Why don't my network drives appear when I sign-in to my Mac?

There could be a couple of reasons why your shared network drives don't appear when you sign-in to your Mac. By default, mapped drives (i.e., "connected servers")  don't appear on your desktop, so you have to open a Finder window to access these drives.

Also by default, mapped drives (i.e., "connected servers") get disconnected when you log out (and don't automatically get remapped when you sign back in).

Luckily, both of these defaults can be easily changed.  Follow the steps below.

To have network drives appear on desktop:

1. Click an empty spot on your desktop.
2. Select Preferences from the Finder menu.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Make sure Connected servers is checked.

To have network drives map automatically when you sign-in:

1. Make sure the network drives in question are mapped and appear on the desktop.
2. Select System Preferences from the Apple menu.
3. Open Users & Groups.

4. Select your name from the list on the left.
5. Click the Login Items tab.
6. Drag the mapped drives from your desktop to the Login Items window.

7. Close the Users & Groups window.

To make sure these changes work, log off of your Mac and sign back in.