Question

I’m trying to access a samba share that requires authentication. I do not want the drive to be mapped.

I currently have this working with samba shares that the host-name is registered with the DNS. It will not work with a plain IP address.

I’ve done some work rounds to make it work in the mean time (adding to windows hosts file)

This is the code I’m using below:

public class PinvokeWindowsNetworking
{
    #region Consts
    const int RESOURCE_CONNECTED = 0x00000001;
    const int RESOURCE_GLOBALNET = 0x00000002;
    const int RESOURCE_REMEMBERED = 0x00000003;

    const int RESOURCETYPE_ANY = 0x00000000;
    const int RESOURCETYPE_DISK = 0x00000001;
    const int RESOURCETYPE_PRINT = 0x00000002;

    const int RESOURCEDISPLAYTYPE_GENERIC = 0x00000000;
    const int RESOURCEDISPLAYTYPE_DOMAIN = 0x00000001;
    const int RESOURCEDISPLAYTYPE_SERVER = 0x00000002;
    const int RESOURCEDISPLAYTYPE_SHARE = 0x00000003;
    const int RESOURCEDISPLAYTYPE_FILE = 0x00000004;
    const int RESOURCEDISPLAYTYPE_GROUP = 0x00000005;

    const int RESOURCEUSAGE_CONNECTABLE = 0x00000001;
    const int RESOURCEUSAGE_CONTAINER = 0x00000002;


    const int CONNECT_INTERACTIVE = 0x00000008;
    const int CONNECT_PROMPT = 0x00000010;
    const int CONNECT_REDIRECT = 0x00000080;
    const int CONNECT_UPDATE_PROFILE = 0x00000001;
    const int CONNECT_COMMANDLINE = 0x00000800;
    const int CONNECT_CMD_SAVECRED = 0x00001000;

    const int CONNECT_LOCALDRIVE = 0x00000100;
    #endregion

    #region Errors
    const int NO_ERROR = 0;

    const int ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED = 5;
    const int ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED = 85;
    const int ERROR_BAD_DEVICE = 1200;
    const int ERROR_BAD_NET_NAME = 67;
    const int ERROR_BAD_PROVIDER = 1204;
    const int ERROR_CANCELLED = 1223;
    const int ERROR_EXTENDED_ERROR = 1208;
    const int ERROR_INVALID_ADDRESS = 487;
    const int ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER = 87;
    const int ERROR_INVALID_PASSWORD = 1216;
    const int ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234;
    const int ERROR_NO_MORE_ITEMS = 259;
    const int ERROR_NO_NET_OR_BAD_PATH = 1203;
    const int ERROR_NO_NETWORK = 1222;

    const int ERROR_BAD_PROFILE = 1206;
    const int ERROR_CANNOT_OPEN_PROFILE = 1205;
    const int ERROR_DEVICE_IN_USE = 2404;
    const int ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED = 2250;
    const int ERROR_OPEN_FILES = 2401;

    private struct ErrorClass
    {
        public int num;
        public string message;
        public ErrorClass(int num, string message)
        {
            this.num = num;
            this.message = message;
        }
    }


    // Created with excel formula:
    // ="new ErrorClass("&A1&", """&PROPER(SUBSTITUTE(MID(A1,7,LEN(A1)-6), "_", " "))&"""), "
    private static ErrorClass[] ERROR_LIST = new ErrorClass[] {
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED, "Error: Access Denied"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED, "Error: Already Assigned"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_BAD_DEVICE, "Error: Bad Device"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_BAD_NET_NAME, "Error: Bad Net Name"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_BAD_PROVIDER, "Error: Bad Provider"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_CANCELLED, "Error: Cancelled"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_EXTENDED_ERROR, "Error: Extended Error"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_INVALID_ADDRESS, "Error: Invalid Address"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER, "Error: Invalid Parameter"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_INVALID_PASSWORD, "Error: Invalid Password"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_MORE_DATA, "Error: More Data"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_NO_MORE_ITEMS, "Error: No More Items"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_NO_NET_OR_BAD_PATH, "Error: No Net Or Bad Path"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_NO_NETWORK, "Error: No Network"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_BAD_PROFILE, "Error: Bad Profile"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_CANNOT_OPEN_PROFILE, "Error: Cannot Open Profile"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_DEVICE_IN_USE, "Error: Device In Use"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_EXTENDED_ERROR, "Error: Extended Error"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED, "Error: Not Connected"), 
        new ErrorClass(ERROR_OPEN_FILES, "Error: Open Files"), 
    };

