A method and apparatus for transmitting files on a network are described. In response to a network request for a file stored on a secondary data storage device such as a hard disk, a file server retrieves and transmits the file using a reduced number of calls from user-mode processes to kernel-mode processes. In response to a file request from a non-local networked machine, a user-mode process on the file server issues a command to a kernel-mode process requesting transmission of the requested file to the non-local networked machine via a designated connection. In response, the requested file is retrieved from the secondary data storage device and placed in kernel-mode accessed memory (e.g., cache memory). After the requested file information is stored in the kernel-mode accessed memory, a kernel-mode data transmission procedure transmits the requested file information directly from the kernel-mode accessed memory.