"The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password", when trying to connect to a drive remotely.

Anonymous
2010-11-08T20:31:13+00:00

Original Title: The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password.__To connect using a different user name and password, first disconnect any existing mappings to this network share.

I am trying to connect to a drive remotely. I have clicked to map to the drive, entered the name of the drive, entered the login name/password for the computer it resides on and then it give me this error message:The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password. To connect using a different user name and password, first disconnect any existing mappings to this network share.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2010-12-22T17:45:15+00:00

In Windows 7 Enterprise, I would like to point out that if you map \\server1\share1 as drive letter X using "user1" and "password1", then try to map \\server1\share2 (a different share) as drive letter Y using the same "user1" and "password1", and you click the "connect using different credentials" checkbox in the Map Network Drive dialog box and specify "user1" and "password1", you will get this INCORRECT ERROR MESSAGE that says "The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password". 

The message is wrong because:

  1. The network folder specified (share2 in my example) is not mapped at all, and
  2. the server ("server1" in my example) is already mapped (to a different drive letter and different share) using the SAME userid and password. 

The error message is wrong on two counts!

This baffled me for a while until I realized that once you have mapped to "server1" using those credentials, you can map to different shares on the same server without re-specifying the credentials.  This is NOT CLEAR from the "Map Network Drives" dialog box, which leads to users (like me, and I'm a programmer by trade) trying to enter the credentials again and getting this incorrect error message.

David Walker

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-05-07T12:44:46+00:00

    Thank you for clarifying this! Totally confusing, I was going nuts.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-16T00:53:27+00:00

    Open powershell and list mapped drives by running the following

    ps: Get-PSDrive *

    ps: Remove-PSDrive -Name "named the mapped drive"

    ps:

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-18T22:30:26+00:00

    THANK YOU!

    I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to connect these obvious dots, it took your answer to point out what was staring me in the face. I probably spent a few hours trying all kind of things to clear up this error, even going so far as digging through the registry for any errant setting. And then there was this one lone drive mapping, totally unrelated, pointing to a totally different location on the same device I was trying to map to... I don't think Microsoft's code of conduct will allow me to write out what I blurted out when I saw that.

    It once again reinforces what I actually already knew; don't take Microsoft's error messages on face value. They are clues at best, not information.

    Again, thank you David.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-11-03T12:40:24+00:00

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