How do I change to a mapped network drive at the command line?

Question

I have a networked drive mapped to "U:\"

I want to go to that drive from a command line.

However, when I try I get an error

C:>u: The system cannot find the drive specified.

How do I do that? Can I? Is there some Environmental setting I need to do?

score 54 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 13 '10 at 19:09

54

You need to make sure that the drive is mapped under the user which is running the command prompt. Try typing net use U: and see what info it gives you. If it's not showing the drive as being mapped, try remapping the drive (net use U: \\servername\share\path\).

You can also try changing directories by using cd /d U:, rather than just U:. This won't help you though if the network path doesn't exist.

answered Dec 13 '10 at 19:09

nhinkle

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it is mapped but still not working when I use `cd` – user5359531 Jul 12 '19 at 20:05
Perfect answer.! very easy to use shared drives now. – DeshDeep Singh Nov 08 '19 at 10:41
To think I was once very comfortable with this... so weird coming back after 10 years with mac/linux – Matt M. Sep 24 '22 at 02:33
I've run into a problem where elevated prompts don't recognize my mapped drives. I tried remapping as you said, but this overrode my currentuser's mapping for that drive letter; therefore, after a restart, I had to remap again. this makes it extremely inconvenient to "run as administrator" for executables in the network share since I either need to break then fix my mapping, or navigate to the file without using the drive letter mapping. Any ideas on that? Your answer helped, but it was only part of the answer for my situation. (wonder if this is something new w/ win11 or just UAC stupidity?) – Twisted Code Nov 01 '22 at 00:21

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 22 '15 at 17:52

5

CD if in the user account where drive is mapped.If you are in a Elevated Command you are no longer in the mapped user account.

Win 7: net use U: \servername\share\path\

win 8: pushd \servername\share\path\

answered Apr 22 '15 at 17:52

standelle

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Weirdly I am on Windows 7 but it's pushd not net use. Maybe because of some update/patch? – Hack-R May 24 '17 at 18:37

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:16

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In case you're using Windows 8 the pushd command will help you

pushd u:

Source: How to cd to a network drive on Windows 8?

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:16

Community

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answered Oct 23 '14 at 11:38

kassim

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why was this downvoted? – wizlog Jul 26 '17 at 22:35
This is what I was trying to remember, thank you very much! – jacktrader Sep 07 '22 at 14:31

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 03 '15 at 17:22

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Windows PowerShell in Administrator mode will allow you to perform MS-DOS Commands you are looking for.

Open Windows PowerShell... Type CD ...

Ex.

PS C:\> CD U:\

PS U:\>

Hope that helps.

answered Sep 03 '15 at 17:22

Charles Parsels

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How do I change to a mapped network drive at the command line?

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