Brilliant! Worked the treat, as advertised. Hello, Codrut. I have been trying for some months – if not a few years – to figure out how to prevent disconnected drives from showing up in Windows 10 File Explorer. I have NO intention of manually editing the registry on my PC, and none of the other methods seemed of any use. I finally stumbled across you post re: executing the following commands in Powershell:
Nothing works for me. Especially taskkill – because my drive is not a process and it does not have a pid. It is a network drive yhat does not have a letter, just the name. It is not listed in the list of networks, and “net use * /delete” does not work, because the list of networks is empty.
Hello, I have a some not trivial configuration: a network drive with a usb drive connected to it. In my windows 10 I can see both the network drive ans the another drive connected to it. For some reason the icon for this additional drive starts to repeat itself with additional numbers attached to it. First it was Seagate 1, then Seagate 1 and Seagate 2 and so on. Currently 14 of them with only the last actually working. I do not know why this happened and even less how to delete all this phantom icons. They are not mapped to a letter: I see them in the File Explorer/Network. I actually dismounted and physically removed them from my network drive using WD My Cloud administrative panel. However they are still visible in Windows. Please help.
Lev Tannen
mapped folder from an old server gets freezed on a Win10 system . All other win10 systems in the network are able to connect. Removing using the above steps helps but again the same thing happens with the next update of win 10!!!
You’re absolutely right. We recently moved our website from Drupal to WordPress and backslashes from posts seem to have been lost during the process. We fixed it for this article and we’ll soon check all the others. Thank you for pointing this out!
No matter what I try, Windows will not let me map a network drive to drive letter Z. Any other letter is fine, just not Z. I had no issues with Z before today. In the Map Network Drive window, as soon as I click on Finish, a dialogue box flashes too fast to be able to read. Nothing seems to give me the ability to re: use the drive letter Z again.
Hi, if you’re comfortable using the Registry Editor (regedit), you might want to check whether the Z letter is shown at this location: ComputerComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERNetworkZ. If it shows up in there, backup your registry, then delete the Z key folder from the registry, reboot your computer, and try remapping the drive.
I tried everything in order suggested in this post and still, the network icons remained in the “network locations” section. When I arrived at the very last suggestion, I tried it and finally, the icons disappeared!
“restart the explorer.exe process by using Powershell or Command Prompt to run these two commands: taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe and explorer.exe.”
I mapped a network drive inside of my home but when I took my laptop to the office, the drive had a red X on it. I deleted the mapped drive. When I tried to remap the drive, I receive an error stating “Network path not found”. However, I mapped the network drive on another computer and it worked perfectly. How can I get my original computer to map the drive again?
I have a mapped drive and can not delete it. It is not connected and has a red x on the icon. If i select it I get “O: refers to a location that is unavailable…” If I right click it does not have an option to “Delete”. I looked in the directory mentioned and it does not show up, I ran the command line to delete and got the message “The network connection could not be found”
From all indications it is not there but I still see it in Explorer. How do I get rid of it? (I did do a restart)
I don’t know about y’all, but I added a drive to my Windows 7 SP1 laptop, but Windows Explorer froze every time I attempted to access it, right-click on it, or anything. I just disconnected from the internet, clicked on the server, and pressed the delete key on my keyboard. Just like that, it worked.
I HAVE A \MYBOOKLIVE THAT SHOWS UP IN SEARCH I CANNOT REMOVE. THE DRIVE WAS LONG AGO REMOVED. I HAVE TRIED METHODS HERE TO NO AVAIL. I GET CANNOT ACCESS ERRORS.
Had some issues and then noticed that the shortcuts are placed on your computer but the files are stored on the other computer. For my computer since it is XP, I had to go into the registry and delete the files
Here you will select all shares that you would like to get rid of and hit delete. Then restart the computer and check your network share. Hope this helps someone.
This worked for me! Also went into the current0001 as suggested by another user. Whichever one of these was The Way, I took both paths, and my problem got solved. Thanks, y’all
None of the above worked for me. The option to disconnect the drive did not appear.
Finally, I found it lurking in
HKLMSYSTEMControlSet001servicesLanManServerShares
I deleted it from there, restarted the PC, and at last the phantom was gone.
Nope, not helpful. My drive is not available, and in Microsoft’s infinite wisdom, you cannot disconnect a network drive that is NOT there anymore. Wrap you head around that one. Of course there’s probably some other way around it, but come on really???
Sadly in order to delete the network connection in any of the above scenarios I have to still be connected to the network connection for it to be disconnected, otherwise it just tells you that the network connection is unavailable and leaves the connection in the network connection location.
40 Responses to “How to delete a mapped network drive from Windows (5 ways)”
Net use * /delete worked for me. Cheers!
Brilliant! Worked the treat, as advertised. Hello, Codrut. I have been trying for some months – if not a few years – to figure out how to prevent disconnected drives from showing up in Windows 10 File Explorer. I have NO intention of manually editing the registry on my PC, and none of the other methods seemed of any use. I finally stumbled across you post re: executing the following commands in Powershell:
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
explorer.exe
Many Thanks,
Larry O.
Thank u so much. It worked for me! My laptop was constantly freezing due to this. U saved me. TYSM!
Nothing works for me. Especially taskkill – because my drive is not a process and it does not have a pid. It is a network drive yhat does not have a letter, just the name. It is not listed in the list of networks, and “net use * /delete” does not work, because the list of networks is empty.
