< Back

New-PSDrive

Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:20 pm

NAME New-PSDrive



SYNOPSIS

Creates temporary and persistent mapped network drives.





SYNTAX

New-PSDrive [-Name] <String> [-PSProvider] <String> [-Root] <String> [-Confirm] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Description <String>] [-Persist]

[-Scope <String>] [-UseTransaction] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]





DESCRIPTION

The New-PSDrive cmdlet creates temporary and persistent drives that are mapped to or associated with a location in a data store, such as a network

drive, a directory on the local computer, or a registry key, and persistent Windows mapped network drives that are associated with a file system

location on a remote computer.



Temporary drives exist only in the current Windows PowerShell session and in sessions that you create in the current session. They can have any

name that is valid in Windows PowerShell and can be mapped to any local or remote resource. You can use temporary Windows PowerShell drives to

access data in the associated data store, just as you would do with any mapped network drive. You can change locations into the drive, by using

Set-Location, cd , or chdir , and access the contents of the drive by using Get-Item, Get-ChildItem, or dir .



However, because temporary drives are known only to Windows PowerShell, you cannot access them by using File Explorer, Windows Management

Instrumentation (WMI), Component Object Model (COM), or the Microsoft .NET Framework, or by using tools such as Net Use.



The following features are added to New-PSDrive in Windows PowerShell 3.0:



- Mapped network drives. You can use the Persist parameter of New-PSDrive to create Windows mapped network drives. Unlike temporary Windows

PowerShell drives, Windows mapped network drives are not session-specific. They are saved in Windows and they can be managed by using standard

Windows tools, such as File Explorer and Net Use. Mapped network drives must have a drive-letter name and be connected to a remote file system

location. When your command is scoped locally (no dot-sourcing), the Persist parameter does not persist the creation of a PSDrive beyond the scope

in which the command is running. If you are running New-PSDrive inside a script, and you want the drive to persist indefinitely, you must

dot-source the script. For best results, to force a new drive to persist indefinitely, add the Scope parameter to your command, and set its value

to Global. - External drives. When an external drive is connected to the computer, Windows PowerShell automatically adds a PSDrive to the file

system that represents the new drive. You do not have to restart Windows PowerShell. Similarly, when an external drive is disconnected from the

computer, Windows PowerShell automatically deletes the PSDrive that represents the removed drive. - External drives. When an external drive is

connected to the computer, Windows PowerShell automatically adds a PSDrive to the file system that represents the new drive. You do not have to

restart Windows PowerShell. Similarly, when an external drive is disconnected from the computer, Windows PowerShell automatically deletes the

PSDrive that represents the removed drive. - Credentials for UNC Paths. When the value of the Root parameter is a UNC path, such as

\\\\Server\\Share, the credential specified in the value of the Credential parameter is used to create the PSDrive . Otherwise, Credential is not

effective when you are creating new file system drives.





PARAMETERS

-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Credential <PSCredential>

Specifies a user account that has permission to perform this action. The default is the current user.



Type a user name, such as User01 or Domain01\\User01, or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet. If

you type a user name, this cmdlet prompts you for a password.



Starting in Windows PowerShell 3.0, when the value of the Root parameter is a UNC path, you can use credentials to create file system drives.

This parameter is not supported by all Windows PowerShell providers.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Description <String>

Specifies a brief text description of the drive. Type any string.



To see the descriptions of all of the drives in the session, type `Get-PSDrive | Format-Table Name, Description`. To see the description of a

particular drives, type `(Get-PSDrive <DriveName>).Description`.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Name <String>

Specifies a name for the new drive. For persistent mapped network drives, type a drive letter. For temporary Windows PowerShell drives, type

any valid string; you are not limited to drive letters.



Required? true

Position? 0

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-PSProvider <String>

Specifies the Windows PowerShell provider that supports drives of this kind.



For example, if the drive is associated with a network share or file system directory, the Windows PowerShell provider is FileSystem. If the

drive is associated with a registry key, the provider is Registry.



Temporary Windows PowerShell drives can be associated with any Windows PowerShell provider. Mapped network drives can be associated only with

the FileSystem provider.



To see a list of the providers in your Windows PowerShell session, use the Get-PSProvider cmdlet.



