This article shows you how to return the Universal Naming Convention
(UNC) path for a mapped drive letter.
This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for
Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the
programming tools provided with Microsoft Access.
To find the UNC path associated with a mapped network drive letter,
follow these steps:
- Create a new module, and then type or paste the following lines in the Declarations section:
Option Explicit
' These represent the possible returns errors from API.
Public Const ERROR_BAD_DEVICE = 1200&
Public Const ERROR_CONNECTION_UNAVAIL = 1201&
Public Const ERROR_EXTENDED_ERROR = 1208&
Public Const ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234
Public Const ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED = 50&
Public Const ERROR_NO_NET_OR_BAD_PATH = 1203&
Public Const ERROR_NO_NETWORK = 1222&
Public Const ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED = 2250&
Public Const NO_ERROR = 0
' This API declaration is used to return the
' UNC path from a drive letter.
Declare Function WNetGetConnection Lib "mpr.dll" Alias _
"WNetGetConnectionA" _
(ByVal lpszLocalName As String, _
ByVal lpszRemoteName As String, _
cbRemoteName As Long) As Long
- Type or paste the following procedure:
Function GetUNCPath(strDriveLetter As String) As String
On Local Error GoTo GetUNCPath_Err
Dim Msg As String, lngReturn As Long
Dim lpszLocalName As String
Dim lpszRemoteName As String
Dim cbRemoteName As Long
lpszLocalName = strDriveLetter
lpszRemoteName = String$(255, Chr$(32))
cbRemoteName = Len(lpszRemoteName)
lngReturn = WNetGetConnection(lpszLocalName, _
lpszRemoteName, _
cbRemoteName)
Select Case lngReturn
Case ERROR_BAD_DEVICE
Msg = "Error: Bad Device"
Case ERROR_CONNECTION_UNAVAIL
Msg = "Error: Connection Un-Available"
Case ERROR_EXTENDED_ERROR
Msg = "Error: Extended Error"
Case ERROR_MORE_DATA
Msg = "Error: More Data"
Case ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED
Msg = "Error: Feature not Supported"
Case ERROR_NO_NET_OR_BAD_PATH
Msg = "Error: No Network Available or Bad Path"
Case ERROR_NO_NETWORK
Msg = "Error: No Network Available"
Case ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED
Msg = "Error: Not Connected"
Case NO_ERROR
' all is successful...
End Select
If Len(Msg) Then
MsgBox Msg, vbInformation
Else
' Display the path in a Message box or return
' the UNC through the function.
MsgBox Left$(lpszRemoteName, cbRemoteName)
GetUNCPath = Left$(lpszRemoteName, cbRemoteName)
End If
GetUNCPath_End:
Exit Function
GetUNCPath_Err:
MsgBox Err.Description, vbInformation
Resume GetUNCPath_End
End Function
- To test this function, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:
?GetUNCPath("h:")
A simple message box appears containing the UNC path of the specified network drive letter.
NOTE: This example assumes that you have a mapped network drive
assigned to drive letter H.
Some of the possible return values for the GetUNCPath function include ERROR_BAD_DEVICE, ERROR_CONNECTION_UNAVAIL, and ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED.
Other run-time errors may be returned from the function, in which case, error trapping should be implemented.
For more information about declaring API functions, click
Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the
Help menu, type
declare statement example in the Office Assistant or
the Answer Wizard, and then click
Search to view the topics
returned.
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