Error 1605: Failed to create remote working directory. HRESULT -2147024829: The network name cannot be found.

Today I’d like to take a moment to talk about an error that I haven’t addressed specifically in the past but that does crop up sometimes. It can appear in any of the following ways, but each has the same cause/resolution:

Windows Update: Error 1605: Failed to create remote working directory.  Please check permissions on the target computer and verify your working directory path in Tools > Settings. HRESULT -2147024829: The network name cannot be found.

Windows Update: Error 1614: Failed to create remote working directory.  Please check permissions on the target computer and verify your working directory path in Tools > Settings. HRESULT -2147024829: The network name cannot be found.

Deployment: Error: Failed to create remote working directory.  Please check permissions on the target computer and verify your target working directory path in Actions > Deploy > Create/modify deployment: The network name cannot be found.

IMPORTANT: You might see 1605 or 1614 appear with a different HRESULT value and different error text. However, in this particular example we are specifically looking at HRESULT -2147024829: The network name cannot be found. Any other HRESULT value and error text would have a different cause and resolution.

Troubleshooting this issue is pretty straightforward, as there are generally only a couple/few reasons why it could be occurring.

1. As suggested in the error text itself, the first thing you should do is check the ‘remote working directory‘ and ‘deployment directory‘ values under ‘Tools > Settings > Remote Execution > Remote Working Directory‘ and ‘Actions > Deploy > Create/modify deployment > Target working directory‘, respectively, depending on whether you are encountering the error while executing a remote command or a Windows Update action, or if you are encountering the error while executing a deployment. The default values that we recommend for these two fields are:
   Remote Working Directory: C:\Program Files\BatchPatch
   Deployment Target Working Directory: C:\Program Files\BatchPatch\deployment

   If either of these fields references a drive letter that does not exist on the target computer, the ‘network name cannot be found‘ error will occur. So, for example, make sure you don’t have your remote working directory set to Q:\Program Files\BatchPatch, unless the target computer actually has a Q: drive. If the drive letter itself exists, then BatchPatch will be able to create the directory/folder without issues (unless there is some other problem, such as a permissions issue, but that would manifest with a different error message).

2. If you have verified that the target working directories are set to a valid drive letter and path, then the next thing to look at it DNS. Instead of entering the host name into BatchPatch, try the IP address. If the IP address works but the host name does not work, then you know you have some kind of name resolution problem on that system.
3. If neither the host name or the IP address works without throwing the ‘network name cannot be found‘ error, then you’re probably looking at a firewall issue. Check the firewall on the target computer because it’s probably the culprit.
4. If after all of the above steps you are still getting ‘The network name cannot be found‘ you could have an issue with your network connection. Are you able to ping the target computer either by name or by IP address? Are you able to browse directly to the target computer shares in explorer? You can try clicking on ‘start > run‘ and then typing ‘\\targetComputer\C$‘ without the quotes. Substitute the actual target computer’s name in place of targetComputer, and substitute the actual drive letter that your target working directory values are configured to use, if they are not configured to use the C: drive.

Hopefully this helps you get to the bottom of the issue and find the root cause.