• 0

[MS-DOS Batch] Automatically determine if drive is already mapped


Question

I didn't know if I should start this topic under "Programming" but it seems to be the only place to put it.

I want to run a batch file that will automatically map a network drive before it continues the script. The problem I have is that if for some reason the drive is already mapped, or the batch file has been run twice in one session, the "net use" command returns an error. The script still works in the end, but I would like to bypass the "net use" command altogether if the drive is already mapped.

I've been digging through the net trying to find anything that can help me out, but to no avail. The closest thing I can find is just typing "net use" can tell you if the drive is already mapped or not, but I can't take any one piece of that result and use it in my script.

Does anyone have any suggestions? My purpose here is to write an IF statement that determines:

IF drive X: is already mapped, then skip net use command and proceed with the remainder of the script.

ELSE, run net use command and proceed with the remainder of the script.

I figured ERRORLEVEL could come in handy, but that only works after I get the error that I'm trying to avoid in the first place.

Thanks!

19 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

I would be careful with what you are checking. If the user mapped a different drive than the one that is supposed to be there, it may see a drive mapped and skip the mapping.

What we have done is unmap and then map the drive in the same script. This will ensure that the correct drives are mapped to the desired letter every time.

  • 0

You could always look for a specific file to that share, which should eliminate the chance of having the wrong share mapped.

Unmapping the share could cause issues if other processes are using the same share.

  • 0
  t_r_nelson said:
I would be careful with what you are checking. If the user mapped a different drive than the one that is supposed to be there, it may see a drive mapped and skip the mapping.

What we have done is unmap and then map the drive in the same script. This will ensure that the correct drives are mapped to the desired letter every time.

Very true. I thought about that but I realized that this is happening in a fairly controlled environment... but I suppose it would be good to do. The only downside is if I try to unmap it while another resource is using the same drive to do something, causing other errors in the process.

  Joe USer said:
How about using IF EXIST for a file on the mapped drive?

Asssuming W: is your mapped drive.

IF NOT EXIST W:\. netuse..etc..

I might give that a try, thanks. I suppose maybe I can merge these two suggestions together? To unmap a drive you have to make sure the drive is mapped in the first place otherwise another error will appear. *sigh*

Also, thanks for your speedy replies.

EDIT:

  Joe USer said:
You could always look for a specific file to that share, which should eliminate the chance of having the wrong share mapped.

Unmapping the share could cause issues if other processes are using the same share.

Yes exactly. If I look for a specific file on that share, I wouldn't need to unmap at all.

I'll give that a try now and report back.

  • 0

I made an assumption that mappings are needed, can you run the process using UNC without having to map to a specific drive letter?

  t_r_nelson said:
Good point, Joe. I was just considering the case of the script running at login.

I learned that the hard way, with WFW 3.11.

Multithreaded batch processing, completely crazy, but it worked.

  • 0

Alright I just gave this a try and it seems to work perfectly fine so far. I'll keep testing to make sure.

@echo off

echo --------------------------------------------------

echo Now running database maintenance. Please wait...

echo IMPORTANT: DO NOT TOUCH THE COMPUTER DURING THIS PROCESS

echo --------------------------------------------------

IF EXIST \\domain and filename here.exe (

echo The drive is already mapped.

GOTO SKIPPED

) ELSE (

echo The drive has not yet been mapped.

net use x: \\domain and share here Password /user:domain\user

)

:SKIPPED

[command that I need to run regardless]

echo --------------------------------------------------

echo Maintenance complete.

echo --------------------------------------------------

pause

Thanks for the help guys! I'll post here again if something comes up. The only thing I'm uncertain about is if it's okay that I don't specify X: in the EXISTS statement.

  • 0
  jake1eye said:
Here is a link to a HTA from the Hey Scripting Guys that uses a HTA to list available drive letters and how to map that drive.

Hey Scripting Guys

Thanks, but that seems to be for VBScript. I'm just working with command line batch.

  • 0
  Xtreme $niper said:
Alright I just gave this a try and it seems to work perfectly fine so far. I'll keep testing to make sure.

@echo off

echo --------------------------------------------------

echo Now running database maintenance. Please wait...

echo IMPORTANT: DO NOT TOUCH THE COMPUTER DURING THIS PROCESS

echo --------------------------------------------------

IF EXIST \\domain and filename here.exe (

echo The drive is already mapped.

