Chef - Installing a Windows Package from a Mapped Drive - windows

Question

I am trying to install a package from a mapped drive. However, chef says my source path is an invalid location even though I know it is the correct location. Do I need to map the drive first, before Chef recognizes the source path? I looked online in a couple places and could not find an answer.
case node['platform']
when 'windows'
windows_package 'QualysCloudAgent' do
source '\\Server#\Location1\Qualys_agent\QualysCloudAgent.exe'
options '-argumentlist "CustomerId={etc...etc...etc..} ActivationId={etc...etc..etc...}"'
installer_type :custom
action :install
end
end
The error that I get when the chef client runs is that the source location is in invalid source, even though I can get to the source location by typing it in on the server itself. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. Error That I receive is below.
* Source for package QualysCloudAgent does not exist
================================================================================
Error executing action `install` on resource 'windows_package[QualysCloudAgent]'
================================================================================
Chef::Exceptions::Package
-------------------------
Source for package QualysCloudAgent does not exist
Resource Declaration:
---------------------
# In c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/qualys/recipes/qualys_configure.rb
18: windows_package 'QualysCloudAgent' do
19: source '\\Server#\Location1\Qualys_agent\QualysCloudAgent.exe'
20: options '-argumentlist "CustomerId={etc...etc...etc...} ActivationId={etc...etc...etc...}"'
21: installer_type :custom
22: action :install
23: end
24: end
Compiled Resource:
------------------
# Declared in c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/qualys/recipes/qualys_configure.rb:18:in `from_file'
windows_package("QualysCloudAgent") do
package_name "QualysCloudAgent"
action [:install]
default_guard_interpreter :default
declared_type :windows_package
cookbook_name "qualys"
recipe_name "qualys_configure"
source "p:\\Server#\\Location1\\qualys_agent\\qualyscloudagent.exe"
options "-argumentlist \"CustomerId={etc...etc...etc...} ActivationId={etc...etc...etc...}\""
installer_type :custom
end
System Info:
------------
chef_version=14.14.25
platform=windows
platform_version=6.3.9600
ruby=ruby 2.5.7p206 (2019-10-01 revision 67816) [x64-mingw32]
program_name=C:/opscode/chef/bin/chef-client
executable=C:/opscode/chef/bin/chef-client
2020-01-12T22:21:50-08:00] INFO: Running queued delayed notifications before re-raising exception
unning handlers:
2020-01-12T22:21:50-08:00] ERROR: Running exception handlers
unning handlers complete
2020-01-12T22:21:50-08:00] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
hef Client failed. 0 resources updated in 14 seconds
2020-01-12T22:21:51-08:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to c:/chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
2020-01-12T22:21:51-08:00] FATAL: Please provide the contents of the stacktrace.out file if you file a bug report
2020-01-12T22:21:51-08:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::Package: windows_package[QualysCloudAgent] (qualys::qualys_configur
line 18) had an error: Chef::Exceptions::Package: Source for package QualysCloudAgent does not exist

Answer 1

Since you're installing a package, it's safe to assume you are running chef-client with elevated permissions. Any network drives you map that are visible in Explorer, will not be usable in an elevated process. You will either need to:
Use the UNC path in place of a letter drive
Map the drive during the Chef run (required if the full UNC path would exceed 255 characters)
If you opt for the latter approach, you can use the mount resource to map a network drive.