Nothing else was worked except taskkill. That did the trick. Thank you
Glad to help
Hello, I have a some not trivial configuration: a network drive with a usb drive connected to it. In my windows 10 I can see both the network drive ans the another drive connected to it. For some reason the icon for this additional drive starts to repeat itself with additional numbers attached to it. First it was Seagate 1, then Seagate 1 and Seagate 2 and so on. Currently 14 of them with only the last actually working. I do not know why this happened and even less how to delete all this phantom icons. They are not mapped to a letter: I see them in the File Explorer/Network. I actually dismounted and physically removed them from my network drive using WD My Cloud administrative panel. However they are still visible in Windows. Please help.
Lev Tannen
mapped folder from an old server gets freezed on a Win10 system . All other win10 systems in the network are able to connect. Removing using the above steps helps but again the same thing happens with the next update of win 10!!!
Can anyone help???
Thanks. Restarting the explorer helped me.
One more comment regarding article. You can replace path to appdata with:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
You’re absolutely right. We recently moved our website from Drupal to WordPress and backslashes from posts seem to have been lost during the process. We fixed it for this article and we’ll soon check all the others. Thank you for pointing this out!
This will NEVER be a valid path:
UsersYour_User_NameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsNetwork
In “Map Network Drive” under the “Folder:” down arrow, there are drives that are no longer available. How does one delete these from that list?
working thanks
amazing, method 4 worked for me!
No matter what I try, Windows will not let me map a network drive to drive letter Z. Any other letter is fine, just not Z. I had no issues with Z before today. In the Map Network Drive window, as soon as I click on Finish, a dialogue box flashes too fast to be able to read. Nothing seems to give me the ability to re: use the drive letter Z again.
That’s a weird bug alright.
Hi, if you’re comfortable using the Registry Editor (regedit), you might want to check whether the Z letter is shown at this location: ComputerComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERNetworkZ. If it shows up in there, backup your registry, then delete the Z key folder from the registry, reboot your computer, and try remapping the drive.
How about instructions to remove mapped drives that are not available?
What an embarrassment to the blog-o-sphere.
We have an entire section called: “Troubleshoot network drives and locations that won’t go away”
I tried everything in order suggested in this post and still, the network icons remained in the “network locations” section. When I arrived at the very last suggestion, I tried it and finally, the icons disappeared!
“restart the explorer.exe process by using Powershell or Command Prompt to run these two commands: taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe and explorer.exe.”
Thanks!
You wanna add /y for yes confirmation or in batch file or it will ask no idea why it does’t when manually typing it into cmd
You can use the following to force close a network drive:
Net use x: /delete /y
X being your drive letter
is it possible to delete the mapped drive in my remotely located system?
Does disconnecting a mapped drive erase its contents? I mapped mine from my OneDrive account and am worried it will wipe it out.
I mapped a network drive inside of my home but when I took my laptop to the office, the drive had a red X on it. I deleted the mapped drive. When I tried to remap the drive, I receive an error stating “Network path not found”. However, I mapped the network drive on another computer and it worked perfectly. How can I get my original computer to map the drive again?
I have a mapped drive and can not delete it. It is not connected and has a red x on the icon. If i select it I get “O: refers to a location that is unavailable…” If I right click it does not have an option to “Delete”. I looked in the directory mentioned and it does not show up, I ran the command line to delete and got the message “The network connection could not be found”
From all indications it is not there but I still see it in Explorer. How do I get rid of it? (I did do a restart)
I don’t know about y’all, but I added a drive to my Windows 7 SP1 laptop, but Windows Explorer froze every time I attempted to access it, right-click on it, or anything. I just disconnected from the internet, clicked on the server, and pressed the delete key on my keyboard. Just like that, it worked.
I HAVE A \MYBOOKLIVE THAT SHOWS UP IN SEARCH I CANNOT REMOVE. THE DRIVE WAS LONG AGO REMOVED. I HAVE TRIED METHODS HERE TO NO AVAIL. I GET CANNOT ACCESS ERRORS.
I wasn’t able to delete a Network Shortcut too. Nothing worked from your list.
I did it like this to remove it:AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsNetwork Shortcuts
Go to: C:Users
Move the file with CTRL+x to another location.
😉
Thanks a lot !
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Had some issues and then noticed that the shortcuts are placed on your computer but the files are stored on the other computer. For my computer since it is XP, I had to go into the registry and delete the files
so the path would look like this
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/LanmanServer/Shares/
Here you will select all shares that you would like to get rid of and hit delete. Then restart the computer and check your network share. Hope this helps someone.
This worked for me! Also went into the current0001 as suggested by another user. Whichever one of these was The Way, I took both paths, and my problem got solved. Thanks, y’all
None of the situations described above work for me.
Didn’t help me either… Come on Drobo!
None of the above worked for me. The option to disconnect the drive did not appear.
Finally, I found it lurking in
HKLMSYSTEMControlSet001servicesLanManServerShares
I deleted it from there, restarted the PC, and at last the phantom was gone.
Nope, not helpful. My drive is not available, and in Microsoft’s infinite wisdom, you cannot disconnect a network drive that is NOT there anymore. Wrap you head around that one. Of course there’s probably some other way around it, but come on really???
Please use the instructions found in the sections about using the Command Prompt.
Sadly in order to delete the network connection in any of the above scenarios I have to still be connected to the network connection for it to be disconnected, otherwise it just tells you that the network connection is unavailable and leaves the connection in the network connection location.
Hi,
i am unable to disconnect/delete the map drive even though i am using above settings…
pls help me