Map a network drive to be used by a service

Question

Suppose some Windows service uses code that wants mapped network drives and no UNC paths. How can I make the drive mapping available to the service\'s session when the servi

Answer 1

You could us the 'net use' command:

var p = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("net.exe", "use K: \\\\Server\\path");
var isCompleted = p.WaitForExit(5000);

If that does not work in a service, try the Winapi and PInvoke WNetAddConnection2

Edit: Obviously I misunderstood you - you can not change the sourcecode of the service, right? In that case I would follow the suggestion by mdb, but with a little twist: Create your own service (lets call it mapping service) that maps the drive and add this mapping service to the dependencies for the first (the actual working) service. That way the working service will not start before the mapping service has started (and mapped the drive).