Create a virtual drive with PowerShell

Question

I'm trying to create a D: drive in Windows, which points to some local directory (e.g. C:\DDrive) using PowerShell.

This code runs fine:

New-PSDrive -Name D -Root "C:\D_Drive\" -PSProvider "FileSystem"

But in the Windows Explorer no D:-drive is visible.

How does one use that command correctly? Also: the drive should be permanent, so I tried adding a "-Persist" parameter. But that leads to an error ("unknown parameter "-Persist"...").

Apparently only mapped UNC drives are supported, which is probably for the best since these can be persisted in "HKCU\Network" with the -persist option and can be reflected to both logon sessions in a linked UAC logon (standard and elevated). For the C: drive, you can use the C$ administrative share, e.g. "\\localhost\C$\D_Drive". — Eryk Sun
– Eryk Sun, Commented May 23, 2019 at 11:50
BTW, whoever developed PSDrive on the PowerShell team is kind of clueless. The colon has always been part of the drive/device name, just as it's optional for other DOS devices such as "CON", aka "CON:". The name of the NT device mountpoint (i.e. SymbolicLink object) includes the colon, and we need it when opening a volume directly such as "\\.\C:". — Eryk Sun
– Eryk Sun, Commented May 23, 2019 at 11:52

nemze · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-23 11:56:03Z

1

Just run:

subst D: "C:\D_Drive\"

in non-elevated PS session (don't run as Administrator).

answered May 23, 2019 at 11:56

nemze

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2 Comments

Eryk Sun Over a year ago

subst.exe drives (i.e. drive-letter devices created via DefineDosDevice that target a filesystem directory) are not without issues. First, as you mention, they're not reflected to a linked logon session. They also cause some APIs to fail (e.g. GetVolumePathName) that assume that a drive-letter is either a junction to a volume device or a mapped network drive, but not a junction to a filesystem directory.

nemze Over a year ago

That's actually a good piece of information, thank you. Now I need to test some stuff with it to see for myself. Here we go again... :)

Mark Harwood · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-23 11:06:47Z

0

The New-PSDrive command only creates a mapping that is visible in PowerShell. It's not shown in explorer at all.

Here are two other questions that ask the same thing:

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/649234-powershell-mapped-drive-not-showing-in-my-computer

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/96222ba2-90f9-431d-b05a-82b804cdc76e/newpsdrive-does-not-appear-in-explorer?forum=winserverpowershell

answered May 23, 2019 at 11:06

Mark Harwood

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