    private static string getErrorForNumber(int errNum)
    {
        try
        {
            foreach (ErrorClass er in ERROR_LIST)
            {
                if (er.num == errNum) return er.message;
            }
            return "Error: Unknown, " + errNum;
        }
        catch (Exception _ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Error: (Pinvoke) Getting Error. Error Number: {0} Exception: {1}", errNum, _ex));
        }
        return "Error: Unknown, " + errNum;
    }
    #endregion

    [DllImport("Mpr.dll")]
    private static extern int WNetUseConnection(
        IntPtr hwndOwner,
        NETRESOURCE lpNetResource,
        string lpPassword,
        string lpUserID,
        int dwFlags,
        string lpAccessName,
        string lpBufferSize,
        string lpResult
        );

    [DllImport("Mpr.dll")]
    private static extern int WNetCancelConnection2(
        string lpName,
        int dwFlags,
        bool fForce
        );

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    private class NETRESOURCE
    {
        public int dwScope = 0;
        public int dwType = 0;
        public int dwDisplayType = 0;
        public int dwUsage = 0;
        public string lpLocalName = "";
        public string lpRemoteName = "";
        public string lpComment = "";
        public string lpProvider = "";
    }


    public static string connectToRemote(string remoteUNC, string username, string password)
    {
        try
        {
            return connectToRemote(remoteUNC, username, password, false);
        }
        catch (Exception _ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: (Pinvoke) Getting Error connectToRemote" + _ex);
        }
        return connectToRemote(remoteUNC, username, password, false);
    }

    public static string connectToRemote(string remoteUNC, string username, string password, bool promptUser)
    {
        try
        {
            NETRESOURCE nr = new NETRESOURCE();
            nr.dwType = RESOURCETYPE_DISK;
            nr.lpRemoteName = remoteUNC;
            //          nr.lpLocalName = "F:";

            int ret;
            if (promptUser)
                ret = WNetUseConnection(IntPtr.Zero, nr, "", "", CONNECT_INTERACTIVE | CONNECT_PROMPT, null, null, null);
            else
                ret = WNetUseConnection(IntPtr.Zero, nr, password, username, 0, null, null, null);

            if (ret == NO_ERROR) return null;
            return getErrorForNumber(ret);
        }
        catch (Exception _ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error: (Pinvoke) Getting Error connectToRemote" + _ex);
        }
        return "Error: (Pinvoke) Getting Error connectToRemote";
    }

    public static string disconnectRemote(string remoteUNC)
    {
        int ret = WNetCancelConnection2(remoteUNC, CONNECT_UPDATE_PROFILE, false);
        if (ret == NO_ERROR) return null;
        return getErrorForNumber(ret);
    }
}

So Any ideas ?

Thanks in Advance!

Answer 1

As mentioned: Access to a windows share through UNC path, before the session opening

This is kind of a duplicate, but the short version is to use UNC paths:

\\hostnameorIP\sharename\folder\within\share\file.txt

You should be able to treat it like any other file in C# and be fine, without mapping. This also works directly in Windows explorer. I do it all the time because mapping at work causes My computer and some other Windows Explorer things to run slower if the connection to the share is slow (which for me, it is).

Something like:

using System.IO;
FileStream lFileStream = new FileStream(@"\\hostnameorIP\sharename\folder\within\share\file.txt",...);

// Do stuff with it

Should work fine.