# Accessing a network folder without exposing username and password

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [May 13, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195 "2025-05-13T15:21:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![compuzak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71c47a/32.png) [@compuzak](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/compuzak)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195/1 "2025-05-13T15:21:55Z")

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Is there a way to give ignition access to a network drive without exposing the username and password?

I use the following command to grant the access, but I lose the access after the gateway is restarted. I had to add the command to a project startup script and it works great, but this exposes the username and password. Is there a way to accomplish what I am doing without exposing the user name and password? Short of manually issuing the command each time Ignition restarts (obviously this is certainly not ideal).

os.system("net use \\10.10.###.###\x\_scales password\_goes\_here /USER:10.10.###.###\sco")

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195/2 "2025-05-13T15:25:41Z")

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Configure the gateway service itself with a user name and password that has the desired network privileges. (Instead of the default `LOCAL_SYSTEM`.) Then use UNC paths everywhere in your gateway and it will Just Work™. This is the only reliable approach. (In windows. If you run your gateway on Linux, you can use autofs with suitable credentials storage.)

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195/3 "2025-05-13T15:26:39Z")

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I've recently started preaching this approach when working with the support team.

There's been a little pushback from customers who just love their drive letters, but this is the way.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![compuzak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71c47a/32.png) [@compuzak](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/compuzak)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195/4 "2025-05-13T16:40:15Z")

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Thank you, I use UNC paths only, so this approach will work great for me.

I will try this late tonight when we are done packing our main pack lines. I see how to add the user name to the Ignition service, and we have a service account setup in Active Directory that I can use, so I should be able to set this up. But, my only concern is will it affect anything else in Ignition or will it behave the same? I will test when only a smaller shed is running, but just wanted to get any insight on problems that may occur with this type of change.

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/accessing-a-network-folder-without-exposing-username-and-password/106195/5 "2025-05-13T17:19:44Z")

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If currently set up for LOCAL\_SYSTEM, then switching to a generic domain user will **add** that user's network permissions, but may remove some local administrator permissions. You definitely want to test in a non-production window.