The network driver can provide a variety of connection functions to let File Manager and Print Manager connect to remote drives and devices.
| Function | Description |
| WNetAddConnection | Creates a connection to a network drive or device. |
| WNetCancelConnection | Removes a connection to a network drive or device. |
| WNetGetConnections | Retrieves a list of current connections. |
| WNetRestoreConnection | Reconnects one or more permanently connected network drives. |
Saved network connections are connections which are always automatically connected when Windows starts. If the connection cannot be made, the drive is still treated as connected, as if it were in the error state. File Manager reconnects the drive if the user selects it. When the user connects to a drive or printer, that connection is remembered as a permanent connection. When the user disconnects a device through the disconnect dialog box, it is removed from the list of permanently connected devices.
Although error state and permanent devices can be reconnected from File Manager, the drives may not (generally will not) be valid for other Windows applications. If Windows is unable to restore a permanent connection when starting, a dialog box will warn the user of this event.
Network drivers which implement these functions will return a specification version of 3.1 (0x030A) from when the WNNC_SPEC_VERSION value is specified with the WNetGetCaps function.
Drivers written for the Windows 3.0 level of functionality will be supplied with reasonable defaults for all 3.1 features. If a network does not require special support for any of the features the network driver may be written to the 3.0 specification.
If a network driver does not support the 3.1 functions (for example, it is a Windows 3.0 network driver), Windows and File Manager simulate a new method of supporting permanent connections.
If the user makes a permanent connection, the device will be added to the
[Network] section in the WIN.INI file. The keyword will be the local device
and the value will be the network resource. For security, passwords will not
be saved. The following example illustrates the new section:
[Network]
S:=\\USER2\SHELL
T:=\\TOOLSVR\DOSENV
U:=\\PYREX\USER
LPT1=\\WINDEV\PRINTER
When a device is disconnected, it is removed from the list of permanent devices. File Manager simulates the behavior of WNetGetConnection returning a connection with a special status when it is listed in the WIN.INI file, but is not connected. The default connection dialogs allows the user to reconnect a disconnected device which has a saved connection. The dialogs also support disconnecting and reconnecting a device in an error state.
When Windows starts, it enumerates devices saved in the [Network] section and attempts to redirect them using WNetAddConnection. If a device is already redirected, the redirection will not be overridden. If WNetAddConnection returns the WN_BAD_PASSWORD value, the user will be prompted to supply the password.
Network drivers which require their own connection dialog boxes or startup restore function should attempt to duplicate the functionality of the default behavior as closely as possible in order to provide consistency. To maintain this consistency, network drivers should use the [Network] section. The keywords A: through Z: and all common MS-DOS device names (LPT1, COM1, PRN, and so on) are reserved, including those not currently supported for redirection. The network driver may define additional keywords of its own.