How do I Connect to the server?

[nuttysandwich]

How do I connect my computer at work to the company server over ethernet. Basically I need to be able to access the files on the server, and how do I put the server drivers in "Computer"

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

If you're at work, and they have any legitimate IT setup, you'll simply need to join your computer to the domain. If they don't, I wouldn't work there. As well, you won't need any drivers for the server on your computer, the two systems will operate independently.

[TheKDub]

-snip-

oops, read the post wrong

 

Contact a network administrator at your place of work, they should be able to set it up for you.

[Jervi]

I am guessing the bits you need access to are file shares? if so do the following;

Find out the name of the server on the LAN, this will be something like \\SERVER_NAME or \\192.168.1.123

Find out the share name, this will be something like \\SERVER_NAME\share$

Go to my computer on your computer.

Click on 'Map network Drive'

Drive letter change that to what ever you want, I recommend 'H' for personal files (H = home) and 'S' for shared files

Then for the address put the server name and share like '\\SERVER_NAME\share$'

check 'reconnect at login' and then click next.

Now click on that drive, it will ask you to enter your login details, for username put 'Username@Server_NAME' and your password.

That should do it. If that doesn't work ask someone at your office. This will only work when attached to the LAN.

[Robin88]

How do I connect my computer at work to the company server over ethernet. Basically I need to be able to access the files on the server, and how do I put the server drivers in "Computer"

If it's set up the way I think it is, you should be able to map it as a network drive (This is for Windows 7, it might be different for other OS's)

Go to "Computer" and along the top of the window it should say "Map Network Drive" click this.

In the window that opens it should say in a drop down list "Drive" with a letter i.e "Z:" you can change this to whatever you want. I would keep this as Z: so that it doesn't conflict with other drives in your computer.

Next to the text box below that is a button titled "Browse" click this and this will open another window that allows you to view all of the shared drives on the network, chose the drive that your company uses and click okay. for example it could be titled something like "\\Company_Name/Share" where Company_Name is replaced with whatever the name of your company is, and Share is replaced with whatever the shared drive is called.

You will probably need to check the box titled "Connect using Different Credentials" and click "Okay"

That window should close and a new one should open that asks for a username and password, type in the username and password you should have been given by whoever maintains the network and click okay, you should now have access to the network share.

If that doesn't work, speak to whoever maintains your company's network to add you to their domain and add the network drive, which tbh they should have done before giving you access to the computer.

I would say that based on your post that your IT department is either nonexistant or is useless, I'll let you decide, but whatever the case may be, if you cannot use those directions above then speak to whoever maintains the network to have them do it.

[nuttysandwich]

If it's set up the way I think it is, you should be able to map it as a network drive (This is for Windows 7, it might be different for other OS's)

Go to "Computer" and along the top of the window it should say "Map Network Drive" click this.

In the window that opens it should say in a drop down list "Drive" with a letter i.e "Z:" you can change this to whatever you want. I would keep this as Z: so that it doesn't conflict with other drives in your computer.

Next to the text box below that is a button titled "Browse" click this and this will open another window that allows you to view all of the shared drives on the network, chose the drive that your company uses and click okay.

You will probably need to check the box titled "Connect using Different Credentials" and click "Okay"

That window should close and a new one should open that asks for a username and password, type in the username and password you should have been given by whoever maintains the network and click okay, you should now have access to the network share.

If that doesn't work, speak to whoever maintains your company's network to add you to their domain and add the network drive, which tbh they should have done before giving you access to the computer.

I would say that based on your post that your IT department is either nonexistant or is useless, I'll let you decide, but whatever the case may be, if you cannot use those directions above then speak to whoever maintains the network to have them do it.

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

If it's set up the way I think it is, you should be able to map it as a network drive (This is for Windows 7, it might be different for other OS's)

Go to "Computer" and along the top of the window it should say "Map Network Drive" click this.

In the window that opens it should say in a drop down list "Drive" with a letter i.e "Z:" you can change this to whatever you want. I would keep this as Z: so that it doesn't conflict with other drives in your computer.

Next to the text box below that is a button titled "Browse" click this and this will open another window that allows you to view all of the shared drives on the network, chose the drive that your company uses and click okay.

You will probably need to check the box titled "Connect using Different Credentials" and click "Okay"

That window should close and a new one should open that asks for a username and password, type in the username and password you should have been given by whoever maintains the network and click okay, you should now have access to the network share.

If that doesn't work, speak to whoever maintains your company's network to add you to their domain and add the network drive, which tbh they should have done before giving you access to the computer.

 

Not saying either case is true with OP, but I've had it happen at my own work, where people try to get access to things they shouldn't, on their own, thinking we wont know.

I would say that based on your post that your IT department is either nonexistant or is useless, I'll let you decide, but whatever the case may be, if you cannot use those directions above then speak to whoever maintains the network to have them do it.