Required? true

Position? 1

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Persist [<SwitchParameter>]

Indicates that this cmdlet creates a Windows mapped network drive. Mapped network drives are saved in Windows on the local computer. They are

persistent, not session-specific, and can be viewed and managed in File Explorer and other tools.



When you scope the command locally, that is, without dot-sourcing, the Persist parameter does not persist the creation of a PSDrive beyond the

scope in which you run the command. If you run New-PSDrive inside a script, and you want the new drive to persist indefinitely, you must

dot-source the script. For best results, to force a new drive to persist, specify Global as the value of the Scope parameterin addition to

adding Persist to your command.



The name of the drive must be a letter, such as D or E. The value of Root parameter must be a UNC path of a different computer. The value of

the PSProvider parameter must be FileSystem.



To disconnect a Windows mapped network drive, use the Remove-PSDrive cmdlet. When you disconnect a Windows mapped network drive, the mapping

is permanently deleted from the computer, not just deleted from the current session.



Mapped network drives are specific to a user account. Mapped network drives that you create in sessions that are started by using the Run as

administrator option or by using the credential of another user are not visible in a session that was started without explicit credentials, or

by using the credentials of the current user.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Root <String>

Specifies the data store location to which a Windows PowerShell drive is mapped.



For example, specify a network share, such as \\\\Server01\\Public, a local directory, such as C:\\Program Files, or a registry key, such as

HKLM:\\Software\\Microsoft.



Temporary Windows PowerShell drives can be associated with a local or remote location on any supported provider drive. Mapped network drives

can be associated only with a file system location on a remote computer.



Required? true

Position? 2

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Scope <String>

Specifies a scope for the drive. The acceptable values for this parameter are: Global, Local, and Script, or a number relative to the current

scope, which is 0 through the number of scopes, where 0 is the current scope and 1 is its parent. Local is the default. For more information,

see about_Scopes (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113260).



Required? false

Position? named

Default value None

Accept pipeline input? True (ByPropertyName)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-UseTransaction [<SwitchParameter>]

Includes the command in the active transaction. This parameter is valid only when a transaction is in progress. For more information, see

Includes the command in the active transaction. This parameter is valid only when a transaction is in progress. For more information, see



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value False

Accept pipeline input? False

Accept wildcard characters? false



<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,

ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,

OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable. For more information, see

about_CommonParameters (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216).



INPUTS

None

You cannot pipe input to this cmdlet.





OUTPUTS

System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo







NOTES





New-PSDrive is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, use Get-PSProvider *.

For more information about providers, see about_Providers (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113250). * Mapped network drives are

specific to a user account. Mapped network drives that you create in sessions that are started by using the Run as administrator option or by

using the credential of another user are not visible in a session that was started without explicit credentials, or by using the credentials

of the current user.



Example 1: Create a drive mapped to a network share



PS C:\\>New-PSDrive -Name "P" -PSProvider "FileSystem" -Root "\\\\Server01\\Public"



Name Provider Root

---- -------- ----

P FileSystem \\\\Server01\\Public



This command creates a temporary Windows PowerShell drive named P: that is mapped to the \\\\Server01\\Public network share.



It uses the Name parameter to specify a name for the drive, the PSProvider parameter to specify the Windows PowerShell FileSystem provider, and

the Root parameter to specify the network share.



When the command finishes, the contents of the \\\\Server01\\Public share appear in the P: drive. To see them, type: `dir P:`.

Example 2: Create a temporary drive



PS C:\\>New-PSDrive -Name MyDocs -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "C:\\Documents and Settings\\User01\\My Documents" -Description "Maps to my My Documents

folder."



Name Provider Root

---- -------- ----

MyDocs FileSystem C:\\Documents and Settings\\User01\\My Documents



This command creates a temporary Windows PowerShell drive that provides quick access to a local directory. It creates a drive named MyDocs: that

is mapped to the "C:\\Documents and Settings\\User01\\My Documents" directory on the local computer.



It uses Name to specify a name for the drive, PSProvider to specify the Windows PowerShell FileSystem provider, Root to specify the path of the My

Documents folder, and the Description parameter to create a description of the drive.



