Browse an UNC path using Windows CMD without mapping it to a network drive

Question

C:\> cd \\somewhere
'\\somewhere'
CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories.

What I usually do to get around this is to map that directory to a network drive and then I could easily access it from the command prompt.

But is there an easier way on how to get around this?

which windows do you use? If it's Windows 7, you've powershell preinstalled on your system. Powershell supports unc-paths and cmd-commands (with few exceptions). — wullxz, May 13 '11 at 11:27
@wullxz: cheers, I didn't know you could browse UNC paths with PowerShell.
@kyle: That's actually a valid answer according to my question :) But I want to access it from a command line environment. Will modify my question to make this more clear. — Andreas Grech, May 13 '11 at 12:09
If your problem is that you need to work just from the command line, you can map the network drive with the 'net' command: net use x: \computer name\share name — Al Crowley, May 13 '11 at 12:11
@Aleister Crowley: Yes I know, but I'm asking if there's an easier way that doesn't involve mapping a network drive. — Andreas Grech, May 13 '11 at 12:12
@Andreas Grech: I thought that was likely the case, that's why I put it as a comment rather than an answer. — Al Crowley, May 13 '11 at 12:13
Related: How do you handle “CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories”? from Server Fault — Cristian Ciupitu, Feb 14 '18 at 21:47
@wullxz That deserves to be an answer. Look at the answers below; "ContextConsole Shell Extension" and "Git Bash" get several upvotes. I think PowerShell is better than third-party solutions. — Franklin Yu, Sep 10 '18 at 20:59
If you mean to browse in Windows explorer you can start an Explorer instance pointed at the desired drive with: start \servername\sharedpath — Steve Rindsberg, Aug 03 '21 at 15:28

score 299 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 19 '23 at 19:10

299

If you use pushd and popd instead of cd you won't get that UNC error.

pushd <UNC path> will create a temporary virtual drive and get into it.
popd will delete the temporary drive and get you back to the path you were when you entered pushd.

Example:

C:\a\local\path> pushd \\network_host\a\network\path
U:\a\network\path> REM a temporary U: virtual drive has been created
U:\a\network\path> popd
C:\a\local\path> REM the U: drive has been deleted
C:\a\local\path>

edited Oct 19 '23 at 19:10

AJM

366

answered Mar 12 '12 at 20:00

evanmcdonnal

3,158

15

Using pushd creates a drive mapping to the network share and then changes into a path relative to the share it creates. popd disconnects the share. – Dov Sep 06 '12 at 15:55
2

This didn't work for me on Windows 10. C:\WINDOWS\system32>pushd \\some\network\path
' ' CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck Apr 04 '17 at 02:43
1

It's just worked for me in Windows 10, how odd. I did pushd \\ServerName\home\dir\dir2. – Diziet May 20 '17 at 14:36
3

Native and elegant, just a wonder. Works for Windows 10. – WesternGun Jun 22 '17 at 07:55
Is there any trick to make it work when the share credentials don't match the machine's user credentials? – Perkins Mar 07 '18 at 00:51
works perfect. and I need check how to put these kind of directory into perl script. – Shicheng Guo Aug 10 '18 at 02:11
@Perkins: I was able to use runas.exe to run PowerShell as the other user – Jacob Krall Oct 18 '18 at 18:35
@JacobKrall That would work if another user has the proper credentials. If it's a totally different set of credentials, use cmdkey. – Perkins Oct 22 '18 at 20:54
Works perfect. I was using the sshfs, if it will automatically create a virtual drive (Z, in my case). And access normally to Z like the ones did in C or D. – Kimmi May 22 '19 at 17:37
I also noticed that if you pushd to the same location it will map a new network drive again and again and if you close the shell and open a new one calling popd will not, of course, be able to unmap them so one could end up having a bunch of unused network drives. – jackhab Jun 16 '21 at 07:18
1

@kayleeFrye_onDeck I receive that same error once every available drive letter has been reserved. I used PUSHD on the same folder several times and filled "This PC" with letters B & D-Z. (C was my local drive but I don't know what A was. Possibly, it's a hidden partition but I couldn't find it.) The next time I tried to exact command that had just worked 15 times in a row, I got the same error you posted: ' ' CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories. – Engineer Toast Aug 03 '21 at 14:57
@EngineerToast thanks for the heads up! Very possible that was the problem for me. – kayleeFrye_onDeck Aug 31 '21 at 19:25

score 24 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 03 '21 at 14:44

24

I use Git Bash to do this, since I already have it installed. As an added bonus, it also has better colors, lets me use ls, rm, etc., and uses the correct slash for paths.

