Sign up ×  So I'm trying to use XP_CMDSHELL to set up my drive
for using a backup. I already have the drive mapped, but per, I
figured I'd need to mount the drive using net use.  But when I
do, I get System error 53, 'The network path was not found.'
EXEC XP_CMDSHELL 'net use S: \\sql-backup'  I know this unc is
accessible from the server because it is mounted as a network
share on the sql server.  Any ideas why the unc is unreachable?
share|improve this question Why don't you just backup straight
to the UNC path, use that in your backup command, in place of
mapping it? –  Shawn Melton Apr 14 '12 at 3:03 +1 Shawn. There's
no reason to use xp_cmdshell for this. Honestly, with all the
tools available (CLRs, SSIS, the ability to invoke the command
shell via the agent, Powershell...), there's really no
legitimate reason to use xp_cmdshell. xp_cmdshell was a good
"pre SQL 2005" tool that, for security reasons, most experts now
recommend disabling. –  brian Aug 19 '12 at 18:57  2 Answers 2
You have to give it bo