ESS[SAS] Batch process fails on Windows mapped drive

[absrnd]

When running Emacs 24.5.1/ESS 16.04/SAS 9.3 on MS Windows 7, Batch process fails when the .sas file is located on a mapped drive. The shell buffer displays the following message:

UNC paths are not supported. Defaulting to Windows directory.

The cause seems to be the ess-sas-file-path function in ess.sas.a.el which uses the function call
(expand-file-name (buffer-name))

I can replicate by opening a file on a local drive (e.g. c:\path\to\file.sas) then M-x ess-sas-file-path
But when I open a file on a mapped drive (e.g. p:\path\to\file.sas) then M-x ess-sas-file-path sets the path to \Server\path\to\file.sas

Any ideas on best way to work round this?

Thanks.

[rsparapa]

I guess you need to find a function like (expand-file-name ...) that expands to drive letters instead of UNC paths.