This article explains how to use the SMB compression feature when mapping a network drive in Windows 11.
Windows has a feature called SMB compression, which can reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the network by compressing it. This can be particularly useful if you frequently transfer large files or work with remote servers.
The SMB Compression feature is enabled by default. Howerver, if it is disabled and you want to re-enable it, you can use the steps below.
Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Then Type “optionalfeatures” (without quotes) and press Enter.
Scroll down to find “SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support” and expand it. Then Check the box next to “SMB 1.0/CIFS Client” and “SMB 1.0/CIFS Server“.
Click OK to save changes.
Use SMB compression when mapping network drives
As mentioned above, the SMB compression feature in Windows can reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the network by compressing them.
Here’s how to use it to map network drives and copy files faster.
Use the command format below to map a network drive with SMB compression.
net use * \\FILESERVER\SharedFolder /requestcompression:yes
For example, you will run the command below to map a network share on a HomePC computer with a shared Documents folder.
The star ( * )in the command will automatically assign a letter for the network drive.
net use * \\HomePC\Documents /requestcompression:yes
With the PowerShell app, use the command format below.
New-SmbMapping -LocalPath "Z:" -RemotePath "\\HomePC\Documents" -CompressNetworkTraffic $true
With Robocopy, use the command format below.
robocopy C:\HomePC\Documents \\DestinationPC\Path\To\Documents /compress
The steps above assume that there are already shared network locations and you want to map them.
Howerver, Windows also allows users to create new network shares with SMB compression built-in, so the compression feature is ready to use.
Run the commands below to create a new network share using the PowerShell app with the SMB compression feature.
The example below creates a new shared Documents folder in the user’s home directory of the user “GeekRewind” with SMB compression enabled.
New-SmbShare -Name "Documents" -Path "C:\Users\GeekRewind\Documents" -CompressData $true
For an existing shared folder without SMB compression, you can use the command to modify it to include the SMB compression feature.
Set-SmbShare -Name "Documents" -CompressData $true
That should do it!
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to use the SMB compression feature in Windows 11. If you find any errors above or have something to add, please use the comments form below.
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