Windows Server 2008: The Definitive Guide

Command-Line Utilities

In this section, I'll look at several ways you can manage file, print, and user services from the command line.

Using Shares

Sometimes it's inconvenient to use the Windows GUI to map a drive—this is a problem particularly in logon scripts. How do you use a batch file to tell the mouse pointer to move over to My Network Places? There's a better way. The net use command enables you to map any drive to any server on your network, and in some cases, outside networks, too. The syntax is:

net use drive\\server\share

Here are some common examples that you should find useful.

To map drive H: to Lisa Johnson's home directory on server MERCURY:

net use H: \\mercury\users\lmjohnson

To map the first available drive letter to the same directory:

net use * \\mercury\users\lmjohnson

Sometimes you might need to connect to a share on a domain that isn't trusted by your home domain. If you have an account on that domain, you can use it to connect, like so:

net use H:\\foreignmachine\sharename
/user:foreigndomain\username

(If you need to use a password, you'll be prompted for it.)

If you need to terminate a connection or map to a server, use the /d switch:

net use \\mercury\users\lmjohnson /d

To disconnect all drive mappings on the local machinemaps:

net use * /d

To connect to a foreign machine (152.1.171.133, in this example) over the Internet or an intranet without relying on name resolution:

net use H:\\152.1.171.133\c$

You also can use a different account with the IP address:

net use H:\\152.1.171.133\c$ ...