GOTO SKIPPED

) ELSE (

echo The drive has not yet been mapped.

net use x: \\domain and share here Password /user:domain\user

)

:SKIPPED

[command that I need to run regardless]

echo --------------------------------------------------

echo Maintenance complete.

echo --------------------------------------------------

pause

Thanks for the help guys! I'll post here again if something comes up. The only thing I'm uncertain about is if it's okay that I don't specify X: in the EXISTS statement.

IF EXIST \\domain and filename here.exe (

Once you use a UNC connection you're going to be logged into the server as the current user. If the users are different, then you're going to have a problem. You should specify the X: in the if exists.

  • 0

Hmm alright, so then should I do:

IF EXIST X:\\address\file.exe

or

IF EXIST X:\file.exe ?

For some reason I'm tempted to use the second one but the first one seems more technically correct to me...

  • 0
  Xtreme $niper said:
Hmm alright, so then should I do:

IF EXIST X:\\address\file.exe

or

IF EXIST X:\file.exe ?

For some reason I'm tempted to use the second one but the first one seems more technically correct to me...

X:\file.exe is what you want, (assuming it's in the root of the share)

  • 0

Alright I thought so (yes it's at the root). Thanks.

But now I have another problem. I want to schedule this using the "Schedule Task" app on WinXP. The only problem is the computers here are required to press CTRL+ALT+DEL before you can log in (secure logon). For some reason the batch script fails to do any mapping when it is run at the "press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log in" screen.

However, if I do press CTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the actual log in screen (still not logged in) the script works fine. Any ideas why, or how to get around this?

EDIT: I ran into this idea here, http://joedix.com/tech_help/2006/07/schedu...running-wo.html but I think that would be a pretty big security risk, no?

Edited by Xtreme $niper
  • 0
  Xtreme $niper said:
Alright I thought so (yes it's at the root). Thanks.

But now I have another problem. I want to schedule this using the "Schedule Task" app on WinXP. The only problem is the computers here are required to press CTRL+ALT+DEL before you can log in (secure logon). For some reason the batch script fails to do any mapping when it is run at the "press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log in" screen.

However, if I do press CTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the actual log in screen (still not logged in) the script works fine. Any ideas why, or how to get around this?

EDIT: I ran into this idea here, http://joedix.com/tech_help/2006/07/schedu...running-wo.html but I think that would be a pretty big security risk, no?

What account are you running the task under? Does it have a password?

  • 0

I'd be running this task under non-administrator accounts I believe. All accounts have to have a password, and every user has to press the CTRL+ALT+DEL combo before logging in.

I'm not sure why but it seems drive mapping doesn't work if you don't press CTRL+ALT+DEL.

EDIT: I just did another round of testing. The drive mapping actually doesn't work in ANY form if your account is locked. I previously thought as long as you hit the safe logon combo first you'd be okay, but apparently I was wrong.

As long as the system is at the login screen (even though the account itself is logged in) the application that needs to be run from the network share won't run, causing the script to fail.

Any ideas?

Edited by Xtreme $niper
  • 0

Ok, that's a little strange, I run batches via the task shceduler in Windows 2000 all the time.

Are you on a domain? What OS/SP are you using (XP sp2?)?

Have you tried using an admin account?

Are you using the task scheduler or the AT command?

Also, try this, get a copy of whoami.exe from the MS resource kit and pipe the output to a local file, see if it's using the correct account.

  • 0

Well I guess it's more complicated than just that... I forgot to mention I'm using an application called TestPlanner that automates some tasks for you by controlling the keyboard and mouse to accomplish "macro" like tasks.

The script itself actually opens and runs, but the problem is once the TestPlanner app runs, it's supposed to do a few things. One of which is to open the run window from the start menu and run another application... but for some reason the keys are never mapped to the text field within the run window and so the script fails.

So now I realize your ability to help me out can easily end here, because you probably have no idea what this TestPlanner application is...

The problem is that I am just an employee in a corporation, so there is no chance of me getting admin access. I don't think that's the problem though. I think that because the computer is in a locked state, the text field in the run command window can't be selected and so the script fails when it is trying to enter text into a field that cannot be selected. It looks like I just can't get a fix for that.

