Using windows command prompt in PowerShell - Network Drives

Question

I'm having trouble moving from command prompt to powershell. Usually I hold the shift key while right clicking, select 'open command prompt here', and use dir /s>filename.txt to get a list of all files in a directory and its subfolders. However, my company just updated our computers and now I can't access the command prompt from the network folder I'm trying to get a directory list of.

When I right click and hold the shift key there is no option to 'open the command prompt' from the folder I'm selecting. I opened command prompt manually and attempted to navigate to the network folder, but no dice. I get an error regarding UNC (?) or that it basically can't do it because it's a network folder.

I attempted to use powershell the same way I use Command prompt given as an answer Here, however I get an error message

PS Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::\\my.company.com\companydata\MainProject\Records\Field Work\Invoices> dir /s >file.txt
dir : Cannot find path 's' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ dir /s >file.txt
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (s:String) [Get-ChildItem], ItemNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

I also attempted to re-instate the command prompt option in the expanded right-click +shift key list as detailed here. However, I don't have the permissions required to run all the steps.

I just need a directory of everything in a specified network folder, just a list of all the files in the folder and subfolders: file paths, file names, and dates created. I used to be able to get it using command prompt but apparently, that's not available. I'm unsure how to use powershell, and help is much appreciated, in either getting new, simple, easy to understand powershell resources so I can teach myself, or in finding a work around so I can continue using command prompt.

Is there an interpretation guide I can use that goes from Command Prompt to Powershell, and also will let me list files in network drives? (I can sort of understand the current resources out there for having powershell list files in a directory on the computer, but what I need is the powershell to be able to list files in a specified network folder).

G42 · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-12 15:58:11Z

2

In powershell, dir is an alias for Get-ChildItem I believe you're getting that error because switches/arguments work differently in PowerShell. The first parameter by position is Path, so the system thinks you are providing the value /s for the path.

You can do this in PowerShell without having to launch cmd by leveraging Get-ChildItem. As you what the complete structure including the subfolders, user -Recurse

You could also export to csv instead of text file. There's a lot of data - Select can be used to restrict which fields you export.

$Path = "\\my.company.com\companydata\MainProject\Records\Field Work\Invoices"
$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $Path -Recurse
$Files | Out-file file.txt
$Files | Select-Object FullName,CreationTime | Export-Csv file.csv -NoTypeInformation

answered Oct 12, 2018 at 15:58

G42

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R.E.L. Over a year ago

One small question: how can I track if this works or not? The drive is huge--is there a command that allows me to see the progress PowerShell? Generally with cmd I can see it work because it will automatically create the text file in the directory I'm getting my list from.

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