NetWare Client for DOS and MS Windows User Guide

8-3
Setting Up and Managing Network Drives
Introduction
Introduction
NetWare allows you to set up and manage network drives on each client
workstation. This gives client workstations the ability to store and access
files and applications in a central file system.
This ability is provided through drive mappings which specify particular
locations within volumes and directories on the network.
These drive mappings permit easier navigation of the directory structure and
access to hard disks on NetWare servers and other storage media, such as,
CD-ROM devices and tape drives.
There are three types of drive mappings in a NetWare environment:
• Local drives
Point to disk drives installed in a client workstation. DOS reserves the first five
letters (A–E) as local drive mappings.
• Network drives
Point to specific volumes or directories on a network. The number of network
drives you have available depends on the setting for the DOS LASTDRIVE
parameter in the CONFIG.SYS file.
In previous versions of the NetWare Client™ software, the first network drive
was always the first drive letter not reserved for local use. This setting was made
with the DOS LASTDRIVE parameter in the CONFIG.SYS file.
Because the NetWare DOS Requester™ software is a redirector on the back end
of DOS, it requires that the LASTDRIVE=Z parameter be added to the
CONFIG.SYS file. The first network drive is now set in the NET.CFG file.
See “FIRST NETWORK DRIVE” under “NetWare DOS Requester Option” in
Chapter 2 of NetWare Client for DOS and MS Windows Technical Reference for
more information.
The NetWare DOS Requester uses the first available DOS drive after the
FIRST NETWORK DRIVE parameter set in the NET.CFG.
Consequently, client workstations which accessed, for example, a
LASTDRIVE = G parameter setting in their CONFIG.SYS are used to
seeing drive H: as the first network drive and not the first drive letter after