How to map a folder to a drive letter on Windows
Overcome the Windows path length limit, fix issues with linked files and avoid long browsing times by mapping a commonly used folder to a drive letter.
Whether you reached the path length limit on Windows by having a deep folder structure or you work in a team using Dropbox and everyone has their Dropbox folder in a different place, you can map the drive letter. This will show up next to all drives and look like an actual hard drive.
Useful utilities for your workflow
Method 1: Windows CMD
When you don’t want to rely on other software and when you are not afraid of writing commands, you can use the Windows command prompt (CMD).
- Press the Windows Key
- Type CMD and press Enter
- Type “subst” and press space
- Type your drive letter and a “:” e.g. Z: and press space again
- Drag the folder into the command prompt which you want to map as a drive
- Press Enter
Remove the drive
You can also remove that drive by typing the following CMD command. “subst” your drive letter “:” “/D” e.g.
The “/D” deletes the mapped drive. It only removes the mapping and does not touch the folder.
Method 2: Anchorpoint
If you don’t want to mess with the command line, then Anchorpoint is a suitable solution for you. Anchorpoint is a collaborative file browser that is bundled with a lot of productivity utilities.
- Download Anchorpoint, create an account and launch the application
- Open “Workspace Settings”
Under “Actions”, enable “Map Folder as Drive”
- Browse to your folder
- Right click and choose “Map as Drive”
Pick your drive letter and press “Map”
Remove the drive
- Do a right click anywhere in the browser and choose “Unmap Drive”
- Pick your mapped drive and press “Unmap”
Anchorpoint uses the Windows API, so the effect is exactly the same. Drives are still being mapped when restarting the computer.
