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.

Installation
Install the ParserFunctions extension. Follow installation instructions and add the optional "integrated string function functionality" line in LocalSettings.php. This eliminates the need for installing the extension StringFunctions.

Add the following to LocalSettings.php: array_push($wgUrlProtocols, "file://");

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

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 LocalLinks extension.