Get-PSDrive
Gets drives in the current session.
Syntax
Get-PSDrive
[[-Name] <String[]>]
[-Scope <String>]
[-PSProvider <String[]>]
[<CommonParameters>]Get-PSDrive
[-LiteralName] <String[]>
[-Scope <String>]
[-PSProvider <String[]>]
[<CommonParameters>]Description
The Get-PSDrive cmdlet gets the drives in the current session. You can get a particular drive or
all drives in the session.
This cmdlet gets the following types of drives:
- Windows logical drives on the computer, including drives mapped to network shares.
- Drives exposed by PowerShell providers (such as the Certificate:, Function:, and Alias: drives) and the HKLM: and HKCU: drives that are exposed by the Windows PowerShell Registry provider.
- Session-specified temporary drives and persistent mapped network drives that you create by using the New-PSDrive cmdlet.
Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the Persist parameter of the New-PSDrive cmdlet can
create mapped network drives that are saved on the local computer and are available in other
sessions. For more information, see New-PSDrive.
Also, beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, when an external drive is connected to the computer, Windows PowerShell automatically adds a PSDrive to the file system that represents the new drive. You do not need to restart Windows PowerShell. Similarly, when an external drive is disconnected from the computer, Windows PowerShell automatically deletes the PSDrive that represents the removed drive.
Examples
Example 1: Get drives in the current session
PS C:\> Get-PSDrive
Name Used (GB) Free (GB) Provider Root
---- --------- --------- -------- ----
Alias Alias
C 202.06 23718.91 FileSystem C:\
Cert Certificate \
D 1211.06 123642.32 FileSystem D:\
Env Environment
Function Function
HKCU Registry HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKLM Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Variable VariableThis command gets the drives in the current session.
The output shows the hard drive (C:), CD-ROM drive (D:), and the drives exposed by the Windows PowerShell providers (Alias:, Cert:, Env:, Function:, HKCU:, HKLM:, and Variable:).
Example 2: Get a drive on the computer
PS C:\foo> Get-PSDrive D
Name Used (GB) Free (GB) Provider Root
---- --------- --------- -------- ----
D 1211.06 123642.32 FileSystem D:\This command gets the D: drive on the computer. Note that the drive letter in the command is not followed by a colon.
Example 3: Get all the drives that are supported by the Windows PowerShell file system provider
PS C:\> Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem
Name Used (GB) Free (GB) Provider Root
---- --------- --------- -------- ----
A A:\
C 202.06 23718.91 FileSystem C:\
D 1211.06 123642.32 FileSystem D:\
G 202.06 710.91 FileSystem \\Music\GratefulDeadThis command gets all of the drives that are supported by the Windows PowerShell FileSystem provider. This includes fixed drives, logical partitions, mapped network drives, and temporary drives that you create by using the New-PSDrive cmdlet.
Example 4: Check to see if a drive is in use as a Windows PowerShell drive name
if (Get-PSDrive X -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
Write-Host 'The X: drive is already in use.'
} else {
New-PSDrive -Name X -PSProvider Registry -Root HKLM:\SOFTWARE
}This command checks to see whether the X drive is already in use as a Windows PowerShell drive name.
If it is not, the command uses the New-PSDrive cmdlet to create a temporary drive that is mapped
to the HKLM:\SOFTWARE registry key.
Example 5: Compare the types of files system drives
PS C:\> Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem
Name Used (GB) Free (GB) Provider Root
---- --------- --------- -------- ----
A A:\
C 202.06 23718.91 FileSystem C:\
D 1211.06 123642.32 FileSystem D:\
G 202.06 710.91 FileSystem \\Music\GratefulDead
X Registry HKLM:\Network
PS C:\> net use
New connections will be remembered.