Not necessarily... for all we know OP could be bringing in their personal computer, which should never be on a company network, like... ever. Or, they may not be allowed to access company files, or their domain, depending on what their role is in the company. Ie, maybe a guest network is set up, and the custodian brings in their laptop to play solitaire, but now they want to see what kind of things the company has which they should not be able to access?

[Robin88]

Not necessarily... for all we know OP could be bringing in their personal computer, which should never be on a company network, like... ever. Or, they may not be allowed to access company files, or their domain, depending on what their role is in the company. Ie, maybe a guest network is set up, and the custodian brings in their laptop to play solitaire, but now they want to see what kind of things the company has which they should not be able to access?

I know that, but you're talking about competent companies with a robust company policy regarding network security, the OP probably works for a company where none of those are in place, and it's always better to start with simple and if that doesn't work then go see whoever maintains the network, which for all we know could be a gorilla with an IT badge on his chest.

[nuttysandwich]

Not necessarily... for all we know OP could be bringing in their personal computer, which should never be on a company network, like... ever. Or, they may not be allowed to access company files, or their domain, depending on what their role is in the company. Ie, maybe a guest network is set up, and the custodian brings in their laptop to play solitaire, but now they want to see what kind of things the company has which they should not be able to access?

No this is a company computer and we just have a seriously terrible IT department,

[nuttysandwich]

I know that, but you're talking about competent companies with a robust company policy regarding network security, the OP probably works for a company where none of those are in place, and it's always better to start with simple and if that doesn't work then go see whoever maintains the network, which for all we know could be a gorilla with an IT badge on his chest.

more like a giraffe with an IT badge

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

I know that, but you're talking about competent companies with a robust company policy regarding network security, the OP probably works for a company where none of those are in place, and it's always better to start with simple and if that doesn't work then go see whoever maintains the network, which for all we know could be a gorilla with an IT badge on his chest.

This is also true. I like to think companies spend the money on IT programs... but I forget that most companies hate spending money on IT. Was fortunate with my job, the company understood our role, and so long as we could justify it, was happy spending money on us.

[Robin88]

This is also true. I like to think companies spend the money on IT programs... but I forget that most companies hate spending money on IT. Was fortunate with my job, the company understood our role, and so long as we could justify it, was happy spending money on us.

Lucky you, most companies don't get computer security and couldn't manage a piss up in a brewery, let alone manage a secure network.

I worked at an engineering firm where our CNC machine used floppy drives and had no way of being upgraded to use a network share or even a flash drive, and the only security the computers had was a password that the users had written down in their notepads, and the only way the boss would agree to replacing a computer was if the old one died, hell, when I was working there all but 2 of the computers were running Windows XP or older, and the ones that dealt with payroll and the companies other confidential documents were running XP and Win2K while connected to the internet, so it goes both ways regarding company policy.

There was no server that housed all the files we needed for making everything the customers had asked us to make, they were scattered across all the computers in random folders, and we were lucky if they even knew what version of what file they had given us to work from, and we even had files that were 2+ years out of date given to us that we should never have had.

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

That is unfortunate... I'd love to give away what our setup is, because it's really interesting (like, basics obviously, I don't want to be a security risk), but I have a 1 year NDA...

[Robin88]

That is unfortunate... I'd love to give away what our setup is, because it's really interesting (like, basics obviously, I don't want to be a security risk), but I have a 1 year NDA...

I can imagine what kind of setup you have, not that I'm gonna guess cause I'll probably be a million miles off, but that what I mentioned in the previous post wasn't isolated to just that one company, it has been at several companies, the last one I worked at would have sensitive documents stored on flash drives, and if I would have had my OTG cable with me I could have easily grabbed one and copied them to my phone, we used the flash drives for getting the CNC files from computer to the CNC machine, which while it had the ability to share files over the network, they refused to set it up, so we ended up with the wrong files, with files that just shouldn't have been on the drives, and with the possibility of someone stealing documents that were under NDA.

I could access the company WiFi with my phone from the canteen, and with that I could access the server and look at every file that we had, including bank details of every employee, and this wasn't a small business either, it had the budget for dedicated IT staff, the boss just didn't think it important enough to have any, in fact, the WiFi password was the company phone number.

I also worked at a large DIY chain where again, there was no security, in that case the server was accessible by anyone brave enough to sneak upstairs, and the doors were not secured with passcodes or anything, in fact the door was unlocked at all times, and the room it was in was actually a training room for new staff, and the server cabinet door was almost never locked, and on that server was sensitive documents relating to every single member of staff and yet nothing was done to secure it while I was there.

So yeah, while you're incredibly lucky to have dedicated IT staff who know what they're doing, it most certainly isn't like that for the vast majority of companies

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

Well, don't put my company up on a pedestal... we've got some janky shit going on too, but we do have pretty basic things setup that all IT should, like a file server that logs whenever files are created, deleted, renamed, moved, copied, etc... Or you know, just have permissions so that people can't copy. It saddens me to hear stories of company taking IT for granted, like yeah... maybe other departments are more important (like the people who bring in the money) but IT keeps things safe, and makes lives so much easier.