Is it possible to reference data using mapped network drives instead of UNC path in arcgis server services?

Has anyone managed to create a service using datasets referenced via a mapped network drive letter on windows? ESRI support claims it is not "supported", but I want to make sure it is actually not possible or just "not supported" as in "not recommended".

the permissions are properly set up for my SOC account, since the services created using UNC path to reference datasets are working fine. I guess it all comes down to making the ArcGISSOC account understand those letters. I think I tried logging on as the ArcGISSOC and mapping the drives manually, but it doesn't seem to work.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Answer

Mapped network drive are profile specific and only exist with an interactive logon.

Since it is the ArcGISSOC account accessing the data, a mapped network drive cannot exist since that account never logs in interactively and the mapped network drives for the user account does not carry over to that SOC account.

Although I haven't tested this, you may be able to get mapped network drives to work if you leave an active logon session for the ArcGISSOC account and create mapped network drives for it.

Also here is evidence that a windows service needs to be specifically created to access mapped network drives. It's possible that this hasn't been done for the ArcGIS SOC monitor service spawning ArcSOC.exe processes.