How to Map a Shared Drive to fileshare.msu.edu on macOS

Objective

Following these steps will connect your macOS machine to a network drive on fileshare.msu.edu.

Environment

macOS

Before You Begin

If you are mapping drives from off-campus, you will need to connect to the MSU campus VPN before following these instruction. You can find instructions how to connect a macOS machine to the VPN in KB 28 (link).

As of 6-13-2024: There's a known error with using the hostname to connect to FileShare. However, you can use either of the following IP addresses to connect directly instead of using the hostname: 

  • 35.9.81.2
  • 35.9.81.3

Steps

  1. On the desktop Dock, click the Finder icon.
  2. On the Finder menu, click Go.
  3. In the Go menu, select Connect to Server (alternately, press [command]+[K] on your keyboard).
  4. In the Server Address field of the Connect to Server'dialog box, enter the desired server/share preceded by smb://
    Screenshot
    • IT Services: smb://fileshare.msu.edu/itservices (general storage for IT Services). (When you connect to the IT Services drive, the Department, Team and Personal Folder will also connect.)
    • Department: smb://fileshare.msu.edu/itservices/departments name, where department name is the name of your IT Services team (for example, ContentAndCollaboration).
    • Team: smb://fileshare.msu.edu/itservices/departments/teamname, where department tname/teamname is the name of your IT Services team (for example, ContentAndCollaboration/Desktop Support).
    • Personal Folder: smb://fileshare.msu.edu/itservices/Home/NETID, where NETID is your MSU NetID (may have to be entered in all capital letters).
    • Software: smb://fileshare.msu.edu/software (commonly-used application installation files).
  5. Click the Connect button.
  6. When prompted, select the Registered User radio button option in the Connect as field.
  7. Enter your MSU Net ID prefix in the Name field.
  8. Enter your password in the Password field.
    Screenshot
  9. Click Connect.
  10. Click Finder and select Preferences.
  11. Check to fill Connected servers.
    Screenshot
  12. Click on the red dot to close the window.
  13. The mappings will appear on the desktop.

Additional Info

N/A

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