The network connection does not exist: how to fix mapped drive errors

What the error means

Microsoft’s system error list gives code 2250 (ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED) the text This network connection does not exist. That’s what File Explorer shows when you right-click a mapped drive and choose Disconnect. The same code comes back from the command line worded differently: net use reports The network connection could not be found. with a hint to type NET HELPMSG 2250.

Either way, the drive letter you’re trying to remove isn’t attached to a live connection that your current session can see. The usual reasons are that it was mapped in a different session (for example from an administrator window), that File Explorer is still showing a mapping that has already gone, or that a leftover registry entry keeps a dead drive icon on screen. If you’re trying to set a drive up rather than remove one, see how to map a network drive.

Fix 1: Disconnect from a normal, non-admin window

This is the step most guides get backwards. Mapped drives belong to a particular sign-in session, and Microsoft explains that with User Account Control on, Windows creates two sessions for an administrator: one standard and one elevated. A drive mapped in one isn’t visible in the other. So a drive you mapped normally can’t be removed from an elevated Command Prompt, and the attempt can return this very error.

1. Press Win + R, type cmd and press Enter. Don’t choose Run as administrator.
2. Type net use and press Enter. You’ll see each drive letter, its share path and a status such as OK, Disconnected or Unavailable.
3. Remove the drive with net use Z: /delete, replacing Z: with your letter. To remove every mapping at once, use net use * /delete and confirm when asked.
4. If the drive isn’t listed here but was mapped from an administrator window, repeat the same commands in Command Prompt as administrator.

Some guides add a /force switch. It isn’t in Microsoft’s documentation for net use, so don’t rely on it.

Fix 2: Refresh File Explorer

If net use shows no entry for the letter but File Explorer still shows the drive, the icon is probably stale. Press F5 in This PC. If it’s still there, open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, find Windows Explorer on the Processes tab, right-click it and choose Restart. Signing out and back in has the same effect.

Fix 3: Remove it with PowerShell

PowerShell talks to the same mappings through the SMB cmdlets. In a normal PowerShell window, list them and then remove the one you don’t want:

Get-SmbMapping
Remove-SmbMapping -LocalPath "Z:" -UpdateProfile

Microsoft documents -UpdateProfile as removing the mapping persistently, so it isn’t re-created when the PC restarts. If you created the drive with New-PSDrive -Persist, Remove-PSDrive Z removes it as well.

Fix 4: Remove the leftover registry entries

When nothing above shifts a dead drive, its records can linger in your user profile. Export each key before deleting anything.

1. Press Win + R, type regedit and press Enter.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network. Saved (persistent) mappings are generally kept here as subkeys named after the drive letter. If there’s a subkey for your letter, right-click it, export it, then delete it.
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2. Find the entry for the share, which is named like ##server#share, and delete only that entry. Microsoft’s own fix for a stuck “Disconnected Network Drive” removes just the matching entry, not the whole MountPoints2 key as some guides suggest.
4. Close Registry Editor and restart the PC.

If a drive survives even this and you’re on a work PC, it may be created by a logon script or Group Policy, which will recreate it at every sign-in. Ask your IT team before changing it.

If drives vanish in admin windows

The flip side of Fix 1 is that apps you run as administrator can’t see your mapped drives. Microsoft documents a registry value that shares mappings between the two sessions: in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System, create a DWORD (32-bit) value named EnableLinkedConnections, set it to 1, and restart. Microsoft notes it doesn’t help when the UAC prompt is set to ask for credentials, because that creates yet another session.

If the drive won’t reconnect at sign-in

A related set of messages appears when Windows tries to restore drives as you sign in. Microsoft describes drives showing a red X in File Explorer, listed as Unavailable by net use, with a notification that says Could not reconnect all network drives. This can happen when the network or VPN isn’t up yet when Windows tries to connect. Opening the drive once the network is ready often reconnects it, and Microsoft’s article offers a script that remaps unavailable drives at logon or when a VPN connects.

If the sign-in message ends with The local device name is already in use. This connection has not been restored., another mapping already holds that letter. Remove it with Fix 1, then map the share again; our guide to the local device name is already in use covers that error in full. Old saved passwords can also interfere, so check Credential Manager under Windows Credentials for an entry for the server and update or remove it. If the server can’t be reached at all, see error 0x80070035, the network path was not found.

Related errors

Code	Message	What it usually means
85	The local device name is already in use.	The drive letter is already mapped to something
1202	The local device name has a remembered connection to another network resource.	A saved mapping for that letter points elsewhere
1219	Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed.	You’re connected to the same server with two different accounts
2401	This network connection has files open or requests pending.	Close files on the drive, then disconnect

The messages are quoted from Microsoft’s system error code pages. If other computers have disappeared from the Network view too, network computers not showing in File Explorer covers discovery problems.

Related guides

• How to map a network drive in Windows 10 (and Windows 11)
• Error 0x80070035 “The Network Path Was Not Found”: How to Fix It
• “The Local Device Name Is Already in Use”: How to Fix Mapped Drives
• Network computers not showing in File Explorer: how to fix it
• How to open Command Prompt as administrator in Windows 11 and 10

Official sources

• System error codes 1700 to 3999, including ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED (Microsoft Learn)
• Mapped drives are not available from an elevated prompt (Microsoft Learn)
• Mapped network drive may fail to reconnect (Microsoft Learn)