Expandrive: Automatically connect to server using command line

ExpanDrive (previously known as SftpDrive) has a pretty handy and undocumented feature to connect via CLI. Why they hid this away I do not know, but it's saved me a bit of hassle every morning.

The syntax varies slightly, on different versions.

ExpanDrive v1:

net use \\ExpanDrive\drivename

ExpanDrive v2:

expandrive.exe connect drivename

Source

You can thanks the great customer support from Jeff Mancuso at ExpanDrive!

How I picture ExpanDrive staff dealing with issues.

ExpanDrive/SftpDrive: Drive is not accessible. The network path was not found.

For months now I've given up on trying to get ExpanDrive to work on Windows 7 again. It just dies out without any valid explanation when I try to view the network drive.

 
This is the only mangy undescriptive error you see.

I've tried:

• reinstalling
• manually removing entries in the registry related to ExpanDrive/SftpDrive
• reverting back to old versions
• running on different compatibility settings
• experimenting with 32-bit and 64-bit releases of Windows
• searching online to see what other people experienced
• installing and running with UAC on AND off
• running the Explorer process together with the taskbar process
• and I've even tried contacting their support about the demo

Finally, I've got some free time to sit down and test it out with a new clean installation in a virtual machine.

After spending nearly an hour going through every single possible tweak which I've made to Windows 7 and resetting to trace down the problem (and believe me, I've made many MANY changes), I finally figured out which setting broke ExpanDrive.

In the Local Group Policy Editor (you can get to it by running "gpedit.msc"), navigate through:

• Computer Configuration
• Administrative Templates
• Windows Components
• then Application Compatibility

Find the option "Turn off Switchback Compatibility Engine" and if the current setting is "Not Configured", then this post wont solve your problem.

If it is set to "Enabled", then you're in luck! Set this back to "Not Configured" and reboot.

Your Expandrive should magically begin to work again without any problems.