Question

Is it possible to give a network drive mapping (as created with the WNetAddConnection functions or “Map network drive…” GUI) a label other than the default “<Target Name> (<Target Path>) (<Drive Letter>:)” one?

I tried giving SetVolumeLabel a go but this always fails, and I see nothing in the WNet API’s to specficy the display label.

Answer 1

This isn’t a 100% solution but it’s more of an answer than a comment…

If you rename a mapped network drive the the GUI (by right clicking on it and going to ‘Rename’) it adds a value to the registry. Reading round on various sites (notably this one) it looks like Windows may sporadically delete this value by itself, so this may not be a permanent solution…

I have just manually done it through regedit and it worked in the GUI, so I see no reason why it shouldn’t work programmatically as well

Add a string value called _LabelFromReg with a value of whatever you want the label to be to the registry key

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2\##<server-name>#<share-name>

This key should already exist if you have already created the share.

Apparently (see the link above) you then need to make that key read-only to prevent the OS from changing it back at will – I don’t know how you would do that programmatically but i’m sure it can be done.

I know there are huge gaps in this answer, but maybe it’s a poke in the right direction?