Network paths via cmd.exe?

Apothe0sis

Is there are a way to do this under windows xp or 2003 server?

Like cd \\server\share or similar nonsense? Or do you have to map the drive first?

(oh everything is samba, homogeneous network and all that).

ecco the dolphin

'fraid that UNC paths are not supported under cmd.exe.

Link to a MS dev's blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2007/02/15/1683851.aspx

Daenris

you can view shares and such using the net command (http://www.computerhope.com/nethlp.htm ) but you can't actually do much beyond just viewing them.

You can map a network drive from the command line using net use (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~help/windows/mapping_drives.html ) if that's the issue, and then just browse it as usual.

Smug Duckling

Yeah, I've run into this a million times at work. You pretty much just have to map them.

aperlscript

You can still change to a UNC directory in a cmd window, you just have to use something smarter than what cmd gives you, the 'cd' command is really pretty stupid. Try 'pushd' instead:

c:\foo\bar>pushd \\kruglor\public

z:\>

It will automatically pick the first available drive letter, starting backwards from z:. Do a popd to unmap the letter and return to where you were:

z:\>popd

c:\foo\bar>

At any time "net use" will tell you what is mapped to where.

Apothe0sis

thanks guys and gargoyles, that works for me.

embrik

aperlscript wrote: »

You can still change to a UNC directory in a cmd window, you just have to use something smarter than what cmd gives you, the 'cd' command is really pretty stupid. Try 'pushd' instead:

c:\foo\bar>pushd \\kruglor\public

z:\>

It will automatically pick the first available drive letter, starting backwards from z:. Do a popd to unmap the letter and return to where you were:

z:\>popd

c:\foo\bar>

At any time "net use" will tell you what is mapped to where.

Learned something new! Have to change my sig!

AngelHedgie

Just a question - why are you still using cmd.exe?

Apothe0sis

Shouldn't I be using cmd.exe?

vonPoonBurGer

AngelHedgie wrote: »

why are you still using cmd.exe?

I can't speak for anyone else, but when I'm doing computer support over slow lines into third-world countries, a GUI is a high-bandwidth luxury I cannot afford. Even using the Windows Computer Management console against a remote system is painfully slow compared to command line alternatives. Being able to do all of the following from the command-line is incredibly handy when doing remote support, for reasons of both speed and scriptability:

• get a list of running processes on a remote system
• kill a running process on a remote system
• get the head or tail of a large log file on a remote system (yes, tail -f \\server\path\filename.log works)
• query, start or stop Windows services on a remote system
• and many other uses I'm sure...

eecc wrote:

'fraid that UNC paths are not supported under cmd.exe.

I wouldn't say this is accurate. You can't change directory to a UNC path, but you can do just about everything else. You normally need to issue a net use with just the remote system name first to establish your credentials on the remote system (e.g. net use \\server), but after that you can use UNC paths from the command line just about anywhere you'd use regular drive letters and paths, with the exception of the cd command of course. Pushd and popd are pretty neat, I have to say, but I don't like mapping drives in batch files or Perl scripts, or sometimes I just want to run one or two commands using files on a remote system.

AngelHedgie

Apothe0sis wrote: »

Shouldn't I be using cmd.exe?

I've more or less migrated to Powershell.