File sharing is one of the widely used services that we have at work. The file server is running Windows 2000 operating system which is part of a domain. Using the file sharing service requires the user to login first to the domain. This kind of solution opens some other non-standard port on the file server which pose security threat that is usually used by virus attack.

There is an alternative way to have Windows mapped drive of network resources via FTP. This is supported by the newer Windows Vista operating system, but the earlier versions of Windows like Windows 9x, Windows 2000, and Windows XP does not support map drive through FTP. There is, however, a free utility provided by Novell (netdrive.exe) that allows mapping of a network drive to a Windows File Server via FTP. If the Windows server have WebDAV server installed then one can even map drive using http protocol.

This is a solution of providing Windows file sharing across network without compromising security. A much secure way of mapping drive.