On 20 Oct 2018 14:37:20 GMT, Frank Slootweg wrote:

You do not *need* a drive letter, because 'DOS' commands can also use
a Network Share (in contrast to a Network Drive). For example:
dir \\DISKSTATION\Frank
Where 'DISKSTATION' is my NAS.

Hi Frank Slootweg,

Thanks for being purposefully helpful by answering that question about
whether the "network drive" (aka a "removable drive") versus a "network
share" (aka a "network location") is what we need to run any Windows
command on Android.

Here's my summary of which methods I've been able to do for each on Nougat:
o MTP over USB === removable drive
o WebDAV over WiFi === removable drive & network location
o FTP over WiFi === removable drive & network location

In the case of WebDAV, I can get "net use" syntax to work.
But I'm clueless about the "net use" syntax for FTP.
So the FTP "removable drive" success was with this third-party freeware.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/JrWLPRYO-TU

The only limitation I'm aware of, is that you cannot 'cd' into a
Network Share, while you can 'cd' into anything which has a drive
letter:

This is interesting, as that means we should be able to do almost
everything, then, with a "network location" even if we can't always get the
Android filesystem to mount as a "removable drive" on Windows.


C:\home\frankscd \\DISKSTATION\Frank
'\\DISKSTATION\Frank'
CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories.
C:\home\frankscd M:
M:\

The one syntax I can't yet figure out is how to do FTP doublebackslashes.

For example, this works just fine to mount the following "network location"
net use X: \\192.168.1.6@8080\DavWWWRoot\
Where the Android WebDAV server defaults are set to:
IP = 192.168.1.6
Port = 8080
Share = DavWWWRoot (this is a hard-coded WebDAV default)

That doublebackslash syntax works _great_ with WebDAV servers on Android:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8605173dir05.jpg

But, I can't figure out the doublebackslash syntax for FTP servers!
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=4785408ftpshare01.jpg
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8734999ftpshare02.jpg

This doubleslash syntax works just fine as a "network location"

Where the Android FTP server defaults are set to:
IP = 192.168.1.6
Port = 2221
Share = (I have no idea what the share is for the sdcard)
Login = francis
Password = francis
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=4785408ftpshare01.jpg

But I can't, for the life of me, figure out the doublebackslash syntax!
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8734999ftpshare02.jpg
Since these syntax attempts fail every time for me:
dir :2221
net use \\192.168.1.6@2221\Root
etc.

I suspect DOS will work just fine, if we can just figure out the syntax.
Can you, or anyone, help us figure out the FTP doublebackslash syntax?

That said, having a drive letter is a *nice* thing to have, as most of
the solutions you mention, need one anyway.

The good news is that we can get a drive letter easily for Android.
o USB (setting Android to MTP + Windows MTPDrive crippleware works OK)
o WiFi (a WebDAV server on Android + native DOS "net use" works great!)

Two areas of improvement would be:
o USB (find freeware to mount Android over USB as a removable drive)
o WiFi (figure out FTP doublebackslash syntax to get "net use" to work)

o WiFi + "network location" + "net use" (to get a drive letter)
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8605173dir05.jpg

Hmmm! This seems to be a nice one! I can't remember seeing you use
'net use' by itself.

Thanks Frank for realizing that the _simplest_ solution is generally the
best, where the simplest solution I can find that works for everyone is:
o WebDAV server freeware on Android + Windows "net use" syntax over WiFi

Since "DavWWWRoot" is a hard-coded keyword, this command works for all!
net use X: \\192.168.1.6@8080\DavWWWRoot\

My dilemma is that I don't see any reason why FTP syntax shouldn't work the
same as WebDAV but I just don't know enough about that doublebackslash
syntax to make FTP "net use" work.
net use X: \\192.168.1.6@2221\sdcard0\

This fails for me every time.
Does _anyone_ here know the FTP doublebackslash syntax?
Can you tell us how to mount the Android sdcard as a "removable drive"?

Does this setup mean you have:
- A WebDAV server - i.e. extra software - on your Android device.
- *No* *extra* software ('net use' is part of Windows) on your Windows
device.

Yup. Thanks for noticing the inherent beauty & genius in that solution!
As you know, I'm _always_ seeking the solutions that are sheer brilliance.

