PsExec and "Unavailable" network drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Hanks
  • Start date Start date
T

Tom Hanks

When I use PsExec network drives on the connected-to computer are
"Unavailable". This happens even if I explicitly log into an account
with mapped network drives:

C:\TOOLS\PSTOOLS> psexec \\REMOTE -u admin -p pswd cmd
...
[snipped psexec text]
...

C:\WINDOWS\System32> N:
The system cannot find the drive specified.

C:\WINDOWS\System32> net use
Status Local Remote Network
---------------------------------------------------------------
Unavailable N: \\FILESRV\SomeShare
Microsoft Windows Network

I can remove this "Unavailable" share and recreate it - that works.

C:\WINDOWS\System32> net use N: /DELETE
N: was deleted successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\System32> net use N:
The command completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\System32> N:
N:>

But it would be much simpler to use the pre-existing mappings.

The PsExec documentation tells me I should be able to access these
network drives, but doesn't warn me about this "Unavailable" problem.
Can I get around it without recreating the drive mappings?

"""If you omit a username the remote process runs in the
same account from which you execute PsExec, but because
the remote process is impersonating it will not have
access to network resources on the remote system. When
you specify a username the remote process executes in
the account specified, and will have access to any network
resources the account has access to. Note that the
password is transmitted in clear text to the remote
system."""
(quoted from http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/psexec.shtml)

Thanks,
Tom Hanks.
 
Tom,

I don't believe it is possible. For security reasons, the network drives
are only avliable to the session it was mapped under. Even if you use
the same user account for psexec, it's still a different session.

Pete.
 
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