# Sharing External Storage Devices and Volumes

When you connect an external storage device, such as a USB drive, to your Mac, you can access the contents from macOS applications.

You can set Parallels Desktop to mount storage devices and volumes automatically to Windows. That way, you can access the contents from both macOS and Windows.

The following items can be mounted to Windows:

* **Removable drives**: External storage devices, such as USB hard disks and USB flash drives.
* **CD/DVD drives**: CD and DVD drives or CD/DVD images (files most commonly ending in `.dmg`, `.iso`, and `.img`.).
* **Network folders**: Folders shared over the network.

To make these items mount to Windows automatically, do the following:

1. [Start Windows](/landing/pdfm-ug/parallels-desktop-for-mac-26-users-guide/use-windows-on-your-mac/getting-started/launching-windows.md).
2. Do one of the following:
   * Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose **Configure.**
   * If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose **Actions** > **Configure**.
3. Click **Options** and select **Sharing** > **Share Mac**.
4. Select **Map Mac volumes to Windows**.

When you connect a storage device or volume, it is mounted as a network drive. For example, a USB flash drive plugged into your Mac will be accessible from both the `/Volumes` folder in macOS and `My Computer` in Windows.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** Permissions for accessing the mounted device from Windows are the same as permission settings for the device in macOS. For example, if you can read from and write to a USB flash drive in macOS, you can also read from and write to it in Windows. 

**Exception**: without specialized third-party software, macOS can't write to NTFS volumes, regardless of permissions.
{% endhint %}


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