Anything _that_ simple - and yet still very powerful - is sheer brilliance!

That WebDAV solution is sheer brilliance. I hit upon it while I was
searching for FTP solutions, where I _still_ think the idea should work as
well for FTP servers as it does for WebDAV servers.

I just can't get the syntax correct yet for the FTP servers to mount
Android as a removable drive over WiFi. Can you?

If so, I think this is the best WiFi solution sofar (till you get a
(non-root) SMB server on Android to work).

What I like about you, Frank Slootweg, is that you think like I do.
o We both see the sheer brilliance of this WebDAV + "net use" solution
o It's not obvious - but - once you see it working - it's brilliant!
o I just wish I could get the syntax to work with FTP UNCs too!

I also like that you agree, a priori, that SMB _should_ work best.
o For one, SMB is the native Windows method
o But you know better than I do that SMB on Android is problematic
What's the best way to forward SMB TCP port 445 to something higher than 1024 on Windows?
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/3QQ8bAZeXNI
&
Non-root Android SMB/CIFs Samba server set to communicate on TCP ports higher than 1024
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/CZolwHVb0-c

I have no experience with 'weird' UNC paths such as the one you're
using ('\\192.168.1.6@8080\DavWWWRoot\'), but it would be interesting to
see if you can use such UNC paths directly in a 'DOS' command, i.e.
*without* assigning a drive letter with 'net use'.
I.e. like I can use (see above)
dir \\DISKSTATION\Frank
perhaps you can use something like
dir \\192.168.1.6@8080\DavWWWRoot
Note: Something *like* that. I'm not saying that exact syntax is correct.

I agree fully with the way you are thinking, Frank.
This UNC syntax should work across the board.

One of the problems I have with "UNC" syntax is figuring out how to
specifiy the root directory of Android to Windows.

When I started searching for the "net use" syntax for mounting WebDAV
servers, I found out that WebDAV has that hard-coded default keyword, named
"DavWWWRoot", which saves us the problem of having to figure out what
Windows thinks the Android top level directory is named.

My suggestion might seem silly: Using a drive letter (X is much
cleaner than the '192.168.1.6@8080\DavWWWRoot' mess, but as you can put
this 'mess' into an environment variable, it can be made clean, i.e.
dir %Android%\Mobi_Usage_AppBackup

Your suggestion is good where we need someone like Paul who has far more
knowledge in Windows than I ever will have to explain why the results below
are what they are in my tests just now:

C:\ dir \\192.168.1.7@8080\DavWWWRoot\
The network path was not found.

C:\ dir \\192.168.1.7@8080
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

C:\ dir \\192.168.1.7@8080\
The specified path is invalid.

C:\ dir \\192.168.1.7@8080\DavWWWRoot
The network path was not found.

C:\ net use X: \\192.168.1.7@8080\DavWWWRoot\
The command completed successfully.

C:\ dir X:\
Volume in drive X has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0000-0000

Directory of X:\

10/19/2018 03:02 PM DIR .
10/19/2018 03:02 PM DIR ..
10/12/2018 08:42 PM DIR Download
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Android
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Music
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Podcasts
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Ringtones
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Alarms
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Notifications
10/11/2018 10:08 PM DIR Pictures
10/11/2018 07:24 PM DIR Movies
10/14/2018 07:02 AM DIR DCIM
10/18/2018 09:35 PM DIR .dwnld
10/11/2018 07:25 PM DIR LGBackup
10/19/2018 03:08 PM DIR Mobi_Usage_AppBackup
10/11/2018 10:20 PM DIR .estrongs
10/11/2018 10:20 PM DIR backups
10/11/2018 10:20 PM DIR dianxin
10/11/2018 10:21 PM 72 .userReturn
10/13/2018 11:24 AM 0 000storage-emulated-0
10/13/2018 12:12 AM DIR data0
10/13/2018 11:18 AM 1,041,153
prim-ftpd-log-2018-10-13-08-04-02.csv
10/19/2018 07:57 PM DIR .chat_temp
10/16/2018 07:28 PM DIR VoiceRecorder
3 File(s) 1,041,225 bytes
21 Dir(s) 743,829,987,328 bytes free