Mapped network drive letter access denied but OK in windows explorer

[arjaydavis]

I would have thought that if Windows Explorer can browse a mapped drive letter, then beyond compare should be able to as well.

But I get "Unable to load R:\: The handle is invalid" and "Public key agent authorization failed".

Surely Beyond Compare just uses Explorer APIs to access the drive? And therefore the files should be visible.

Beyond Compare should see this drive letter like any other drive, local hard drive, it should just see it as a drive with files and folders in, never mind whether it is on a network (?)

[Aaron]

Normally, BC3 is able to browse a mapped drive letter pointing to a Windows Share.

Are you able to access the share by navigating to it's full path (example: \\computerName\folder)?

What kind of share is it? Which OS is it hosted on?

[arjaydavis]

I'll check out your suggestion to use the full path and update here. But to re-iterate, BeyondCompare should see a drive letter like any other drive, regardless of the underlying protocol, location, etc. The upward interface facing BeyondCompare of the drive should present itself like any other, surely?

[Aaron]

Under normal circumstances, if a device or location can bind itself to a drive letter, Beyond Compare is able to interact with it normally.

The purpose of accessing it with the full path is to determine if it is the drive letter binding that is causing issues, or if it is just the device/location itself.

[msgBldr]

I have a similar problem. I don't know if it is related or not.

When the drive is mapped to a real network drive, that is, it's on another computer, BC works just fine.

However, when I travel I mimic the network drives with a USB hard drive. I map using the SUBST command: subst Y: P:\U_mirBobBob2. With this, BC cannot find the drive in question. I can paste this drive address into Explorer and it works just fine. Other appls seem to have no problem with it.

Suggestions? Thx... Bob

[Aaron]

Following the same commands, this seems to work fine on Windows 7 with the usb device (a thumbstick) I tested with. Do you see your Y:\ drive in My Computer/Windows Explorer as a removeable drive? Once I performed the subst command, it showed up there as well as in the BC3 browse dialog or manually typing and navigating to it.

[msgBldr]

Do you see your Y:\ drive in My Computer/Windows Explorer as a removeable drive?

No. It shows up as a normal drive.

Once I performed the subst command, it showed up there as well as in the BC3 browse dialog or manually typing and navigating to it.

The drive does not show up in the BC3 browse dialog.

I should be a bit clearer about what I'm doing. There is a single hard drive of 465GB attached via USB as P:.

There are five more drives mapped with SUBST to directories on P:. Previously, when I first posted about this, I could see the five drives in Explorer but not in the BC3 browser.

I was working with an instance of BC3 that was started from a scheduler from SplinterWare. The scheduler starts...
Application: C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 3\BCompare.exe
Parameters: "BobBob2 --> Z"

What I just now discovered is that if I start it manually and open the same session "BobBob2 --> Z" it works and I can see all the drives in BC3 browser. Curiouser and curiouser.

Any ideas, suggestions, or things to try?

thx... Bob

[Aaron]

Hello Bob,

Is part of the script also performing the subst command? Running from the command line, I am able to run the subst command and then run bcompare (or vice versa), and still see Y:\ appear in the browse dialog and be usable. If subst is part of a larger script solution, what if you take that part and put it into a separate script or bat file that is referenced from the overall script?

[msgBldr]

Hi Aaron, pls see below.

Is part of the script also performing the subst command?

No. The subst command is part of a bat file that I run once when I connect the P: USB drive. The bat lives on the USB drive and looks like this:
P:
subst N: %1\N_NetMirMaster
subst S: %1\S_mirSalesforce
subst U: %1\U_mirBobBob2
subst V: %1\V_mirBobBob
subst W: %1\W_Websites
subst Y: %1\U_mirBobBob2
subst Z: %1\Z_Drive
subst
pause
exit

Running from the command line, I am able to run the subst command and then run bcompare (or vice versa), and still see Y:\ appear in the browse dialog and be usable.

There is no script involved in the simplest case that we've been discussing, only the scheduler invocation of BC3:
Application: C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 3\BCompare.exe
Parameters: "BobBob2 --> Z" [a named session that references Z: in the session]

HTH... Bob

[Aaron]

Hi Bob,

I think I misinterpreted what you meant by "manually" earlier. If you run this from the command line:
subst y:\ t:\source
bcompare "BobBob2 --> Z"

Is this "manually"? Or are you booting up the graphical interface?

Either way, that could mean it is a user or permissions issue with the automation software you are using. Is there a way to set which user account it is running as? Is it running as the same user that is using BC3 in the graphical interface and the same user account that is running the bat file with subst?

[msgBldr]

Here's the command line log (edited for false starts):
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Bob Bailey\Desktop>cd\
C:\>subst z: P:\z_drive
Drive already SUBSTed
...
C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 3>bcompare "BobBob2 --> Z"
C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 3>

Once bcompare is invoked the GUI comes up and runs the session just fine.

In the scheduler it gets the error. I tried it like this in the sched but it did not help:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 3\BCompare.exe" "BobBob2 --> Z"

There's only one user account in this laptop. There may be some issues with the scheduler.

In any event, I don't think the problem lies with BC (a fine, dependable product, btw, can't live without it.) The fact that it does run from the cmd line confirms that. Thanks for your efforts to help.

...Bob

[Aaron]

You may want to try a portable install (additionally; use Tools menu -> Export/Import used to bring over your sessions and options). The portable install is a self contained directory containing all the BC3 files, and your script solution may have an easier time with it. It just needs to be installed somewhere it will have both read/write access for settings files, such as your Desktop or C:\BeyondCompare3Portable\.

[arjaydavis]

Thanks for looking into this, I will study your latest comments when I have some time later.