Connect to a Server in Finder on Mac (Cmd+K)

NAS boxes, office file servers, a Raspberry Pi with a shared drive — they all mount on a Mac the same way: Finder's Connect to Server dialog, forever known by its shortcut, Cmd+K. Learn the address syntax once and every network drive is three keystrokes away; save it as a favorite and it is one click.

Mount a share with Cmd+K

1. Click the desktop or a Finder window, then press Cmd+K (or choose Go → Connect to Server…).
2. Type the server address — see the syntax below — and click Connect.
3. Choose Registered User and enter the username and password for the server (or Guest if the share allows it). Tick Remember this password in my keychain so you never type it again.
4. If the server offers several shared volumes, pick the one to mount.

The share appears in Finder's sidebar under Locations and behaves like a disk. When you are done, eject it like any drive — click the eject symbol beside it, or select it and press Cmd+E. That is the only "undo" mounting needs.

Address syntax that works

# SMB — the standard for NAS, Windows servers, and other Macs
smb://192.168.1.10/media
smb://fileserver.local/projects

# specify a username up front (skips one dialog)
smb://anna@192.168.1.10/media

# other protocols Finder understands
afp://oldmac.local        # legacy Apple servers
ftp://ftp.example.com     # read-only in Finder
https://dav.example.com   # WebDAV

Use smb:// unless you have a specific reason not to — AFP is deprecated and modern macOS versions, NAS firmware, and Windows all speak SMB. Naming the share in the address (/media) mounts it directly; leaving it off shows a picker. Hostnames ending in .local resolve via Bonjour on your own network; anything else needs DNS or a raw IP.

Save favorites and find recent servers

Inside the Connect to Server dialog:

• Click + with an address typed to add it to the Favorite Servers list — it survives restarts and is the closest thing to a bookmark for a network drive. Select a favorite and press Cmd+K's Connect to mount it. Remove one with the − button... or by selecting it and pressing Delete.
• The dropdown at the right of the address field lists recent servers, cleared via Clear Recent Servers… in the same menu.

Servers broadcasting on the local network also appear in Finder's sidebar under Network (Go → Network, or Shift+Cmd+K), where you can browse and connect without typing anything.

Mount it automatically at login

For a share you use every day:

1. Mount the share once, with the password saved in your keychain.
2. Open System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions (called Login Items on Ventura and Sonoma).
3. Click + under Open at Login, and in the file picker select the mounted share under Locations, then click Open.

At every login the Mac reconnects and mounts the share silently. To stop, remove the entry from the same list. The one requirement is that the keychain has the password saved — otherwise you will greet each morning with a login dialog instead.

Serving files from this Mac instead?

Cmd+K is the client side. To make your folders mountable from other machines, flip on the server side — our guide to sharing folders over the network from a Mac covers shared folders, permissions, and the Windows checkbox everyone misses.