all students in our university have an FTP account for file storage.
So access to FTP server is the thing that I do it everday.

Therefore, I configure my Windows XP to map to the FTP server as a drive.
Here are the step that I take:

1. use NSLOOKUP to find out what the ip address of the FTP site:


write down the ip address that was shown.
in this case, it is 64.243.64.21

2. Open the LMHOSTS file
it is inside the folder c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc

Add the following line:


the format is: <ip address> CuteFTP #PRE

3. Save the file

4. Run CMD.EXE. Enter the following command:

you will see this message: Successful pureg and preload of the NBT Remote Cache Name Table.

5. Then enter the following command:

You should see information on the site

6. Now you can map it to a drive (to share data)
net use * \\CuteFTP\data /user:anonymous

This it. simple!!??

Damn cool trick man Good one.

I've read an article before which teaches you how to do the same thing to a Gmail account, such that you can store your files on your Gmail account as though it's a hard disk which can be accessible from the Internet anywhere, and the files are organized like in a hard disk. I think it's cool to be able to access your files from anywhere in the world, with a connection to the web.

There is a program to do that .. and it modifies the system shell to do so .. i think they stopped development a year ago .. so dunt know if they have any updates to it .. but anyhow .. it works fine .. its like a virtual harddisk on the net .. with upload capacity of 10MB only uggghh .. lol .. storage as u know is 1GB+

Hmmm, I'll have to try this out tonight when I get home after work. Good stuff

Hey this is great. I just set up a link to my uni space. Saves having to open an ftp client every time i need to upload files. Thanks for the tip. I had heard about the gmail thing quite a long time ago but it was only in early stages and wasn't working all that well. I might have to give that one a go in the near future, I dont really have much use for it at the moment.

hi, all,

I dont think so that, ftp could be mapping with net command. coz net command are using smb protocol, on the other hand, ftp is using ftp protocol. is that the target host is a windows server or is running samba?

What does #PRE mean ?

does this only work with cuteftp, would it work with smartftp? or just on its own. cuteftp costs money now as far as i can see from its website.

Now I know what #PRE means : it means "Preload it at boot time".
Unfortunately, this method does not work on our private network between my private ftp server and my own PC.
And it does not work home from my pc to astahost acting as ftp server.
This seems to mean that something else than inserting a line in lmosts has to be done on a freshly installed Microsoft Windows client system, or on the Unix ftp server.