What are shared network drives or server volumes?

    Students, faculty, and staff at Saint Mary's College are given access to various shared network drives, depending on their department and materials needed. The file server for shared network drives is mavis.

    Shared network drives are accessible from any networked computer on campus. All students, faculty, and staff have access to the shared network drive named SMC (also known as the P: drive). Several folders will be visible when you open the SMC network drive:

    • Courses - course-specific items
    • Departments - departments that have shared accounts
    • Software Distribution - includes software that Saint Mary's has licensed for campus-wide use, such as the College-provided virus protection software
    • Student Groups - student groups that have shared accounts

    For each department/group that has an account on SMC, a folder will be visible. All members of the Saint Mary's community will be able to see the listing of folders for departments/groups. The contents of the folders in SMC will be visible only to the individuals with permission to view them.

    Department/group accounts may have a subfolder named Public that will be accessible to all members of the Saint Mary's community. The decision to offer items in a Public folder is up to each individual department/group.

    You may also need to connect to personal network drives. Instructions for mounting your personal network drive (which only you have access to) are available on the ResNet FAQ and the Helpdesk FAQ.


    To connect to the P: drive (the SMC shared network drive) for the first time:

    1. Add the Computer icon to your Desktop (if it is not already there).
      1. Right-click on the desktop and select Personalize.
      2. Click on Themes in the left column.
      3. Click on Desktop icon settings in the right column.
      4. Check the box next to Computer (if it is not already checked).
      5. Click Apply.
      6. Click OK.
      7. Close the Personalization window.
      8. Close the Personalization Settings window.

    2. Right-click on the This PC icon on your Desktop and select Map Network Drive...
    3. Select P: from the Drive: pop-up menu.
    4. In the Folder: field, type the following:
      \\mavis.saintmarys.edu\SMC
    5. Note: if you wanted to map a specific folder on the SMC shared network drive, you can do so. For example, if you wanted to map the Public folder inside the Infotech folder, which is in the Departments folder on the SMC shared drive, you would type in \\mavis.saintmarys.edu\SMC\Departments\Infotech\Public - if a folder has a space in the name, please include that space in the path name.

    6. Make sure that Reconnect at sign-in is checked.
    7. Click Finish.
    8. Type in your Saint Mary's e-mail address (username@saintmarys.edu) and password when prompted.
    9. Do NOT check Remember my credentials.
    10. Click OK.
    11. A window displaying the shared network drive should appear.
    12. You can find the shared network drive by double-clicking on the This PC icon on your Desktop. The network drives should be listed at the bottom of the window.

    13. With Windows 10, the shared network drive should automatically mount every time you log in to your computer while on ResNet. Otherwise, you can double-click on the Computer icon on your Desktop and double-click on the network drive you want to access. You may be prompted for your password.


Last Modified July 31, 2022