Windows 10X and Mapped network drives

I briefly talked about Windows 10X at the Adelaide Office 365 User Group February meeting, Microsoft are building a new version of Windows 10, titled currently, Windows 10X.

There have been some screenshots released, but the point of this post, is to highlight a key feature, which will affect SharePoint Users… who rely on Mapped Drive functionality.

This functionally, relies on a technology called, WebDAV, an old, slow but useful technology, which for many years how allowed users to access files (and map drives) within SharePoint document libraries, via Windows Explorer (aka the shell).

Taken from Windows Central:

“This also means that legacy shell elements, such as the Control Panel, File Explorer, and error dialogs and icons are gone on Windows 10X. As Microsoft has rebuilt the entire shell, it doesn't include any of the legacy things that makes Windows 10 so inconsistent when it comes to UI. The Windows Shell on Windows 10X should be much more consistent.” - from https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10x

What does this mean for Mapped network drives / WebDAV?

Its not exactly clear what this means, BUT there are some things which have become clear :-

WebDAV and how the whole ‘talking to SharePoint to show as Windows File Explorer’ technology is connected to Windows Shell, its more than likely the case that such features are not going to be in Windows 10X.

WebDAV is a technology which was built in a different era, for a different purpose and has been retro-fitted to SharePoint.

I am expecting that OneDrive for business is going to be the official path forward as O365 is currently using that for document library sync’ing with client computers, This does come with its own set of hurdles.

OneDrive for business is where it is at for document libraries. Its not hard to imagine a future version of OneDrive which supports versioning, views and all the cool kid features of SharePoint!

If your using SharePoint Online/Office 365, its also time to take control of OneDrive for business and build it into your IT operational plan.

So keep watching this space and for any more information or details regarding the Windows 10X file explorer and shell replacement!

Self-plug – I have written a software package, which integrates with Windows Explorer – SharePoint Shell Extensions

It adds SharePoint features (such as Check-in/Checkout/Publishing/Security/metadata) in the right click menu – Called SharePoint Shell Extensions it can be found at https://sse.technology/