The shared folder lives on the accounts PC, but you sign in there as "accounts", not as yourself. A mapped drive with its own credentials solves it once, properly - no daily password typing, no shortcut that forgets.
Mapping a drive the manual way through Explorer works until it does not: the saved password option hides, the wrong username gets remembered, or the drive vanishes after every reboot. The net use command is the technician version - it states the server, the share, the exact username, and whether the mapping should survive a reboot, all in one line you can read, save, and reuse on every PC in the office. This guide covers the syntax piece by piece, the safe way to handle the password prompt, how to make the mapping persistent, and how to remove mappings cleanly when they go stale.
The star at the end makes Windows ask for the password interactively - it is never typed in plain sight or stored inside a script file.
Every part of the line has one job. Once you can read it, you can adapt it to any office without guessing.
net use Z: - the drive letter to create; pick one high in the alphabet so USB drives never collide with it\\ACCOUNTS-PC\Data - the server and share name; the IP address works too and is often more reliable in small offices/user:ACCOUNTS-PC\accounts - the username as the server knows it: server name, backslash, account name. For a Microsoft account on the server, the form is /user:MicrosoftAccount\[email protected]* - ask me for the password now, hidden, instead of taking it written in the command/persistent:yes - reconnect this drive automatically at every sign-innet use is honest but strict: it refuses to create a second identity on the same server (error 1219) and refuses a letter that is already taken. Two minutes of cleanup first saves the error messages.
net use and read the existing connectionsnet use Z: /delete for a letter, or net use \\ACCOUNTS-PC\Data /delete for an unlettered connectionA mapping with /persistent:yes reconnects at sign-in using the saved credential. When a persistent drive shows a red cross or asks for the password every morning, the saved credential is stale or missing - the drive is fine.
You will see forum examples with the password typed directly in the line: net use Z: \\SERVER\Share password123 /user:x. Do not copy that habit. The command sits in your Command Prompt history, in any batch file you save, and on screen for anyone passing by. The * prompt exists precisely so the password is asked, hidden, and stored by Windows in the credential vault instead of in your text files. Same rule for login scripts shared across the office - they must prompt or use saved credentials, never contain a readable password.
Staff change, servers get renamed, shares move. A mapping left behind points at a ghost and slows every Explorer window that tries to wake it.
net use Z: /deletenet use * /deleteThe whole troubleshooting run, live on screen - the same order a technician follows on site.
▶️ Watch Full VideoIt was mapped without /persistent:yes, or with persistence off in a one-time session. Delete it and map again with /persistent:yes, and make sure the credential is saved in Credential Manager so the reconnect does not stop at a password prompt.
No - Windows enforces one username per server per session (error 1219). Use one server account whose permissions cover both folders. That is a server-side permission design, set once on the sharing PC.
The result is the same connection; net use simply exposes every option explicitly, including the username form and persistence, and can be repeated identically on many PCs. For one PC either is fine; for an office standard, net use wins.