# Publishing a network folder

You can publish a filesystem folder via UNC path to open in Windows explorer. To minimize the number of configuration steps, a special publishing item is available that allows you to publish a network folder from an RD Session Host.

To publish a network folder:

1. In the RAS Console, select the **Publishing** category and then click the **Add** icon below the **Published Resources** tree (or right-click inside the **Published Resources** box and click **Add** in the context menu). This will launch the publishing wizard.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** If the wizard has all options disabled, it means that there are no resources (servers) in the Farm from which publishing can be configured.
{% endhint %}

3. On the **Select Item Type** wizard page, select **Folder on the file system** and click **Next.**
4. On the **Select Server Type** page, select the server type from which to publish and click **Next**.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** If you want to publish from a pool-based Remote PC, select the **Virtual Guest** option. The **Remote PC** option there is for standalone Remote PCs.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** Resources published from the local device load faster than resources published from other servers. This is possible because Parallels RAS does not have to connect to the servers via RDP.
{% endhint %}

4. On the **Publish From** page, select the server(s) to publish from. Note that if you have just one server or selected **Local Device** on the previous step, the **Publish From** page will not appear. 
5. On the **UNC Folder** wizard page, specify the usual application properties.
6. In the **UNC path** field, enter the UNC path of the folder you wish to publish. Click the **\[...]** button to browse for a folder (it may take some time for the **Browse for Folder** dialog to open).
7. (VDI only) Select the **Persistent** option to make a guest VM persistent. For more info, see Persistent guest VMs.
8. (Remote PC only) Click the **\[...]** button in the **Remote PC Settings** section to select a Remote PC from which the application should be published. In the box that opens, double-click a PC to select it.
9. On the next page, specify the initial status of the resource. Choose from **Enabled** (end users can launch the resource), **Disabled** (the resource will not appear in Parallels Client), **In maintenance** (the resource will appear in Parallels Client but users will not be able to launch it). When a resource is in maintenance and a user tries to launch it, they will see a message. To customize the message, click the **Configure** button. For more info, see [**Site defaults (Publishing)**](/landing/ras-admin-guide/parallels-ras-21-administrators-guide/publishing/site-defaults-publishing.md).
10. Click **Finish** to publish the folder and close the wizard.

When published, the network folder will appear in the **Publishing** > **Published Resources list**, just like any other application. If you select it and then click the **Application** tab, the application settings will be as follows:

* The **Target** property will always be set to `PublishedExplorer.exe`. This binary is created automatically (via agents pushing) and is simply a copy of the standard `explorer.exe` executable.
* The **Parameters** property specifies the network folder that we want to publish. The folder path can be in any format that the `explorer.exe` can handle.

Please note that although you have all standard application property tabs enabled for this publishing item, at least the following items should be ignored, as they are completely irrelevant:

* **Publish From**
* **File Extensions**


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