Use the PushD command to create a quick temporary drive map in Windows XP

Have you ever been working from a Command Prompt and needed to temporarily map a drive letter to a network location for a quick file operation? Of course, you can switch over to Windows Explorer and use the Map Network Drive command on the Tools menu.

While this is a viable solution, it requires multiple steps to create and then you have to perform several more steps to disconnect the network drive. This can be a pain — especially if you just want to work from a Command Prompt.

However, there is another way. You can use the PushD command to quickly create a temporary drive map while remaining in the Command Prompt. You can then use PopD to quickly disconnect the network drive. Here’s how:

1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Type the following command line:

   PUSHD ServerSharepath

   where \\Server\Share\path is the network resource to which you want to map a drive letter.

As soon as you do, the PUSHD command will instantly map a drive letter to the network resource and then change to that drive right in the Command Prompt window. When you’re done, just type POPD and the mapped drive letter will be disconnected and you’ll return to your original drive.

Keep in mind that, the PUSHD command allocates drive letters from Z: on down and will use the first unused drive letter that it finds.

Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.

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