When the command finishes, the contents of the My Documents folder appear in the MyDocs: drive. To see them, type: `dir MyDocs:`.

Example 3: Create a drive for a registry key



PS C:\\>New-PSDrive -Name "MyCompany" -PSProvider "Registry" -Root "HKLM:\\Software\\MyCompany"



Name Provider Root

---- -------- ----

MyCompany Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\MyCo...



This command creates a temporary Windows PowerShell drive that provides quick access to a frequently checked registry key. It creates a drive

named MyCompany that is mapped to the HKLM\\Software\\MyCompany registry key.



It uses Name to specify a name for the drive, PSProvider to specify the Windows PowerShell Registry provider, and Root to specify the registry key.



When the command finishes, the contents of the MyCompany key appear in the MyCompany: drive. To see them, type: `dir MyCompany:`.

Example 4: Create a persisted mapped network drive



PS C:\\>New-PSDrive -Name "S" -Root "\\\\Server01\\Scripts" -Persist -PSProvider "FileSystem"

PS C:\\> Net Use

Status Local Remote Network

---------------------------------------------------------

OK S: \\\\Server01\\Scripts Microsoft Windows Network



This command creates the S mapped network drive on the local computer. The S drive is mapped to the \\\\Server01\\Scripts network share.



The command uses New-PSDrive to create the mapped network drive. It uses Persist to create a Windows mapped network drive that is saved on the

local computer.



The command uses Name to specify a letter name that Windows accepts and Root to specify a location on a remote computer. It uses PSProvider to

specify the FileSystem provider.



The resulting drive can be viewed in other Windows PowerShell sessions on the local computer, in Windows Explorer, and in other tools, such as Net

Use.

Example 5: Create persistent and temporary drives



The first command uses the **New-PSDrive** cmdlet to create a temporary Windows PowerShell drive called PSDrive: that is mapped to the

\\\\Server01\\Public network share.

PS C:\\>New-PSDrive -Name "PSDrive" -PSProvider "FileSystem" -Root "\\\\Server01\\Public"



The second command uses the *Persist* parameter of **New-PSDrive** to create the X: mapped network drive, which is also mapped to the

\\\\Server01\\Public network share.

PS C:\\>New-PSDrive -Persist -Name "X" -PSProvider "FileSystem" -Root "\\\\Server01\\Public"



Now, you can use the **Get-PSDrive** drive cmdlet to examine the two drives. The drives appear to be the same, although the network share name

appears only in the root of the PSDrive: drive.

PS C:\\>Get-PSDrive -Name "PSDrive", "X"

Name Provider Root

---- -------- ----



PsDrive FileSystem \\\\Server01\\public

X FileSystem X:\\



The output of the Get-Member cmdlet shows that the drives have the same object type, System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo.

PS C:\\>Get-PSDrive "PSDrive", "x" | Get-Member

TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo







Name MemberType Definition

---- ---------- ----------

CompareTo Method System.Int32 CompareTo(PSDriveInfo drive),

Equals Method System.Boolean Equals(Object obj),

GetHashCode Method System.Int32 GetHashCode()

...





However, a Net Use command, a Get-WmiObject command for the Win32_LogicalDisk class, and a **Get-WmiObject** command for the

Win32_NetworkConnection class find only the persistent X: drive because Windows PowerShell temporary drives are known only to Windows

PowerShell.If you close the Windows PowerShell session and then open a new one, the PSDrive: drive is gone, and the X: drive persists. Therefore,

when deciding which method to use to map network drives, consider how you will use the drive, whether it has to be persistent, and whether the

drive has to be visible to other Windows features.

PS C:\\>Net Use



Status Local Remote Network

--------------------------------------------------------

OK X: \\\\contoso-pc\\data Microsoft Windows Network



PS C:\\>Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk | Format-Table -Property DeviceID



deviceid

--------

C:

D:

X:



PS C:\\>Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkConnection



LocalName RemoteName ConnectionState Status

--------- ---------- --------------- ------

X: \\\\products\\public Disconnected Unavailable



This example shows the difference between a persistent mapped network drive and a temporary Windows PowerShell drive that is mapped to the same

network share.



RELATED LINKS

Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=821607

Get-PSDrive

Remove-PSDrive