UNC paths and mapped network drives / shares
- Q: Can I use mapped drives when performing operations with files located on network shares?
- A: While in Windows XP it may work, in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 you will probably need to use Universal Naming Convention (UNC) standard path.
Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path refers to shared network resource. UNC path is written with different syntax than local / mapped drives.
N:\folder\subfolder\
\\ComputerName\SharedFolder\Resource\
In Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 the behavior of mapped drives has changed. Mapped drives are created on per-user basis, namely, each user can have a different drive letter assigned to some network resource (or different network resource mapped to the same letter). With User Account Control (UAC) enabled user can access two different sets of drives, one is shown if user has administrator privileges and completely another one if user has not.
Thus, when creating a Task in Automation Workshop, it is important to keep in mind which user has what resources mapped to what drive letters. Or, to keep things as simple as possible, much better idea is to use UNC path instead of mapped drives. Even if you have assigned a drive letter to \\SERVER\share\, use \\SERVER\share\ as parameter when configuring Automation Workshop Triggers and Actions.
Please do not hesitate to contact our support department with any possible further questions or to solve practical issues connected with Automation Workshop. The solution will be provided shortly by e-mail and eventually added to FAQ.