PsExec and "net use"

Having searched this forum and on the internet I still have not been able to get my problem answered, so hence this new post.

Using psexec v1.70, my PC is Windows 2000 Professional SP4, the remote machine is also Windows 2000 Professional SP4. No firewalls involved, both machines are part of a (Windows 2003) domain. The remote machine automatically logs on with a known username and password (account and passwd), I am logged on to my PC with my own credentials (myaccount and mypasswd).

The remote machine (account) automatically maps a network drive when it logs on (done through Windows Explorer with Reconnect At Logon).

I am trying do remotely change that mapped drive to another server. On the remote machine locally I can do this (works):

    net use W: /delete
    net use W: \\server\share /PERSISTENT:YES

But, from my PC using PsExec this does not work and I get strange results. Here's what I did:

    psexec \\remote -u domain\account -p passwd -i net use W: /delete

This fails with error:

    The network connection could not be found.
    More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2250.

If I try to map a new drive

    psexec \\remote -u domain\account -p passwd -i net use K: \\server\share

This works, and the K: drive shows up on the remote machine in Windows Explorer (but with a red X indicating disconnected) and I can access it. So then I want to disconnect it:

    psexec \\remote -u domain\account -p passwd -i net use K: /delete

And again I get the error:

    The network connection could not be found.
    More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2250.

But now even though I got this error, Windows on the remote machine is confused. Windows Explorer still shows the K: drive, but running "net use" on that remote machine shows no K: drive. Windows Explorer "Disconnect Network Drive" also does not show K:.

I have tried this over and over, but I get the same results. PsExec with "net use K: \\server\share" works, but after that the machine does not indicate that the drive is mapped, and cannot be unmapped, even though Windows Explorer sees the newly mapped drive and can access it.

Thoughts?

Hi Karl, thanks for the quick response.

So I tried again, this time with -e. But I still get the same result.

psexec \\remote -u domain\account -p passwd -e net use N: \\server\share

The command completed successfully.
net exited on remote with error code 0.

Right after this I look on the remote machine (VNC) and N: does show up in Windows Explorer, and I can access it. But, "net use" does not show N: and I cannot psexec delete it:

psexec \\remote -u domain\account -p passwd -e net use N: /DELETE

The network connection could not be found.
More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2250.
net exited on vancg074 with error code 2.

I was unsure about the -e option since the proper account is already loaded (and active) on the machine; the account is already logged on (on the console).

let me explain what's the real root-cause of this problem.