How to create multiple SMB shares with different share names mapped to different paths in PowerShell

Question

I'm trying to figure out a way to script in PowerShell the creation of multiple SMB shares on a file server with different share names pointing to different paths. What I mean is having a variable with share names I want to create and another variable to map those share names to their respective paths, example:

$ShareNames = "Share1","Share2","Share3"
$SharePaths = "C:\Temp1","C:\Temp2","C:\Temp3"

I want to be able to create the shares like so:

Share1 map to C:\Temp1    
Share2 map to C:\Temp2    
Share3 map to C:\Temp3    
and so on...

I know the command to create the SMB shares, see below, but I can't figure out how to map each share name to it's appropriate path with multiple values in each variable.

$Parameters = @{
    Name                  = $ShareName
    ScopeName             = "*"
    Path                  = $SharePath
    FolderEnumerationMode = "AccessBased"
    CachingMode           = "BranchCache"
    ContinuouslyAvailable = $true
    FullAccess            = "Everyone"
}

New-SmbShare @Parameters

I've tried using foreach statements to accomplish what I'm looking to do but just can't seem to figure out how to do the 1 to 1 mapping of share names to share paths.

swbbl · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-16 05:29:13Z

1

There are two approaches depending on your needs or likes.

Stick with two variables using `for`

If you want to stick with two variables being mapped to each other, you can use the for statement.

But it's important to ensure both variables ($ShareNames, $SharePaths) are of type array (at least when indexing into one) using the PS array subexpression operator @()!

If they're not both of type array and one variable does only contain one string, the current index ($i) of the for iteration will be applied to an char array ([char[]]'Share1'), hence will only return the character at position of $i ('Share1'[0] → 'S' rather than @('Share1')[0] → 'Share1').

To ensure/guarantee an array, read the comments in the code as there are two options:

Enclose the values before the for statement using @()
Enclose the value every time in the iteration with @() (mentioned as # alternative comment in the code).
Note: Wrapping/Casting a string as array in each iteration could be expensive (performance-wise) for a (very) large list of "Shares".

#! ensure $ShareNames is an array with the array subexpression operator @()
$ShareNames = @('Share1', 'Share2', 'Share3')
#! ensure $SharePaths is an array with the array subexpression operator @()
$SharePaths = @('C:\Temp1', 'C:\Temp2', 'C:\Temp3')

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $ShareNames.Count; $i++) {
    # try/finally to ensure no New-SmbShare gets executed in case of an error in splatting of $parameters
    try {
        $parameters = @{
            Name                  = $ShareNames[$i] # alternative to ensure an array with "@($ShareNames)[$i]"
            ScopeName             = '*'
            Path                  = $SharePaths[$i] # alternative to ensure an array with "@($SharePaths)[$i]"
            FolderEnumerationMode = 'AccessBased'
            CachingMode           = 'BranchCache'
            ContinuouslyAvailable = $true
            FullAccess            = 'Everyone'
        }

        New-SmbShare @parameters
    } finally {}
}

Using a hash table for the share mappings with `foreach`

No issues here with arrays and there is a clear mapping in the code.
We just need to use the .GetEnumerator() method of the hash table in the foreach statement.

$shares = @{
    #key     = value
    'Share1' = 'C:\Temp1'
    'Share2' = 'C:\Temp2'
    'Share3' = 'C:\Temp3'
}

# we need to use the .GetEnumerator() method to iterate through the hash table
foreach ($share in $shares.GetEnumerator()) {
    # try/finally to ensure no New-SmbShare gets executed in case of an error in splatting of $parameters
    try {
        $parameters = @{
            Name                  = $share.Key
            ScopeName             = '*'
            Path                  = $share.Value
            FolderEnumerationMode = 'AccessBased'
            CachingMode           = 'BranchCache'
            ContinuouslyAvailable = $true
            FullAccess            = 'Everyone'
        }

        New-SmbShare @parameters
    } finally {}
}

edited Mar 16, 2023 at 5:29

answered Mar 15, 2023 at 20:29

swbbl

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4 Comments

ShaynG Over a year ago

Thank you for this ! Learned something new :). One question in your 2nd example with hash tables. In the parameters for Name and Path, is the $share.Key referencing the first value in the hash and the $share.Value referencing the 2nd value in the hash? I'm just not sure where the .Key and .Value come from. I think I like this method a little better as it more clearly defines the 1 to 1 mapping for the shares, although the 1st example is such a great technical way to do it too.

ShaynG Over a year ago

One advantage of the 1st example is I think I can incorporate a Get-Content of two separate files for the share names and paths so I wouldn't have to type everything out within the script.

swbbl Over a year ago

@ShaynG: .Key and .Value are properties of the enumerated hash table @{key = value}. As I said, it's necessary to use .GetEnumerator() in the foreach block to enumerate a hash table. I've added a comment in the code above to show you the syntax ;)

ShaynG Over a year ago

thank you so much for this! Really helped, sincerely appreciate your time here.

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Stick with two variables using `for`

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