auto mounting network drive

I need a way to automatically mount a network drive every time my mac mini boots. I use this mac to watch movies and such on my tv and do not have a keyboard or mouse hooked up. It is always running 24x7 but I do not want to have to hook up a keyboard and mouse every single time I boot up. How can I automatically get it to mount the drive when it boots? My iTunes library is on that network so this is a must.

Thank you.

Try this.

Mount the network drive...

Now...

Go to System Prefs>>> Accounts>>>> Login Items Tab

Drag the Network Drive icon in to the Login Items.

Restart the Mac and see if it Auto-Mounts.

If that doesn't work, I can give you an Automator application to do so. You would add the application to your startup or login item.

I use Automator apps because some network shares will not mount via alias. And like you, I do not want to go through hoops to mount a share.

... how do you navigate to the media you play on your tv, without a keyboard or mouse?

Giulio

I use the remote and front row. Works great. I will try RIDE's suggestion and if it doesn't work I will contact you.

giulio said:

If that doesn't work, I can give you an Automator application to do so. You would add the application to your startup or login item.

I use Automator apps because some network shares will not mount via alias. And like you, I do not want to go through hoops to mount a share.

Click to expand...

I'd be interested in the Automator script/app also. I use the drag to login items option now but would like to know how else this could be done. In AIX there is an automount file in /etc/filesystems, but I can't seem to find it in OS X.

Well this works on 2 of my 3 macs but the one it doesn't work on is the one I really need it too. Could this be because I log into my network wireless and on my other macs I plug it directly into my router?

XJ-linux said:

I'd be interested in the Automator script/app also. I use the drag to login items option now but would like to know how else this could be done. In AIX there is an automount file in /etc/filesystems, but I can't seem to find it in OS X.

Click to expand...

How-to Auto-Mount Network shares:


When the share or shares are mounted on the Desktop:


1) Drag the share/s icon/s from the Desktop/Finder Sidebar onto the Menubar of any Finder window

2) When you are disconnected from the network the icon will change to ?


3) When the Network connection is active again, click the ? to auto-mount the share

I prefer this method as I previously used the "Add To Log-In Items" way but didn't like the extra login time, or way the Share was always launched in a new Finder window ... this was too distracting for me.

So, besides adding items to the Finder Sidebar, you can also add them to the Finder Menubar ... to reposition an item in the Finder Menubar just press and hold Command as you move the icon either left or right along the menu or you can remove it this way too ... it'll disappear in a *puff* of virtual smoke.


#

Here is a repost of a Faq I made a long time ago. The problem it solved was different, but you'll get the same resolve. Instead of 'sidebar', think 'login item panel'...

Mac OS X is great in how it allows you to skin a cat in a multiple of ways. Something that frustrated me, though, is the Finder's Sidebar window. You can drag almost anything into it, and those items act like aliases. But what about mounted server shares? Nope. It will not let you drag a share into the Sidebar. So we are forced to use the 'Connect to Server' window. With Automator we can get around these annoyances.

Here's how to use Automator to work around this issue. Note that for a truly automated solution, you should first mount the share and store the credentials in Keychain. Once that's done (the share must be mounted, in any event), follow these steps:

1. Launch Automator, which will create a new workflow.
2. From the Finder Library, drag the Get Specified Servers Action into the workflow. Click the [+] and enter the address of your server. Something like cifs://server/share, then click Connect.
3. From the Finder Library, drag the Connect to Servers Action into the workflow. Be sure 'Use Results from Previous Action' is enabled in the URLs pulldown. (The following three steps are optional. They will open a Finder window focused on the mounted share and set the View for it.)
4. Add the Finder Action Get Specified Finder Items to the workflow. Click the [+] and select the share you want to automate mounting of. Click Open.
5. Drag Finder's Open Finder Items Action into the workflow. 'Open with' should be 'Default Application.'
6. To make sure the Finder honors your preferred view, drag Finder's Set Folder Views action into the workflow. Use the options to your liking.
7. Select Save As, and set the File Format to Application. I suggest saving it to your user's Applications (~/your_user/Applications) folder, and naming it with the share's name.
8. In the Finder, navigate to where you saved this Automator app. Drag the new app into the Finder's Sidebar window.

To test your new solution, unmount the share and then click the new application icon in the Sidebar. If the server was not mounted, it will mount. If it was already mounted, you wil not see any errors, and if you did the optional steps, you will be brought to the folder with the view set.

Notes:

• This is most useful on a network with a shared web server. You can share the directory that all of the website accounts are in. So instead of each website being an item in your sidebar, we can now have that share be the single item. When you mount the share, you see all of the websites.
• Based on the list of server types presented in the Connect to Server Automator action, it should work on basically any server you can connect to.