How to Deploy Network Locations via Group Policy in Windows Server 2025

First, ensure you have the Group Policy Management Console available on your domain controller or administrative workstation. On Windows Server 2025, GPMC is integrated by default. For Windows 11 workstations, install the RSAT tools.

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Rsat.GroupPolicy.Management.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0

This command installs the latest RSAT Group Policy tools (version 10.3.0.0 as of March 2026). The installation takes 2-3 minutes and requires an internet connection.

Open Group Policy Management Console and create a dedicated GPO for network locations. This keeps your configuration organized and makes troubleshooting easier.

gpmc.msc

In the GPMC console:

1. Expand your domain in the left pane
2. Right-click on Group Policy Objects
3. Select New
4. Name your GPO: Network Locations - Department Shares
5. Click OK

The new GPO appears in the Group Policy Objects container. This GPO will contain all your network location configurations.

Now edit your GPO to add network location configurations. Right-click your new GPO and select Edit to open the Group Policy Management Editor.

Navigate to: User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Drive Maps

Right-click on Drive Maps and select New > Mapped Drive. This opens the New Drive Properties dialog where you'll configure your network location.

In the General tab, configure these settings:

• Action: Update (this creates or updates the connection without removing existing ones)
• Location: \\fileserver\department (replace with your actual UNC path)
• Reconnect: Checked (ensures the connection persists across logons)
• Label as: Department Share (friendly name users will see)
• Drive Letter: Select "Use" with no letter assigned for a pure network location

Click the Common tab in the Drive Properties dialog. This is where you'll configure which users receive this network location.

Check Item-level targeting and click the Targeting... button. This opens the Targeting Editor where you can specify conditions.

Click New Item and select targeting criteria:

For Security Group targeting:

1. Select Security Group
2. Click the ... button
3. Enter group name: Department-Users
4. Select User is a member of the security group

For Operating System targeting (Windows 11 only):

SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version LIKE "10.0%" AND BuildNumber >= "22000"

Also check Run in logged-on user's security context in the Common tab. This ensures the network location uses the user's credentials for access.

Close the Group Policy Management Editor and return to the main GPMC console. Now link your configured GPO to the appropriate Organizational Unit containing your target users.

In GPMC:

1. Navigate to your domain and expand the OU structure
2. Right-click the target OU (e.g., Departments or Users)
3. Select Link an Existing GPO...
4. Choose your Network Locations - Department Shares GPO
5. Click OK

The GPO link appears under the OU with a link icon. You can adjust the link order if you have multiple GPOs linked to the same OU.

Log into a Windows 11 client computer with a user account that meets your targeting criteria. Force a Group Policy update to apply the new settings immediately.

gpupdate /force /target:user

This command forces an immediate update of user policies. The output should show "User Policy update has completed successfully."

Log off and log back on to ensure the network location is properly established. After logging back in, open This PC in File Explorer.

Your network location should appear under the Network locations section with the label you specified (e.g., "Department Share"). Click on it to verify access to the shared folder.

Verify the connection using command line:

net use

This shows all active network connections. You should see your UNC path listed without a drive letter assignment.

Generate a detailed Group Policy report to confirm your network location policy is being applied correctly to the target user.

gpresult /h C:\temp\gpreport.html /user %username%

This creates an HTML report showing all applied policies for the current user. Open the report in a web browser and look for your GPO under "Applied GPOs."

For command-line verification:

gpresult /r /user %username%

This displays a summary showing applied GPOs and their settings. Your network location GPO should appear in the "Applied Group Policy Objects" section.

Check the Windows Event Viewer for any Group Policy errors:

eventvwr.msc

Navigate to Windows Logs > Application and look for events from source "Group Policy" with Event ID 1006 (successful application) or any error events.

If network locations aren't appearing or working correctly, follow these troubleshooting steps systematically.

Issue 1: Network location not appearing

Check if the GPO is linked to a user OU (not computer OU):

gpresult /scope:user /v

Verify the user is in the correct security group for item-level targeting:

whoami /groups | findstr "Department-Users"

Issue 2: Access denied errors

Test manual connection to verify permissions:

net use \\fileserver\department

If this fails, the issue is permissions, not Group Policy. Check NTFS and share permissions on the target folder.

Issue 3: Connection not persistent

Verify the "Reconnect" option is enabled in your GPO and check for conflicting Offline Files policies:

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC" /v Start

If the value is 4, Offline Files is disabled, which can cause persistence issues.