Working With the Universal Naming Convention UNC Path
Working With the Universal Naming Convention (UNC Path) GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Software & Apps > Windows 132 132 people found this article helpful
\\teela\admin$\system32 (to reach C:\WINNT\system32)
\\teela\temp (to reach C:\temp)
New UNC shares can be created through Windows Explorer. Just right-click a folder and choose one of the Share menu options to assign it a share name.
Working With the Universal Naming Convention (UNC Path)
An explanation of UNC path names in Windows
By Bradley Mitchell Bradley Mitchell Writer Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Illinois An MIT graduate who brings years of technical experience to articles on SEO, computers, and wireless networking. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on January 1, 2021 Reviewed by Chris Selph Reviewed by Chris Selph Chris Selph is a CompTIA-certified technology and vocational IT teacher. He also serves as network & server administrator and performs computer maintenance and repair for numerous clients. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Windows The Ultimate Laptop Buying Guide The Universal Naming Convention is the naming system used in Microsoft Windows for accessing shared network folders and printers on a local area network. Support for working with UNC paths in Unix and other operating systems use cross-platform file sharing technologies like Samba.UNC Name Syntax
UNC names identify network resources using a specific notation. These names consist of three parts: a host device name, a share name, and an optional file path. These three elements are combined using backslashes: \\host-name\share-name\file_pathThe Host-Name Section
The host-name portion of a UNC name can consist of either a network name string set by an administrator and maintained by a network naming service like DNS or WINS, or by an IP address. These hostnames normally refer to either a Windows PC or a Windows-compatible printer.The Share-Name Section
The share-name portion of a UNC pathname references a label created by an administrator or, in some cases, within the operating system. In most versions of Microsoft Windows, the built-in share name admin$ refers to the root directory of the operating system installation—usually C:\Windows but sometimes C:\\WINDOWS. UNC paths do not include Windows driver letters, only a label that may reference a particular drive.The File_Path Section
The file_path portion of a UNC name references a local subdirectory beneath the share section. This part of the path is optional. When no file_path is specified, the UNC path simply points to the top-level folder of the share. The file_path must be absolute. Relative paths are not allowed.How to Work With UNC Paths
Consider a standard Windows PC or Windows-compatible printer named Teela. In addition to the built-in admin$ share, say you have also defined a share point called temp that is located at C:\temp. Using UNC names, this is how you would connect to folders on Teela. \\teela\admin$ (to reach C:\WINNT)\\teela\admin$\system32 (to reach C:\WINNT\system32)
\\teela\temp (to reach C:\temp)
New UNC shares can be created through Windows Explorer. Just right-click a folder and choose one of the Share menu options to assign it a share name.