How To Access Network Drive Using C#

Introduction

In this post, we will learn about how to access a Network folder (drive) using C# code. For accessing the network drive, we are using NetworkCredential and MPR library for accessing files and the directory of the network folder. To access the network drive, we have to pass the network path and its username and password for connecting with the network. Then, we can access files and directories inside the network drive. Let's start coding.

Create one class file name that ConnectToSharedFolder and add the below namespaces for access to Network Credential and MPR library methods.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Net;

Write the below code in the ConnectToSharedFolder class file and inherit this class file with IDisposable -- see the below code.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Net;

public class ConnectToSharedFolder : IDisposable
{
    private readonly string _networkName;

    public ConnectToSharedFolder(string networkName, NetworkCredential credentials)
    {
        _networkName = networkName;

        var netResource = new NetResource
        {
            Scope = ResourceScope.GlobalNetwork,
            ResourceType = ResourceType.Disk,
            DisplayType = ResourceDisplaytype.Share,
            RemoteName = networkName
        };

        var userName = string.IsNullOrEmpty(credentials.Domain)
            ? credentials.UserName
            : $@"{credentials.Domain}\{credentials.UserName}";

        var result = WNetAddConnection2(
            netResource,
            credentials.Password,
            userName,
            0);

        if (result != 0)
        {
            throw new Win32Exception(result, "Error connecting to remote share");
        }
    }

    ~ConnectToSharedFolder()
    {
        Dispose(false);
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Dispose(true);
        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
    }

    protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        WNetCancelConnection2(_networkName, 0, true);
    }

    [DllImport("mpr.dll")]
    private static extern int WNetAddConnection2(NetResource netResource, string password, string username, int flags);

    [DllImport("mpr.dll")]
    private static extern int WNetCancelConnection2(string name, int flags, bool force);

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    public class NetResource
    {
        public ResourceScope Scope;
        public ResourceType ResourceType;
        public ResourceDisplaytype DisplayType;
        public int Usage;
        public string LocalName;
        public string RemoteName;
        public string Comment;
        public string Provider;
    }

    public enum ResourceScope : int
    {
        Connected = 1,
        GlobalNetwork,
        Remembered,
        Recent,
        Context
    };

    public enum ResourceType : int
    {
        Any = 0,
        Disk = 1,
        Print = 2,
        Reserved = 8,
    }

    public enum ResourceDisplaytype : int
    {
        Generic = 0x0,
        Domain = 0x01,
        Server = 0x02,
        Share = 0x03,
        File = 0x04,
        Group = 0x05,
        Network = 0x06,
        Root = 0x07,
        Shareadmin = 0x08,
        Directory = 0x09,
        Tree = 0x0a,
        Ndscontainer = 0x0b
    }
}