CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
Andrej
Andrej

Reputation: 53

How to remove mapped network drive when created with a random letter

I am creating a mapped network drive with a random letter like this:

 $drive = Get-ChildItem function:[f-z]: -n | Where { !(Test-Path $_) } | select -First 1
 $PsDrive = New-PSDrive -Name ($drive)[0] -PSProvider "FileSystem" -Root $somePath

This code works fine. I have a problem when want to remove the newly created mapped drive at the end of my script. How I do it: 

$someEnv = Remove-PSDrive -Name $drive

The problem here is that $drive adds the colon after the name ':'. For example if $drive is called M, it will be "M:" and Remove-PsDrive fails.

Probably it will be removed automatically when the session is over, but I want to remove it explicitly.

Do you guys have an idea how I can remove this drive?

Thanks

Upvotes: 0

Views: 652

Answers (2)

Lee_Dailey
Lee_Dailey

Reputation: 7479

here is another, somewhat different way to do it that uses just powershell. [grin]

what it does ...

  • creates a list of possible drive letters
    in this case, it is just F thru Z.
    == uses 'F'[0] to convert the letter string to a character
    == uses the range operator to coerce the chars to ascii code numbers
    == generates a range from those code numbers
    == coerces the code numbers back to characters & stuffs them into an array
    in PoSh7, you can make that array with 'F'..'Z'. [grin]
  • grabs the in-use drive letters
  • filters the candidate letters against the in-use letters
  • grabs the 1st remaining letter
  • sets a target root
    in this case it is the temp dir.
  • creates a new PSDrive with that letter
  • shows the drive letter in use by that new PSDrive
  • gets a dir list of the 1st three items in that PSDrive
  • removes the PSDrive
  • shows the current filesystem PSDrives

the code ... 

$CandidateDriveLetters = [char[]]('F'[0]..'Z'[0])
$InUseDriveLetters = (Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem).Name
$1stAvailableDL = ($CandidateDriveLetters |
    Where-Object {
        $_ -notin $InUseDriveLetters
        })[0]

$TargetDriveRoot = $env:TEMP
$NewDrive = New-PSDrive -Name $1stAvailableDL -PSProvider FileSystem -Root $TargetDriveRoot

$NewDrive.Name
'=' * 30
Get-ChildItem -Path ('{0}:' -f $NewDrive.Name) |
    Select-Object -First 3

'=' * 30
Remove-PSDrive -Name $NewDrive.Name

(Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem).Name

output ... 

H
==============================


    Directory: C:\Temp


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
d-----       2020-04-21   6:39 PM                2ccdytd4
d-----       2020-04-21   6:39 PM                30u23uyw
d-----       2020-04-21   6:39 PM                55zoq3fj
==============================
C
D
E
F
G
R
S
Z

Upvotes: 2

Shamus Berube
Shamus Berube

Reputation: 486

You can remove the ':' from the $drive variable using Replace

$drive.Replace(':','')

So your code to remove the drive looks like this

$someEnv = Remove-PSDrive -Name  $drive.Replace(':','')

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions