The physics server — drive R

The department network drive, where software installers and the lab folders live. On most computers it is already connected and you need do nothing.

Open This PC
Click This PC and look for drive R. That is the physics server — double-click to open it, like any other folder.
On most computers this already works — The drive is mapped automatically on any computer connected to the wired campus network. If you can see it, you are done.
If drive R is missing
First check that the computer is connected with a network cable. Wi-Fi is not enough — the server is not reachable over eduroam.
If it is wired and the drive still does not appear, try opening it manually: click Start, type the address and press Enter.
```
\\escfiler.esc.biu.ac.il
```
And if that fails too, it is a permissions issue and I handle it. Send me an email with:
- The inventory number of the computer — the sticker on its case.
- The username you use to sign in to it.
That is all I need. I will update the permissions and get back to you.
From off campus
The server is not reachable from home — There is no way to connect to it directly from a home network.
The only route is to connect to a computer that is on campus first, and open the drive from there — how to connect remotely.

Linux

On a Linux machine connected to the wired network you mount the server manually. First install the tools:

sudo apt install cifs-utils        # Debian / Ubuntu
sudo dnf install cifs-utils        # Fedora / RHEL / CentOS

Better not to put a password inside /etc/fstab, so create a separate file:

sudo tee /etc/cifs-biu >/dev/null <<EOF
username=YOURUSER@biu.ac.il
password=YOURPASSWORD
EOF
sudo chmod 600 /etc/cifs-biu

Then append to /etc/fstab:

//escfiler.esc.biu.ac.il/Programs  /mnt/biu  cifs  credentials=/etc/cifs-biu,iocharset=utf8,vers=3.0,uid=$(id -u)  0  0

And:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/biu
sudo mount -a

Didn't work? Write to me.
·

Updated July 2026