Universal Naming Convention (UNC)
Quote from: http://compnetworking.about.com/od/windowsnetworking/g/unc-name.htm
UNC Name Syntax
UNC names identify network resources using a specific notation. UNC names consist of three parts - a server name, a share name, and an optional file path. These three elements are combined using backslashes as follows:
- \\server\share\file_path
The share portion of a UNC name references a label created by an administrator or, in some cases, within the operating system. In most versions of Microsoft Windows, for example, the built-in share nameadmin$ refers to the root directory of the operating system installation (usually C:\WINNT or C:\WINDOWS).
The file path portion of a UNC name references the local subdirectories beneath the share point.
Or to be more exact, you can understand it this way:
\\servername\sharename\path\filename
UNC Name Examples
Consider a standard Windows XP computer named teela. In addition to the built-in admin$ share, say you have also defined a share point called temp that is located at C:\temp. Using UNC names, you would connect to folders on teela as follows:- \\teela\admin$ (to reach C:\WINNT)
- \\teela\admin$\system32 (to reach C:\WINNT\system32)
- \\teela\temp (to reach C:\temp)