# "Network Places" in Vista. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632 "2008-05-01T16:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/1 "2008-05-01T16:48:07Z")
Does Vista have the same functionality of XP’s “Network Places?” I have about twenty folders that I need regular access to at work, all on fairly extended branches of the directory tree. I have half a dozen at home. In XP I would make links to these folders in My Network Places. I have been unable to find anything that offers the same functionality in Vista. According to the help file: > [@](#): > > **What happened to My Network Places?** > > In Windows XP™, you clicked Start \> My Network Places or used the folder icon on the desktop. > > In Windows Vista™, it’s called the Network folder. To find it, click [start] \> Network. Well, I _did_ find the Network folder without having to resort to digging through the help file. I don’t want to browse the entire network, that’s why I’m looking for _MY_ Network Places. _MY_ Network Places are seven fathoms deep, I don’t want to navigate there from the top every time. I also don’t want to map each of these folders as a network drive; this isn’t practical. For the time being I’ve mapped a few folders that contain more folders that I need, but this is inconvenient for a several reasons, not least of which is the added delay in booting up Windows when I am not connected to my corporate network. Am I SOL here? I liked being able to select from all of my usual save locations with one drop-down menu, without cluttering up my drive listing and adding fifteen minutes to my boot time, and can’t really imagine that this useful functionality has completely vanished. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/2 "2008-05-01T16:55:57Z")
You do know you can drag and drop, right? If you drag something into the Favorite links area, it will automatically create a shortcut. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/3 "2008-05-01T17:11:07Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] You do know you can drag and drop, right? If you drag something into the Favorite links area, it will automatically create a shortcut. [/QUOTE] I can’t save to a shortcut, though. I want to be able to _save_ to these folders from any application, as I could in XP. **Save –\> My Network Places -\> Postage Schedules** , etc. I miss that. I’m sure there must be a way to get that convenience back without running XP under VMWare. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/4 "2008-05-01T17:22:03Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] I can’t save to a shortcut, though. I want to be able to _save_ to these folders from any application, as I could in XP. **Save –\> My Network Places -\> Postage Schedules** , etc. I miss that. I’m sure there must be a way to get that convenience back without running XP under VMWare. [/QUOTE] If you have a shared folder on a computer on your network then it will show up in the network folder when you doubleclick that computer’s ID. If you then right click on the shared folder, you can map it as a drive on your PC. The shared folder would then show up as a drive (with a drive letter) on that PC anytime you wnet to save a file. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/5 "2008-05-01T17:28:54Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Am I SOL here? I liked being able to select from all of my usual save locations with one drop-down menu, without cluttering up my drive listing and adding fifteen minutes to my boot time, and can’t really imagine that this useful functionality has completely vanished. [/QUOTE] If anything is adding more than about 30 seconds to your boot time something is wrong or you are working on a machine that is inadequate to run vista. Most of the laptops being sold these days are just now nudging into the “reccomended” range. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/6 "2008-05-01T17:30:26Z")
Gah, ignore my post… I totally missed your section on not wanting to map drives. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/7 "2008-05-01T17:37:05Z")
Agh! There’s no Network Places on Vista?!? Yet another reason to stick with XP. Mapped drives suck. I use them for a few, specific folders. I’ve got 40 NP, most of which are fairly high-level, from which I browse down to the specific area I need at the time. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/8 "2008-05-01T18:00:43Z")
You can use [mklink.exe](http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/22/create-symbolic-links-hard-links-and-directory-junctions-in-vista-with-mklink/) to create a symbolic link in your Documents folder pointing to the network folder. Then when you go to save something, open the Documents folder then the linked folder. You can have as many as you want. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/9 "2008-05-01T21:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] You can use [mklink.exe](http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/22/create-symbolic-links-hard-links-and-directory-junctions-in-vista-with-mklink/) to create a symbolic link in your Documents folder pointing to the network folder. Then when you go to save something, open the Documents folder then the linked folder. You can have as many as you want. [/QUOTE] Yes! That’s what I wanted to be able to do, exactly. Thank you so much. > [@drachillx](#): > > If anything is adding more than about 30 seconds to your boot time something is wrong or you are working on a machine that is inadequate to run vista. Most of the laptops being sold these days are just now nudging into the “reccomended” range. “Boot time” is a bit of a misnomer. Adding a network drive will create a delay at logon if you’re not connected to the expected network, as Windows tries to mount each network drive. “Drive Z? You there? No? How ‘bout now? Now? Aw, forget about it. Drive Y? Ya there? Y? Come on, drive Y! Aw, crap. Come on, drive X. Drive X, anybody home? Now? No drive X, I guess. Drive W, that’d be right over… uh… W? On the john, maybe? I’ll just give you a few seconds to zip up. W? Right then, how about good ol’ reliable Drive V? Drive V…” ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/10 "2008-05-01T21:17:23Z")
Maybe I’m missing something, but I think what your asking can be done easily. My vista machine is at home (I’m at work). I’ll check it out when I get home. It probably doesn’t matter, but what version of Vista are you running? OH! Did you tell Vista to allow access to shared folders on the network via the Network Connections Center? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-places-in-vista/447632/11 "2008-05-01T22:29:08Z")
[QUOTE=Flander] Maybe I’m missing something, but I think what your asking can be done easily. [/QUOTE] Yes, relatively. What used to be built into the GUI of XP can now be duplicated in Vista by running the command console in administrator mode, and then typing in[spoiler] C:>CD Users\LMUDD\DOCUME~1\NETWOR~1 C:\Users\LMUDD\DOCUMENTS\NETWORK SPOTS FFS>MKLINK /D Postage J:\STAFF\ADMINI~1\LMUDD\WORKFI~1\REPORTS\POSTAGE\2008\ symbolic link created for Postage \<====\> J:\STAFF\ADMINISTRATION\LMUDD\WORKFILES\REPORTS\POSTAGE\2008\ C:\Users\LMUDD\DOCUMENTS\NETWORK SPOTS FFS> [/spoiler] Easy-peasy, and the end result is _almost_ the same. (I can live with one extra click.) I do feel sorry for those people who miss having “Network Places” that work and _haven’t_ been comfortably working with PCs since the halcyon CLI-only days of the mid-eighties and don’t have a pool of better-informed geeks to appeal to when they _still_ can’t work it out, though.