Status Local Remote Network
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK G: \\Server01\Public Microsoft Windows Network
PS C:\> [System.IO.DriveInfo]::GetDrives() | Format-Table
Name DriveType DriveFormat IsReady AvailableFreeSpace TotalFreeSpace TotalSize RootDirectory VolumeLabel
---- --------- ----------- ------- ------------------ -------------- --------- ------------- -----------
A:\ Network False A:\
C:\ Fixed NTFS True 771920580608 771920580608 988877418496 C:\ Windows
D:\ Fixed NTFS True 689684144128 689684144128 1990045179904 D:\ Big Drive
E:\ CDRom False E:\
G:\ Network NTFS True 69120000 69120000 104853504 G:\ GratefulDead
PS N:\> Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_LogicalDisk
DeviceID DriveType ProviderName VolumeName Size FreeSpace
-------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---- ---------
A: 4
C: 3 Windows 988877418496 771926069248
D: 3 Big! 1990045179904 689684144128
E: 5
G: 4 \\Music\GratefulDead 988877418496 771926069248
PS C:\> Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_NetworkConnection
LocalName RemoteName ConnectionState Status
--------- ---------- --------------- ------
G: \\Music\GratefulDead Connected OKThis example compares the types of file system drives that are displayed by Get-PSDrive to those
displayed by using other methods. This example demonstrates different ways to display drives in
Windows PowerShell, and it shows that session-specific drives created by using the New-PSDrive
cmdlet are accessible only in Windows PowerShell.
The first command uses Get-PSDrive to get all of the file system drives in the session. This
includes the fixed drives (C: and D:), a mapped network drive (G:) that was created by using the
Persist parameter of New-PSDrive, and a PowerShell drive (T:) that was created by using
New-PSDrive without the Persist parameter.
The net use command displays Windows mapped network drives, in this case it displays only the G
drive. It does not display the X: drive that was created by New-PSDrive. It shows that the G:
drive is also mapped to \\Music\GratefulDead.
The third command uses the GetDrives method of the Microsoft .NET Framework
System.IO.DriveInfo class. This command gets the Windows file system drives, including drive G:,
but it does not get the drives created by New-PSDrive.
The fourth command uses the Get-CimInstance cmdlet to get the instances of the
Win32_LogicalDisk class. It returns the A:, C:, D:, E:, and G: drives, but not the drives
created by New-PSDrive.
The last command uses the Get-CimInstance cmdlet to display the instances of the
Win32_NetworkConnection class. Like net use, it returns only the persistent G: drive created
by New-PSDrive.
Parameters
-LiteralName
Specifies the name of the drive.
The value of LiteralName is used exactly as it is typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the name includes escape characters, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell Windows PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape sequences.
| Type: | String[] |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | True |
| Accept pipeline input: | True |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Name
Specifies, as a string array, the name or name of drives that this cmdlet gets in the operation.
Type the drive name or letter without a colon (:).
| Type: | String[] |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | True |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-PSProvider
Specifies, as a string array, the Windows PowerShell provider. This cmdlet gets only the drives supported by this provider. Type the name of a provider, such as FileSystem, Registry, or Certificate.
| Type: | String[] |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | True |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Scope
Specifies the scope in which this cmdlet gets the drives.
The acceptable values for this parameter are:
- Global
- Local
- Script
- a number relative to the current scope (0 through the number of scopes, where 0 is the current scope and 1 is its parent). "Local" is the default.
For more information, see about_Scopes.
| Type: | String |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | True |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
None
You can't pipe objects to this cmdlet.
Outputs
This cmdlet returns objects representing the drives in the session.
Notes
PowerShell includes the following aliases for Get-PSDrive:
All platforms:
gdr
This cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, use the
Get-PSProvidercmdlet. For more information, see about_Providers.Mapped network drives that are created by using the Persist parameter of the New-PSDrive cmdlet are specific to a user account. Mapped network drives that you create in sessions that are started with the Run as administrator option or with the credentials of another user are not visible in sessions that are started without explicit credentials or with the credentials of the current user.
