The WNetGetUniversalName function takes a drive-based path for a network resource and returns an information structure that contains a more universal form of the name. What this means is that you can take a file name from a network drive can be converted to a UNC version that may be used from other computers on the network that do not have the same drive mappings.

static extern int WNetGetUniversalName(

Private Shared Function WNetGetUniversalName(lpLocalPath As String, <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)> dwInfoLevel As Integer, lpBuffer As IntPtr, <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)> ByRef lpBufferSize As Integer) As <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)> Integer

// First, call WNetGetUniversalName to get the size.

int apiRetVal = WNetGetUniversalName(localPath, UNIVERSAL_NAME_INFO_LEVEL, (IntPtr) IntPtr.Size, ref size);

apiRetVal = WNetGetUniversalName(localPath, UNIVERSAL_NAME_INFO_LEVEL, buffer, ref size);

private static extern int WNetGetUniversalNameW(

// First, call WNetGetUniversalName to get the size.

int apiRetVal = WNetGetUniversalNameW(localPath, REMOTE_NAME_INFO_LEVEL, (IntPtr)IntPtr.Size, ref size);

apiRetVal = WNetGetUniversalNameW(localPath, REMOTE_NAME_INFO_LEVEL, buffer, ref size);

Summary

This utilizes the WNetGetUniversalName method in MPR.dll. Once implemented, all you have to do is create an instance of the MPR_DotNET_Version class and use the GetUniversalName method. You can also add on to this class for other functionality if you choose. Hope this helps.

<DllImport("mpr.dll", Entrypoint:="WNetGetUniversalName", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto, SetLastError:=False)> _

_error = WNetGetUniversalName(_origpath, REMOTE_NAME_INFO_LEVEL, CType(IntPtr.Size, IntPtr), size)

If _error.Assign(WNetGetUniversalName(_origpath, REMOTE_NAME_INFO_LEVEL, lpBuffer, size)) = NO_ERROR Then

''' DLL Header for the WNetGetUniversalName

<DllImport("mpr.dll", Entrypoint:="WNetGetUniversalName", CharSet:=CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError:=False)> _

Private Shared Function WNetGetUniversalName(ByVal lpLocalPath As String, _

Documentation

[WNetGetUniversalName] on MSDN

Access PInvoke.net directly from VS: