What is a "UNC" link?

Modified on: Fri, 13 Mar, 2026 at 4:49 PM

A UNC (Universal Naming Convention) link is a link that contains the complete network path to the child file referenced by the link. This path includes the server name, share name, folder structure, file name, and file extension.

Example

\\Server-Name\Share-Name\Company\Division\Department\Section\Filename.doc

This example shows a full network location, starting with the server and shared folder, followed by the directories and the file name.

UNC Links in LinkFixer Advanced

LinkFixer Advanced allows you to convert links to UNC format in bulk using the Modify Links process. The “Force mapped drive to UNC” option updates each link so that it points to the full network path of the child file instead of using a mapped drive.

The Inoculate, Cure, and Move/Rename processes also include an option to finish links by converting them to UNC format after the main process has completed.

If none of these finishing options are selected, LinkFixer Advanced keeps the links in their original format. This means:

Relative links remain relative
Absolute links remain absolute
UNC links remain UNC