A Referral Was Returned From The Server Powershell -
PowerShell, unlike the old File Explorer, doesn’t automatically follow that referral. It just reports the server’s note verbatim — like a postal worker handing back a letter saying, “Try the other post office.”
In PowerShell’s world, this happens with DFS (Distributed File System). You asked for \\domain\namespace\share , but the server says: “Oh, that’s not really here. Talk to \\fileserver02\share instead.” a referral was returned from the server powershell
The fix? Use the target path directly, or force the referral with net use or New-PSDrive -Persist . Some admins jokingly call it “PowerShell playing hard to get.” unlike the old File Explorer
