I am writing a windows forms program using VB express 2008, to copy and zip compress certain folders on remote PCs to a destination backup folder on my PC (the one that the program runs on.) It works great if I do the following FIRST:

I open windows explorer and navigate to the folder on the remote PC that I want to back up. Then I am prompted for user name and password. I enter my admin username and password. The "connection" to that folder is now established and NOW my program will work--that is, it will successfully zip compress that folder.

The problem is, if I don't use windows explorer to navigate to the remote folder that I want to back up and enter my user name and password FIRST, that is, before running my program, my program doesn't work--it just creates an empty zip file with nothing in it.

My question is: how do I programatically 'establish a connection' to a folder on a remote PC? I don't mind if I manually have to enter the User name and password when the program runs. The problem is, my program doesn't even ask, it just fails.

Thanks, I would greatly appreciate any advice!