1) Go to Start Menu via Windows icon on the bottom-left or the Windows button of your keyboard. Once in the start menu, type File Explorer then select the best match result. After that, select This PC.
then
2) A window will open. Go to the Computer tab then Map Network Drive.
3) Specify the folder path (usually provided by the tech department) then select Finish. As for the drive letter (in this case, Z), any letter can be used as long as it is not A, B, C, and/or D. Leaving the drive letter to the default choice will not present an issue when mounting the drive.
Once finished, a window will open with the contents in the desired network drive.
Optional - After mapping the drive, a desktop shortcut can be created by performing a secondary/right click on the network share then Create Shortcut. When prompted to place shortcut in desktop folder instead, select Yes.
For Windows 11, you will have to select Show more options after performing a secondary/right click then the option to create shortcut will appear.
You will then see the shortcut as one of your desktop icons to easily access in the future!
The arrow icon (red) indicates that this icon is a shortcut.