When working with WebDAV servers in Windows environments, you might need to map a network drive programmatically. While manual mapping through Windows Explorer works fine (using "Map network drive" with credentials), PowerShell presents some unique challenges.

The New-PSDrive cmdlet has limitations when dealing with WebDAV:

# This will fail with WebDAV URLs
New-PSDrive -Name Z -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "http://webdav.example.com/" -Persist

The error occurs because:

• WebDAV URLs aren't recognized as valid filesystem paths
• The -Persist parameter requires traditional UNC paths

The most reliable method is using the legacy net use command through PowerShell:

$webdavUrl = "http://webdavservertest3.cloudapp.net/"
$driveLetter = "Z:"
$credentials = Get-Credential

# Map the drive
$username = $credentials.UserName
$password = $credentials.GetNetworkCredential().Password
$netUseCommand = "net use $driveLetter "$webdavUrl" /user:"$username" "$password" /persistent:yes"
Invoke-Expression $netUseCommand

For automation scenarios, consider these approaches:

# Option 1: Encrypted credential file (first run)
$credPath = "C:\secure\webdav.cred"
Get-Credential | Export-Clixml -Path $credPath

# Subsequent runs
$storedCred = Import-Clixml -Path $credPath
$username = $storedCred.UserName
$password = $storedCred.GetNetworkCredential().Password

After mapping, verify with:

# Check mapped drives
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem | Where-Object { $_.DisplayRoot -like "*webdav*" }

# Test file operations
Test-Path "Z:\"
New-Item -ItemType File -Path "Z:\testfile.txt" -Force

If you encounter problems:

• Ensure WebClient service is running: Get-Service WebClient
• Check registry settings for WebDAV: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
• Verify BasicAuthentication is enabled in IIS if using HTTP

For better compatibility, consider configuring your WebDAV server with a virtual directory:

# This UNC-style path often works better with PowerShell
$uncPath = "\\webdavservertest3.cloudapp.net@SSL\DavWWWRoot\"
New-PSDrive -Name Z -PSProvider FileSystem -Root $uncPath -Persist

After successfully configuring an Azure VM with IIS WebDAV, manual mapping through Windows Explorer works perfectly with credentials. However, when attempting automation via PowerShell's New-PSDrive, we encounter two distinct errors:

• With -Persist: "DriveRootNotNetworkPath" error stating root must be a file system location
• Without -Persist: "DriveRootError" claiming the path doesn't exist

The core issue stems from New-PSDrive expecting UNC paths (like \\server\share) rather than HTTP URLs. WebDAV requires special handling through the WebClient service.

For persistent WebDAV mapping, we need to use the traditional net use command instead:

$serviceName = "webdavservertest3.cloudapp.net"
$networkDrive = "Z:"
$credential = Get-Credential

# Map with credentials
net use $networkDrive "http://$serviceName/" /persistent:yes /user:$($credential.UserName) $($credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password)

Here's a production-ready script with error handling:

function Map-WebDAVDrive {
    param(
        [string]$ServiceName,
        [string]$DriveLetter,
        [PSCredential]$Credential,
        [bool]$Persistent = $true
    )
    
    # Verify WebClient service is running
    if ((Get-Service WebClient).Status -ne "Running") {
        Start-Service WebClient -ErrorAction Stop
    }

    # Build connection string
    $persistFlag = if ($Persistent) { "/persistent:yes" } else { "/persistent:no" }
    $password = $Credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password
    
    try {
        $result = net use "${DriveLetter}:" "http://${ServiceName}/" $persistFlag /user:$($Credential.UserName) $password 2>&1
        
        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
            throw "Mapping failed: $result"
        }
        
        Write-Output "Successfully mapped ${DriveLetter}: to WebDAV share"
    }
    catch {
        Write-Error "WebDAV mapping error: $_"
    }
}

# Usage example
$creds = Get-Credential -Message "Enter WebDAV credentials"
Map-WebDAVDrive -ServiceName "webdavservertest3.cloudapp.net" -DriveLetter "Z" -Credential $creds

For advanced scenarios, you can modify the registry to treat WebDAV as a network location:

# Requires admin privileges
$regPath = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters"
$valueName = "BasicAuthLevel"
$desiredValue = 2  # Basic authentication over SSL

if ((Get-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $valueName).$valueName -lt $desiredValue) {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $valueName -Value $desiredValue
    Restart-Service WebClient
}

If mapping still fails:

1. Verify WebClient service is running (Get-Service WebClient)
2. Check if HTTP.SYS has URL reservation (netsh http show urlacl)
3. Test basic connectivity (Test-NetConnection $serviceName -Port 80)
4. Validate credentials with Invoke-WebRequest