Problem

This article provides a resolution to the issue where mapped drives show in Windows Explorer but do not show in the SolidWorks File Open menu.  For example, in Windows Explorer, the mapped drive Engineering(Z:) is shown on this system:

However, navigating to File>Open in SolidWorks, we can see that the mapped drive is not shown:

This issue occurs if User Account Control (UAC) is enabled. UAC treats members of the Administrators group as standard users. Therefore, network shares that are mapped by logon scripts are shared with the standard user access token instead of with the full administrator access token.  If SolidWorks is then launched with the full administrator token, the drives will not show. A more detailed explanation is offered on the Microsoft Website:

Some Programs Cannot Access Network Locations When UAC Is Enabled

Solution

To fix this issue, add the EnableLinkedConnections registry value. This allows Windows to share network connections between the filtered and full administrator access tokens for Administrators group members. After setting this, LSA checks for a linked access token in the current user session and adds the network share to it if found.

Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any data on the computer. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

When going into the Registry Editor, do not modify or delete anything except what is listed below. If you do not feel comfortable performing the steps listed below, please contact Technical Support.

Follow the steps below to add the EnableLinkedConnections registry value: