net use * /delete While net use works everywhere, PowerShell offers richer control and better integration with modern authentication, including Azure AD and certificate-based logins. New-PSDrive for Persistent Mappings PowerShell’s drive cmdlets are primarily for creating session-scoped PSDrives (like HKLM:\ for the registry). However, with the -Persist flag, you can create a standard Windows mapped drive:
net use Z: /delete To delete all mapped drives at once (common in logoff scripts): map drive from command line
$cred = Get-Credential New-PSDrive -Name "Z" -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "\\server\share" -Credential $cred -Persist The Get-Credential dialog is secure, but for automation you can build a credential object (though storing passwords in scripts is still discouraged). PowerShell uniquely allows mapping a network share to a local folder path instead of a drive letter—something net use cannot do directly: net use * /delete While net use works
net use Z: \\server\share /user:DOMAIN\username * The asterisk ( * ) tells Windows to prompt for a password without echoing it to the screen. For fully automated scripts (use with caution), you can include the password directly: PowerShell uniquely allows mapping a network share to
| Task | Command | |------|---------| | Map persistent drive | net use Z: \\server\share /persistent:yes | | Map with specific credentials | net use Z: \\server\share /user:DOMAIN\user * | | Delete mapping | net use Z: /delete | | Delete all mappings | net use * /delete | | PowerShell persistent drive | New-PSDrive -Name Z -PSProvider FileSystem -Root \\server\share -Persist | | View all connections | net use |
net use Z: \\server\share /user:OtherDomain\jsmith /savecred You will be prompted for the password once. After that, any script or command using that same mapping will reuse the stored credential—useful for scheduled tasks, but a security consideration. Network paths with spaces require quotation marks. Drive letters do not: