The OpenAFS client supports UNC paths everywhere. UNC paths provide a canonical name for resources stored within AFS. UNC paths should be used instead of drive letter mappings whenever possible. This is especially true when specifying the location of roaming profiles and redirected folders.

Power users that make extensive use of the command line shell, cmd.exe, should consider using JP Software's Take Command command processor. Unlike cmd.exe, the JPSoftware shells fully support UNC paths as the current directory. JPSoftware added special recognition for OpenAFS to its command shells starting in version 7.0. AFS paths can be entered in UNIX notation (e.g., /afs/openafs.org/software), space utilization reports the output of the volume status for the specified path, and many AFS specific functions and variables have been added to the command language. Take Command 14.03 includes support for OpenAFS IFS Reparse Points and Hard Links.

JPSoftware's web site is http://www.jpsoft.com.

Microsoft PowerShell 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 also support UNC paths as the current directory.

The Cygwin environment also supports UNC paths as the current directory. Enter AFS paths with two leading forward slashes: //afs/grand.central.org/software/openafs/. As of Cygwin 1.7.18-1, AFS Symbolic Links are supported natively by the Cygwin environment.