Is there a way to map a UNC path to a local folder on Windows 2003?
According to Microsoft YOU CAN NOT map a shared folder on a remote machine (server) to a local folder.
For example, this will not work:
- shared folder on Server:
\\\Server\share1 - mapped share on a local machine:
c:\MyProgram\Some_Useful_Files_Here
As Microsoft stated, you CAN NOT do mklink on a remote machine; at least not for Junction or Hard-links. You can ONLY do it as a Symbolic link, which is basically a shortcut.
So if a certain program needs access to a local folder which is the same as on the server, sorry no luck! Windows is not Linux, let's not forget that :-(
Yes, there is a way to map a UNC path to a local folder:
C:\>mklink /D Develop \\obsidian\Develop
symbolic link created for Develop <<===>> \\obsidian\Develop
This is because i want a build server to use my own PC's Develop folder as its Develop folder:
10/20/2012 11:01 AM <SYMLINKD> Develop [\\obsidian\Develop]
And there you have it.
MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target
/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file
symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J Creates a Directory Junction.
Link specifies the new symbolic link name.
Target specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link
refers to.
Note: In my actual situation i needed another level of redirection, because the program i'm using realized that Develop was a symbolic link, pointing to a remote machine, and refused to comply. i told the program to shut up and do what it's told by giving it a junction that points to a local resource.
10/20/2012 11:06 AM <JUNCTION> Develop [C:\Develop2\]
10/20/2012 11:01 AM <SYMLINKD> Develop2 [\\obsidian\Develop]
You can't do it directly, but if you create a symbolic link you should be able to point it at the Mapped drive letter.
net use e: \\\\shares\folder # You will want to set this up persistent or next reboot will break it.
Browse using cmd to your location you want the link:
cd c:\folder
mklink /d name e:\
Now anything that accesses c:\folder\name\ will be accessing \\\\shares\folder\
This meets exactly what the OP asked for - a symbolic link for Windows 2003 that maps to a network share. After many hours looking at others and testing them, this is the only component I found that will work with network shares.
Symbolic Link Driver for Windows XP
This utility will work for both XP and 2003 mapping to a network share and creating a symlink: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/ln/ln.html#symboliclinksforwindowsxp
Now put this in a directory that you put on the path and you have the ability to create symlinks using senable.exe (with symlink.sys) and ln.exe (you will need that from the above site as well along with its dependency on the Visual C++ runtime DLLs).
Added Bonus: Fake out MkLink
Put these additional two files into the same directory where you have senable.exe and make sure this is all on the path.
mklink.cmd:
@echo off
SET DIR=%~dp0%
@powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -Command "& '%DIR%Symlink.ps1' %*"
pushd "%DIR%"
"%DIR%senable.exe" start
popd
Symlink.ps1:
param (
[string]$symlinktype,
[string]$link,
[string]$target
)
$scriptpath = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
$ScriptDir = Split-Path $scriptpath
$senable = Join-Path "$ScriptDir" senable.exe
$ln = Join-Path "$ScriptDir" ln.exe
pushd "$ScriptDir"
& cmd /c "$senable" install
popd
& cmd /c "$ln" -s "$target" "$link"
Note:
You need the following other items installed on Windows 2003 (non-R2, I'm not fully sure what you need for R2 yet):
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1
- Windows Imaging Component
- Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2
- Windows Management Framework Core (this brings PowerShell 2)
Chocolatey Package
I created a chocolatey package that will do all of this for you: http://chocolatey.org/packages/win2003-mklink
Important Note
Unlike regular symlinks, you can not simply delete the folder to remove the symbolic link folder. If you do that, it will delete the real folder it it pointing to. So use with extreme care.