UNC, or
Universal Naming Convention, was created to allow for a unique name for each object shared on a
network.
Microsoft Windows and
Novell NetWare use these primarily.
A UNC address is in the format
\\server-name\share-name.
Many programs do not support UNC addresses, and as such workarounds have been developed to allow UNCs to be mapped as
drive letters, called
network drives. To map a UNC to a network drive, the command-line command is
net use j: \\server-name\share-name. The mapped drive,
j:, then functions as a normal drive on the
computer.