Can Automator mount a drive for me?

[TheBobcat]

Hey, quick question.

My college gives me 2gb of network storage I can access through going to Finder>Go>Connect To Server, etc. and mounts as a network drive.

I was wondering if automator can do this for me automatically every time I boot up, or at least make it quicker since I have to access it all the time. I know there's guides and whatnot on automator, but I can't for the life of me not figure the thing out. Any help would be mucho appreciated.

-Bobcat

 

[jsw]

It's pretty rough with OS X.

You need to do all of this:

• Mount the drive manually, as you described.
• Open up System Preferences...->Accounts.
• Click your account, go to the "Login Items" tab.
• Drag that mounted drive icon (on the Desktop) to the list.

Now it'll mount every time you log in, or let you know if it can't.

Sorry it's so labor intensive.

 

[Blubbert]

It should be able to. Try opening Automator, and type in server in the search field. Use the Get Specified Servers command and find the server you want to connect to, and then use the Connect to Servers command. Save it as an application and add it to the login items list located in System Preferences under User. I think that should do the trick, but i cannot test it myself, because i dont have any servers to connect to.

EDIT: Never mind, i was a tad late, and jsw's way is much easier anyways.

 

[TheBobcat]

Oh. Well, I guess I should have just asked that first. Thanks for your help...gotta shake the Windows paradigm of everything being a project...

 

[scottstephens84]

Thanks for The Info But Not Quite There

JSW...Your instructions were simple and flawless HOWEVER....

after this runs it leaves a Finder window open on my desktop of the drive that was mounted during login. How can I get that Finder window not to open?

Also, If anyone has any good ideas how I can get the computer to ask a question first, such as "Are you connected to your network" before trying to mount the drive that would be superb as right now my thinking is that this will try mounting even when I am traveling and not connected and then I'll have to wait for it to time out.

Thoughts?

 

[jeremy.king]

after this runs it leaves a Finder window open on my desktop of the drive that was mounted during login. How can I get that Finder window not to open?

I used Applescript to mount my shares - ompiled as run only app and set as login item. I also put it in Applications in case I need to reconnect. Works well and no Finder windows...

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/4944059/

 

[scottstephens84]

Saw The Script BUT....

I used Applescript to mount my shares - ompiled as run only app and set as login item. I also put it in Applications in case I need to reconnect. Works well and no Finder windows...

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/4944059/

I saw the script you were referring to and tried editing it appropriately using Script Editor but can't get it to work. I am getting the following error when I try running it:

"Finder got and error: Network file permission error."

Any insight would be great.

 

[richard.mac]

Hey, quick question.

My college gives me 2gb of network storage I can access through going to Finder>Go>Connect To Server, etc. and mounts as a network drive.

I was wondering if automator can do this for me automatically every time I boot up, or at least make it quicker since I have to access it all the time. I know there's guides and whatnot on automator, but I can't for the life of me not figure the thing out. Any help would be mucho appreciated.

-Bobcat

why dont you just add the network drive to you login items?

 

[jeremy.king]

I saw the script you were referring to and tried editing it appropriately using Script Editor but can't get it to work. I am getting the following error when I try running it:

"Finder got and error: Network file permission error."

Any insight would be great.

What kind of network share are you connecting to? Windows, Apple, Linux? You need to make sure the protocol matches what is being shared (and how) and that you enter the correct username and password for that machine that is sharing. Windows traditionally uses SMB (aka Samba) and Apple usually uses AFP, Linux can use a variety of protocols such as SMB/CIFS or NFS and others - so can Windows and OS X...

Mac server example:

afp://myusername:mypassword@mymacserver/myshare

or Windows server example:

smb://mywindowsusername:mywindowspassword@mywindowsserver/myshare

 

[merl1n]

I wouldn't recommend putting any link to auto mounting the network drive in you login items.

The reason being is that anytime (even at home) you login, it will be searching for that drive (even though you are not on that network) and greatly delay your login process (you'll have to wait for a timeout which could take many minutes) if it can't find the network or network drive.

Instead, create the applescript as a compiled application and put a link in your dock. This will give you full control to mount it when you want to.

 

[scottstephens84]

Thanks BUT....

I wouldn't recommend putting any link to auto mounting the network drive in you login items.

The reason being is that anytime (even at home) you login, it will be searching for that drive (even though you are not on that network) and greatly delay your login process (you'll have to wait for a timeout which could take many minutes) if it can't find the network or network drive.

Instead, create the applescript as a compiled application and put a link in your dock. This will give you full control to mount it when you want to.

There's got to be some sort of "happy medium". Isn't there some script I can write that will agument the original script provided earlier that will first see if I'm connected to the network, whether the drive is accessible and then try and mount AND if either the nework isn't available and/or the drive isn't accessible for mounting then the script will automatically end without having to wait for it to time out? Does anyone know what this script would look like? It would be very useful.