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The short form of the question:

I have a shared folder on a computer with a fixed static IP address, a known share name, and a local user account which has read access to the share.

Normally, I would connect to the share using \\10.0.1.1\ShareName and logon credentials of ComputerName\UserName.

Is there anyway to access the share if I know the local user account name, but I do not have the computer name?

Long, Detailed Explanation:

(I am also willing to try workarounds or alternate configurations).

I have a fleet of Windows 7 Pro laptop computers all of which need to have XP Mode (using Windows Virtual PC) to run some legacy software.

We need the ability to share files between the host and the virtual client, but also, cannot use Integration features, because the legacy software requires full screen mode at the same time.

As a result, each host OS shares files with the client via standard network sharing (as opposed to tsclient in normal XP Mode configurations). Networking is accomplished via a Loopback Adapter on the host (thus the static IP address), because very often these computers are not connected to an external network at all.

On a single machine we have no trouble mapping a network drive in the virtual XP. Simply connect to the folder at \\IP Address\ShareName and use the credentials of a specially created account on the host.

For deployment, however, I have many laptops with different computer names. This would require manually configuring the mapped network drives on each of the virtual XP guests to use the correct fully-qualified account name.

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nicholas
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2 Answers2

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In my experience you can connect to network share of non-domain machine with localhost\username or ip\username form.

I have tried connecting to one of my win 2008 servers to c$ share with localhost\administrator and it worked.

I Tried it to both a non-domain and domain win 2008 server it works for localhost\administrator in both cases

Don't have a win xp machine to try right now but I don't remember it to be different

Also you might check this: Is there a specific name for the ".\" (dot-slash) shorthand used to log onto a Windows machine?

So you can either use localhost\username or .\username

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ralz
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    I know it's a long shot, but has this changed in Win10? I'm on `worksationName` trying to connect to a network share on `serverName`, passing the account as ".\username". In the credential dialog, as soon as I type ".\" it changes the "Domain:" to `workstationName`, i.e. the computer where I'm sitting, not the server. Did the meaning of ".\" change? – Coderer Jul 02 '18 at 16:27
  • This still works in windows 10 and 11, bless you beautiful stranger – Echostorm May 24 '23 at 15:39
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*\username works .\username is just your local hostname not the remote workstation.

Fred
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