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 by setting $wgPFEnableStringFunctions = true;. 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 [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Links_to_local_pages_don%27t_work this mozillaZine article] for how to enable them.
 * The mozillaZine article referenced is somewhat dated. Use the [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/local-filesystem-links/ Local Filesystem Links] add-on for current versions of Firefox.


 * For Google Chrome file:/// links are also disabled. They can be enabled using the [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/locallinks/jllpkdkcdjndhggodimiphkghogcpida LocalLinks] extension.