What is the best way to map windows drives using Python?

Question

What is the best way to map a network share to a windows drive using Python? This share also requires a username and password.

Answer 1

Assuming that you import necessary libraries, This was a part of an RPC server where the client requested the server to map a drive locally...

#Small function to check the availability of network resource.
def isAvailable(path):
    winCMD = 'IF EXIST ' + path + ' echo YES'
    cmdOutPut = subprocess.Popen(winCMD, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True).communicate()
    return string.find(str(cmdOutPut), 'YES',)

#Small function to check if the mention location is a directory
def isDirectory(path):
    winCMD = 'dir ' + path + ' | FIND ".."'
    cmdOutPut = subprocess.Popen(winCMD, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True).communicate()
    return string.find(str(cmdOutPut), 'DIR',)

================Check the white spaces from here, these were a part of a function============

def mapNetworkDrive(self, drive, networkPath, user, password):

    #Check for drive availability
    if isAvailable(drive) > -1:
        #Drive letter is already in use
        return -1

    #Check for network resource availability
    if isAvailable(networkPath) == -1:
        print "Path not accessible: ", networkPath
        #Network path is not reachable
        return -1

    #Prepare 'NET USE' commands
    winCMD1 = 'NET USE ' + drive + ' ' + networkPath
    winCMD2 = winCMD1 + ' ' + password + ' /User' + user

    print "winCMD1 = ", winCMD1
    print "winCMD2 = ", winCMD2
    #Execute 'NET USE' command with authentication
    winCMD = winCMD2
    cmdOutPut = subprocess.Popen(winCMD, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True).communicate()
    print "Executed: ", winCMD
    if string.find(str(cmdOutPut), 'successfully',) == -1:
        print winCMD, " FAILED"
        winCMD = winCMD1
        #Execute 'NET USE' command without authentication, incase session already open
        cmdOutPut = subprocess.Popen(winCMD, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True).communicate()
        print "Executed: ", winCMD
        if string.find(str(cmdOutPut), 'successfully',) == -1:
            print winCMD, " FAILED"
            return -1
        #Mapped on second try
        return 1
    #Mapped with first try
    return 1

def unmapNetworkDrive(self, drive):

    #Check if the drive is in use
    if isAvailable(drive) == -1:
        #Drive is not in use
        return -1

    #Prepare 'NET USE' command
    winCMD = 'net use ' + drive + ' /DELETE'
    cmdOutPut = subprocess.Popen(winCMD, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True).communicate()
    if string.find(str(cmdOutPut), 'successfully',) == -1:
        #Could not UN-MAP, this might be a physical drive
        return -1
    #UN-MAP successful
    return 1