue. In this instance, you can utilize Registry to resolve the issue.

Step 1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog. Type Regedit and press Enter key to open Registry Editor.

Step 2. Locate and then right-click the registry subkey to create a new DWORD Value:

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

Step 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.

Step 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

Press Windows + I to open Settings. Then navigate to Network & Internet -> Proxy. Here you can add a script to manually configure the proxy so it can be managed easily.

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

Step 2. Scroll down to find the features that started with SMB. It would help if you made sure that all SMB folders were checked here. Then click OK.

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

Method 5. Fix mapped network drive missing via showing hidden files

If your Windows 11 mapped drive does not show all folders/files, the folders/files may be hidden on the NAS drives, including the mapped network drive and the network drive. Please follow the steps below to display them normally.

Step 1. Press Windows + E to open File Explorer.

Step 2. Click on View tab -> Show -> Hidden Items.

When you're done, all hidden disks, folders, and files should appear in their original position.

Method 6. Show hidden drive in Windows 11

The easiest way to find lost files is to locate hidden drive in Windows 11. To check missing files, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. This tool assists you in completing a variety of activities. You may conceal your partition in Windows 11 with just a single click. We have described each step and supplied screenshots for your convenience, as we have done above.

Step 1. Lauch and run AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the hidden partition and select “Advanced” > “Unhide Partition”.

Step 2. In the pop-up Window, click “OK” to unhide the partition.

Step 3. After that, it will back to main interface, preview the changes and click “Apply” > “Proceed” to complete the operation.

Thus, you can access your hidden hard drive partition easily.

Method 7. Manually update Windows 11 drivers

If all other techniques have failed, manually update the driver you are looking for.

Step 1. Click on the Start icon on the taskbar and search for Device Manager.

Step 2. Open Device Manager and look for the driver you wish to update.

Step 3. Right-click on the driver and click on “Scan for hardware changes”.

Step 4. Click on “Search automatically for updated driver software.”

This will help you find the missing drive, after getting access to the missing drive, restart the machine and start a new session again.

Final lines

Windows 11 Map Network Drive feature enhances connectivity and collaboration. However, when faced with a Windows 11 map network drive missing, the outlined solutions, including the innovative AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, empower users to regain control and optimize their networked experience.

Besides the showing functions, AOMEI Partition Assistant also provides many other practical functions like disk cloning, check patitions, move installed apps... You can use this tool to conveniently manage your Windows computer.