  • 0
  Xtreme $niper said:
Well I guess it's more complicated than just that... I forgot to mention I'm using an application called TestPlanner that automates some tasks for you by controlling the keyboard and mouse to accomplish "macro" like tasks.

The script itself actually opens and runs, but the problem is once the TestPlanner app runs, it's supposed to do a few things. One of which is to open the run window from the start menu and run another application... but for some reason the keys are never mapped to the text field within the run window and so the script fails.

So now I realize your ability to help me out can easily end here, because you probably have no idea what this TestPlanner application is...

The problem is that I am just an employee in a corporation, so there is no chance of me getting admin access. I don't think that's the problem though. I think that because the computer is in a locked state, the text field in the run command window can't be selected and so the script fails when it is trying to enter text into a field that cannot be selected. It looks like I just can't get a fix for that.

There's one last chance, you can try this, but I don't think it will work, see if the TestPlanner has the ability to 'allow service to interact with desktop'. In windows 2000, you could set this in the services control panel.

Honestly, I don't think that would solve your problem though. Since it's a macro program it most likely needs an unlocked console to work.

  • 0
  Joe USer said:
There's one last chance, you can try this, but I don't think it will work, see if the TestPlanner has the ability to 'allow service to interact with desktop'. In windows 2000, you could set this in the services control panel.

Honestly, I don't think that would solve your problem though. Since it's a macro program it most likely needs an unlocked console to work.

I just took a look at the program, and I unfortunately have found no such feature. Thanks for the suggestion though.

The funny thing is that although it can't select a text field to enter text into as part of the macro, it still successfully opens the Run command window via the "Windows key + R" shortcut.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Couldn't a custom power plan help to park the non x3d ccd's? Then that would solve this latency/performance issues people are having with the x3d chips?
    • So is Ubuntu and Fedora (with GNOME). It's a welcome move and those that need X11 can easily install as pointed out in the article it but that won't stop a loud minority from whining of course. Funny but It will actually be easier to install X11 on Ubuntu then enable Flatpak support/Flathub and use them.
    • End of an era? Kubuntu is removing default support for X11 in new installs by David Uzondu X11, the old window system whose days have long felt numbered, just saw another one of its major supporters head for the exit. Kubuntu has decided to follow its parent distro's lead, making its next release, version 25.10, a Wayland-only affair for fresh installs. It seems many Linux developers see Wayland as the future. Just recently, Linux Mint started working to improve support for the protocol in Cinnamon, tackling lingering issues with keyboard layouts and input methods. You can even see the progress in KDE's development, where an upgrade to Wayland PiP is planned for KDE Plasma 6.5. So what's the logic behind dropping a session that, for the most part, still works? According to Kubuntu's Rik Mills, the team wants to "rip off this sticking plaster" now, in an interim release, rather than ###### off a lot of people by doing it in the next Long-Term Support version, 26.04. The developers feel that maintaining code for the aging X11 system holds back progress on security and new features that Wayland can enable more easily. Plus, supporting two separate display servers is a massive undertaking. Of course, this change might have some people worried, but relax; all is not lost if you still need the old session. If you're running hardware that acts up, like some older NVIDIA cards, or who relies on an ancient application that doesn't play nicely with the XWayland compatibility layer, you can still get your familiar session back. Just enter the following command in your terminal: sudo apt install plasma-session-x11 Once that command finishes, the X11 session will appear as an option on the login screen, so you can carry on as before. As OMGUbuntu notes, not everyone in the Ubuntu family is following its lead just yet. Other official flavors like Xubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, and Ubuntu Cinnamon are expected to keep offering an X11 session on their default installs for this cycle.
    • Mangohud hasn't been built into "Steam Deck", it has been built into SteamOS. I understand that your goal is to try and praise MS for a simple feature that everyone else has, but we are comparing OS vs OS. Hardware does not have anything "built-in". Software does. Like it or not, SteamOS has it "built-in". And it is far superior to XBOX game bar's information.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      Johnny Mrkvička earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      viraltui earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      serfegyed earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Dedicated
      firey earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Dedicated
      fettermanj earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      642
    2. 2
      Michael Scrip
      221
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      215
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      143
    5. 5
      Xenon
      142
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!