enter image description here

edited Aug 03 '21 at 14:44

reformed

113

answered Jul 09 '15 at 17:53

Dan

852

You can also use backslashes if you escape them with backslashes: cd \\\\server\\share\\subdirectory – user121391 Jul 27 '16 at 08:56
1

Also, if you try to use tab completion with computer names, the shell might lock up for some time until the names are resolved. – user121391 Jul 27 '16 at 09:03
1

it does not work for me – KansaiRobot Nov 06 '18 at 09:46
Although Git Bash worked for me, it seemed slower than pushd/popd and CMD as used in the accepted answer for some reason. Though I also prefer Git Bash in general, and use it instead of CMD wherever possible. – AJM Oct 23 '23 at 18:33

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered May 13 '11 at 16:07

13

Kliu's "ContextConsole Shell Extension" (aka Open Command Prompt) says it, "can even open directories from network paths (UNC paths)" (from an Explorer window).

http://code.kliu.org/cmdopen/

enter image description here

answered May 13 '11 at 16:07

therube

1,446

4

This program is most awesome! – afrazier May 13 '11 at 16:37
1

i'm shocked by the screenshot, it exist! – LiuYan 刘研 Jun 21 '12 at 11:01
remember to open the //drive and not a mapped version. It will fail on mapped. – twobob May 04 '17 at 14:04

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 28 '13 at 11:39

12

I also hit the UNC problem with C:\> cd \\somewhere in a C program. Found this page and learnt about the net command: net use x: \\computer name\share name and used it successfully! Thanks to all who post their experiences for others to learn from. :-)

edited Jan 28 '13 at 11:39

u1686_grawity

452,512

answered Jan 28 '13 at 07:51

Peter Evans

121

3

Yes, but using net use will map that location to a network drive and that is not what I wanted. – Andreas Grech Jan 28 '13 at 12:36
2

@AndreasGrech, Actually pushd does that too. – Pacerier Jan 24 '15 at 06:48
This works well in Far+ConEmu, unlike pushd. – Dzmitry Lahoda Jun 03 '16 at 11:29
@Pacerier But pushd automatically selects a drive letter and disconnects the network drive when it’s no longer needed (after popd or exit). – Martin Apr 12 '19 at 15:26

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 10 '21 at 08:15

4

If you're using XP you can have a look at this site https://web.archive.org/web/20150518102450/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/156276

(In case the link breaks again: Under Software\Microsoft\Command Processor: add a DWORD value called DisableUNCCheck if it doesn’t already exist and set it to 1.)

There is a registry value that you need to add, log out, log in again ... and now your cmd.exe does support UNC-Paths. It seems to me that you still can't cd to the path, but you can use it in other commands like dir, copy ...

An alternative might be using the pushd command, that will let you switch to the share (i guess by assigning it a temporary drive letter) https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/pushd

edited Feb 10 '21 at 08:15

T S

165

answered May 13 '11 at 12:10

BigBlackDog

161

The pages you linked seem like empty pages...... – Pacerier Jan 24 '15 at 06:49
The links work here. Have you tried using https? – BigBlackDog Jan 27 '15 at 08:21
Seems to still work under windows 10 20H2 – T S Feb 10 '21 at 08:48

score -2 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 16 '20 at 21:55

-2

imho, the most elegant solution is to use mklink /D to create a symlink for the network path. if you use in a script you'll not have to find out which drive letter has been assigned.

answered Jan 16 '20 at 21:55

franck LZ

1

The most elegant way to change directories (a read-only operation) is to modify the filesystem? And where do you create the link? \Temp? You might not have write access to the current directory. And what do you call the link? What if there’s already a \Temp\somewhere that isn’t already a link to \\somewhere? What if it’s a file that’s in use? Etc… How is this more elegant than pushd? – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' Jan 17 '20 at 03:22

score -4 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 21 '12 at 10:31

-4

You can use the HttpFileServer application, it' over windows, very light and very easy to configure , it allow you to share a network folder UNC ( \server\share ) with HTTP protocol and the HTTP link can be used in any HTML page

http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/

it's amazing

answered Jun 21 '12 at 10:31

Salman

1

10

Not very useful to a command line user. – Isaac Rabinovitch Oct 20 '12 at 05:17
1

I agree that this is an amazing piece of software, but how can it be used to get around the fact that the CMD window app does not handler UNC? – Jay Elston Jan 05 '18 at 22:02

Browse an UNC path using Windows CMD without mapping it to a network drive

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