How to check network folder exist with credentials using powershell 5 - windows

Question

Lest say there is a network folder \\my_server\my_root\my_dir.
To access this folder these credentials required username: my_doman\my_user password: my_password.
Now in my program first it try to map network folder to a local drive. If there is a exception, it consider as folder not exist. I think this is not a good way.
Is there a way to check this folder exist without try to map to a local drive? I'm looking for something like
[System.IO.Path]::Exist("\\my_server\my_root\my_dir","my_doman\my_user","my_password")
I'm using Powershell 5
This is how I map the drive now
try{
$net = new-object -ComObject WScript.Network
$net.MapNetworkDrive($free_drive, $network_dir, $false, "domain\user", "password")
}catch{
Write-host: "folder does not exist"
}

Answer 1

Using New-PSDrive:
New-PSDrive -Name Q -PSProvider FileSystem -Root \\my_server\my_root\my_dir -Credential my_domain\my_user -Persist
Old School method using cmdline utility:
net use \\my_server\my_root\my_dir /user:my_domain\my_user my_password
start \\my_server\my_root\my_dir
For mapping you can use this:
$net = New-Object -comobject Wscript.Network
$net.MapNetworkDrive("Q:","\\my_server\my_root\my_dir",0,"my_domain\my_user","my_password")
For testing the path, you can use:
Test-Path \\my_server\my_root\my_dir
Note:You will get a boolean value in return from the test path.
Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Assuming that on the machine executing the script you're able to log in as the user under which you want to connect to the remote share, you could use Invoke-Command to invoke Test-Path as another user:
$pathExists = Invoke-Command -ComputerName . -Credential $credentials -ScriptBlock {
Test-Path -Path "\\my_server\my_root\my_dir"
}
if ($pathExists)
{
# my_dir\ exists
}
else
{
# my_dir\ is inaccessible/non-existent
}
I'm not in a position to test this at present but I suspect you may need to include -Authentication Credssp as a parameter to Invoke-Command (assuming the necessary environment for that is in place) due to the double-hop problem.
Of course, if you're checking for the existence of that directory under another user in order to make decisions for future filesystem operations to be executed as that same user, you would then need to Invoke-Command another batch of operations or include them after Test-Path. At that point you might be better off connecting to the share under alternate credentials in the usual way. It's just the difference between executing as another user and connecting as another user, each with their own pros and cons.

Answer 3

I was having the same problem checking the folder and/or file existence on a remote server before copying the file from deployment server. Nothing worked for me and ended up in a huge frustration.
I then tried this...
$pathExists = Invoke-Command -ComputerName <remoteServerName> -Credential $credentials
-ScriptBlock {
Test-Path -Path <AbsolutePath> "UNC path does not work here and you must use Absolute
path. eg. instead of \\Server use D:\Dir1 or D:\Dir1\File1.bat"
}
if (-not ($pathExists))
{
write-host "Directory or File does not exist"
}
else
{
write-host "Directory or File exist"
}
This worked just fine for me after using the absolute path in the Test-Path. For some reason the UNC path does not work! Hope, this helps someone!