Rename Mapped Network Drives

[jace92]

Hello all, I bought a used PC yesterday to work as my first home server. I did updates here and there (and pulled my hair out because networking stuff is SOOO much fun) and in the end I sorta have it set up. One of the problems I have now is that I was trying to rename the mapped drive from the remote computer and while it let me delete the letters, it won't let me type new ones in. Is there a reason for that? Did I change something to make it not work right?

 

Thanks,

Jacob

[BrinkGG]

Remove it, remap, then on the page after you add the network location, you can change it's name. I know this works for a folder, not entirely sure about shared drives. (Drives may be tied to the name that is on the device it's plugged into locally.)

[jace92]

Yes, that works for just a regular network folder, but not a network drive... I tried.

[jace92]

The properties for it still show the name, just not in My PC.

[BrinkGG]

13 minutes ago, jace92 said:

Yes, that works for just a regular network folder, but not a network drive... I tried.

That name, "\\Jacobs-server", will stay as it is the name of the computer the drive is attached to. To change that, you will need to go into the settings of that server and change the computer name. 

in windows 10, go to settings, search for "About your PC", then under device specifications, Rename this PC. 

[jace92]

The other circled portion "BackUpDrive" is the actual name of the shared drive on the host computer. When I tried to rename it to something else using a remote pc, I backspaced the "BackUpDrive" name but it wouldn't let me type any new letters. Now, on the remote pc, it shows nothing for the drive name in This PC [see " (\\Jacobs-server)(Z:)" instead of ("BackUpDrive (\\Jacobs-server)(Z:)"]. In Properties for the drive, however, it says "BackUpDrive".

 

This is a mapped drive labeling problem, not a PC name problem.

 

I've disconnected and remapped it, I've renamed it on the host computer, I've stopped sharing it and changed it the name and remapped it... all to no avail.

 

Does that make it a little clearer? 

[BrinkGG]

14 minutes ago, jace92 said:

The other circled portion "BackUpDrive" is the actual name of the shared drive on the host computer. When I tried to rename it to something else using a remote pc, I backspaced the "BackUpDrive" name but it wouldn't let me type any new letters. Now, on the remote pc, it shows nothing for the drive name in This PC [see " (\\Jacobs-server)(Z:)" instead of ("BackUpDrive (\\Jacobs-server)(Z:)"]. In Properties for the drive, however, it says "BackUpDrive".

 

This is a mapped drive labeling problem, not a PC name problem.

 

I've disconnected and remapped it, I've renamed it on the host computer, I've stopped sharing it and changed it the name and remapped it... all to no avail.

 

Does that make it a little clearer? 

It doesn't matter what the shared drive name is. It matters what the shared host device is. 

A name starting with "\\" is a HOST device, not a storage device, and windows is using the host address of that computer. Which is \\Jacobs-server.

You are sharing a computer, and that computer's drive name is "BackUpDrive". So File Explorer sees it as the host name, and properties sees the drive name (which is attached as Drive Z:). 

TL;DR, renaming the drive on either computer isn't going to make a difference because of how windows handles shared devices. 

This a problem I deal with all the time. Usually I just share a folder, then remap the folder to a drive letter locally on my PC.