computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

, net is a

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards ...

in IBM

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...

(including

eComStation eComStation or eCS is an operating system based on OS/2 Warp for the 32-bit x86 architecture. It was originally developed by Serenity Systems and Mensys BV under license from IBM. It includes additional applications, and support for new hard ...

and

ArcaOS ArcaOS is an operating system based on OS/2, developed and marketed by Arca Noae, LLC under license from IBM. It was codenamed Blue Lion during its development. It builds on OS/2 Warp 4.52 by adding support for new hardware, fixing defects and l ...

), Microsoft Windows and

ReactOS ReactOS is a free and open-source operating system for amd64/ i686 personal computers intended to be binary-compatible with computer programs and device drivers made for Windows Server 2003 and later versions of Windows. ReactOS has been noted ...

used to manage and configure the operating system from the

command-line A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive command (computing), commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invokin ...

. It is also part of the IBM PC Network Program for DOS.IBM PC Network Program 1.0 Users Guide
/ref>

Overview

The command is primarily used to manage network resources.
/ref> It is an external command implemented as net.exe.
/ref> When used in a batch file, the /Y or /N switches can be used to unconditionally answer Yes or No to questions returned by the command. The net command has several sub-commands that can differ from one implementation or operating system version to another. On Windows CE .NET 4.2,

Windows CE 5.0 Windows CE 5.0 (codenamed "Macallan") is a successor to Windows CE 4.2, the third release in the Windows CE .NET family. It was first released on July 9, 2004. Like its predecessors, Windows CE 5.0 is marketed towards the embedded device marke ...

and

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Windows Embedded CE 6.0 (codenamed "''Yamazaki''") is the sixth major release of the Microsoft Windows embedded operating system targeted to enterprise-specific tools such as industrial controllers and consumer electronics devices like digital ...

, it is available as an external command stored in . This version only supports the ''use'' and ''view'' sub-commands.

Example

The net use command has several network-related functions.

Connecting network drive and printer

net use can control mounting (" mapping" in Microsoft terminology) drive shares and connecting shared printers in a network environment. This command makes use of the SMB (server message block) and the NetBIOS protocol on port 139 or 445. The basic Windows XP configuration enables this functionality by default. Thus users can connect to and disconnect from shared resources such as computers, printers and drives. net use can display a list of network-connection information on shared resources.

Null session connections

net use also connects to the IPC$ (interprocess communication share). This is the so-called null session connection, which allows unauthenticated users. The basic syntax for connecting anonymously is: net use \\IP address\IPC$ "" /u:"" For example, typing at the command prompt: net use \\192.168.1.101\IPC$ "" /u:"" attempts to connect to the share IPC$ of the network 192.168.1.101 as an anonymous user with blank password. If successfully connected to the target machine, a lot of information can be gathered such as shares, users, groups, registry keys and more. This would provide a hacker with a lot of information about a remote user. This has changed in Windows NT 4.0 SP6 already. In Windows 2000 "null session connections" could have been enabled after changes of the system-configuration.

Similar commands in other OSes

* Novell NetWare **map for mapping volumes (

network drive In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by the workstations that are ab ...

s) to drive letters **capture for capturing print queues to

LPT In computing, a parallel port is a type of Hardware interface, interface found on early computers (personal computer, personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send mu ...

ports

References

External links

Microsoft TechNet
* {{Windows commands Microcomputer software OS/2 commands Windows administration Windows communication and services