UNC links

The Universal Naming Convention, or UNC, specifies a common syntax to describe the location of a network resource, such as a shared file, directory, or printer. The UNC syntax for Windows systems is as follows:

\\ComputerName\Shared Folder\Resource Name

UNCs differ from URLs in that they do not have a protocol: prefix and that they can contain embedded spaces. In corporate use of MediaWiki, it is often useful to paste a UNC from Windows Explorer directly into a wiki page.

How to link

Description	You type	You get
UNC link, with title	{{unc | \\ComputerName\Shared Folder\Resource Name | The resource}}	The resource
UNC link, unnamed	{{unc | \\ComputerName\Shared Folder\Resource Name}}	[1]

Installation

Install the ParserFunctions extension. Follow installation instructions and add the optional "integrated string function functionality" line in LocalSettings.php by setting $wgPFEnableStringFunctions = true;. Install the extension StringFunctions (to enable #replace).

Add file:// to $wgUrlProtocols in LocalSettings.php :

array_push($wgUrlProtocols, "file://");

Create a template called Template:Unc (search for Template:Unc and click Create this page), and paste this text into the page content:

[file:///{{#replace:{{#replace:{{{1}}}| |%20}}|\|/}} {{#if:{{{2|}}}|{{{2}}}}}]

Browser compatibility

• With Internet Explorer on Windows UNC Links work without exception.
  • A recent patch applied to both IE8 and IE9 now requires the Wiki site to be in the Intranet Sites list for this to work correctly.
• With Firefox file:/// links are disabled by default when appearing in non-local webpages. See: Manual:$wgUrlProtocols and this mozillaZine article for how to enable them.
  • The mozillaZine article referenced is somewhat dated. Use the Local Filesystem Links add-on for current versions of Firefox.
• For Google Chrome file:/// links are also disabled. They can be enabled using the enable-local-file-links extension.

See also

• Help:Links
• w:Path (computing)