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Accessing Files on Local or Remote Disk Drives

Start your journey to the next level of network computing

If you use your remote computer as a file server, whether it's for storage or data security reasons, or simply find yourself having to upload and download files between computers frequently during a NoMachine session, why not connect the disk or drive? By forwarding a disk using NoMachine’s ‘Connect a disk’ feature, the contents of the remote or local operating system's disk are shared to or from the other computer. The remote and local systems can be Mac, Windows or Linux, it doesn’t matter. You can redirect local disk drives, including the hard disk drives, CD-ROM disk drives, and mapped network disk drives to the remote side, and vice-versa, meaning that when you connect, the connected disk will show up in the remote or local file explorer/manager, depending on which direction you forwarded it. Just follow the simple steps below.

Share the local disk to the remote computer

  • Start a connection from your computer to the remote computer you want to access.
  • Once connected, open the session menu (Ctrl-Alt-0).
  • Go to Devices and click on 'Connect a disk'.
  • Click on the disk you want to export and share.
Go to devices in the connection menu

Fig. 1 - Click on 'Connect a disk' in Devices

Select the disk you want to connect in the session

Fig. 2 - Select the local disk to share within your remote session

  • Enable 'Export this disk at session startup' if you want this to be automatically connected every time you run the session to the remote desktop (Fig. 3).
  • You can provide a unique name for this disk or folder for easier identification (e.g., My_Office_Documents) in the 'Export as' field. The disk will appear with this name in the file manager of the remote computer.
  • NoMachine also indicates the path to the disk so you can locate it easily.
You can rename the disk which will be shown on the remote host for easier identification

Fig. 3 - Rename the disk for easier identification on the remote desktop

  • Click Connect.
  • A green dot indicates that the disk has been successfully connected to the other computer.
  • You're done!
  • Close the session menu and browse to the file manager, or explorer, of the remote desktop. You will see the local disk or drive you just shared in the list of available resources.
Once connected a green dot will show up by next to the disk's icon in the session menu

Fig. 4 - A green dot indicates that the disk is available from within the session

Example of local disk visible on the remote host

Fig. 5 - The local disk renamed to My Office Documents appears in the file manager of the remote Windows desktop

Share the remote disk to the local computer

  • Follow the same steps as before, but click on the ‘Remote disk’ you want to import to the machine you are connecting from.
  • You can provide a unique name for this disk or folder for easier identification in the 'Import as' field. This is optional. The disk will appear with this name in the local file explorer, or file manager, of your computer. In the example below, the disk to be shared is Windows 'D:' partition.
Go to devices in the connection menu

Fig. 6 - Select 'D:' available on the remote Windows computer to connect that disk to your local desktop

  • Click Connect.
  • A green dot will show up by next to the remote disk's icon in the session menu.
  • You're done and you can close the session menu.
  • Now browse to the file manager, or explorer, of the computer you are connecting from. You will see the remote disk or drive you just shared in the list of available local resources.
Select the disk you want to connect in the session

Fig. 7 - The remote disk My Home Documents appears in the local desktop's file manager

NoMachine Is for Everybody

Free for personal use

NoMachine is freely available for everyone to download and install for personal use on any computer you need to remotely access. No strings attached. Use it to access all your files, display all your videos, play all your audio, edit your documents, as well as remotely assist and collaborate with friends or family.

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