Windows batch file fails after network drive timeout

Question

I've got a couple of batch files that seem to fail when windows loses a connection to a network drive. If I navigate to the network drive via windows explorer, the connection is restored and the batch script will subsequently complete successfully. Is there something like a "net refresh" command that I can issue prior to trying to access the network drive that will make the connection available?

Example script:

j:
cd \python\

Windows 10 Pro, but I think I've seen the same phenomenon back on 7 and 8 as well. It's already mapped, credentials are saved, just need to ping it or something...

Answer 1

Assuming your Server where J:\ resides responds to ICMP echo request you could try something like this:

set server=servername

ping %server% -n1 |find /i "bytes=32"

if %ERRORLEVEL%==1 (
echo %server% is online
J: 
cd python
) ELSE (
echo %server% is offline
)