Command prompt

[Paulo]

Hi all,

A customer of mine has a new PC with XP SP2 installed.

The problem is that, when he goes to the command prompt executing CMD.EXE or
Start; Accessories;
Command Prompt, and executes, for example EDIT, it returns to the prompt
whitout executing the editor and without any messages.
This happens with any DOS programs he calls from the prompt.

Strangely, if, when in the prompt he executes CMD.EXE, in this new instance
of the command prompt everything executes as it should.

Does anyone know what could be causing this ?


TIA,
Paulo

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi all,

A customer of mine has a new PC with XP SP2 installed.

The problem is that, when he goes to the command prompt executing CMD.EXE or
Start; Accessories;
Command Prompt, and executes, for example EDIT, it returns to the prompt
whitout executing the editor and without any messages.
This happens with any DOS programs he calls from the prompt.

Strangely, if, when in the prompt he executes CMD.EXE, in this new instance
of the command prompt everything executes as it should.

Does anyone know what could be causing this ?


TIA,
Paulo

Edit.exe is a 16-bit legacy program. Your customer should use
notepad.exe instead. It is much better and it fully supports Windows
cut & paste (which edit.exe does not).

What other programs is he unable to run? How exactly does he
run them? Pleasse give a specific example - your description is
a little unclear.

 

[Paulo]

Hi Pegasus,

Thanks for your reply. I´ll try to explain better.
Edit.exe was just an example. What happens is that, in the command prompt,
he executes edit and the program doesn´t launch.

Example:
Going to Command Prompt with Start; Run; CMD.EXE

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> Edit (after pressing enter
here, the editor should appear. It doesn´t appear and returns to command
prompt giving no messages)
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

Other programs are Clipper executables (stock and invoice applications):

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> STOCKS.EXE (again, after
pressing enter here the stocks application should execute. Is doesn´t and
returns to prompt saying nothing)

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

If he executes CMD here (creating another instance of the command
prompt), everything works OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> CMD.EXE
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(c) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> EDIT (now the editor is
executed normally)

Leaving edit.exe and trying the other applications also works normally

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> STOCKS.EXE (now the application
runs normally)

Thanks again for your help,
Paulo

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The machine is probably infested with malware. While
he ***thinks*** he runs edit.com, he may well run
something else. BTW, I note that you wrote "edit.exe".
The correct file is "edit.com" under WinXP.

To make sure that you run what you think you run,
you should be completely specific when you type the
command, e.g. like so:

%SystemRoot%\system32\edit.com
"c:\Program Files\Stocks\stocks.exe"

Hi Pegasus,

Thanks for your reply. I´ll try to explain better.
Edit.exe was just an example. What happens is that, in the command prompt,
he executes edit and the program doesn´t launch.

Example:
Going to Command Prompt with Start; Run; CMD.EXE

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> Edit (after pressing enter
here, the editor should appear. It doesn´t appear and returns to command
prompt giving no messages)
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

Other programs are Clipper executables (stock and invoice applications):

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> STOCKS.EXE (again, after
pressing enter here the stocks application should execute. Is doesn´t and
returns to prompt saying nothing)

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

If he executes CMD here (creating another instance of the command
prompt), everything works OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> CMD.EXE
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(c) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> EDIT (now the editor is
executed normally)

Leaving edit.exe and trying the other applications also works normally

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> STOCKS.EXE (now the application
runs normally)

Thanks again for your help,
Paulo

CMD.EXE
or

Edit.exe is a 16-bit legacy program. Your customer should use
notepad.exe instead. It is much better and it fully supports Windows
cut & paste (which edit.exe does not).

What other programs is he unable to run? How exactly does he
run them? Pleasse give a specific example - your description is
a little unclear.

 

[Paulo]

Hi Pegasus,

I´m going to check if it executes when given the full path and run Ad-Aware
on it.

Thanks again,
Paulo

The machine is probably infested with malware. While
he ***thinks*** he runs edit.com, he may well run
something else. BTW, I note that you wrote "edit.exe".
The correct file is "edit.com" under WinXP.

To make sure that you run what you think you run,
you should be completely specific when you type the
command, e.g. like so:

%SystemRoot%\system32\edit.com
"c:\Program Files\Stocks\stocks.exe"

Hi Pegasus,

Thanks for your reply. I´ll try to explain better.
Edit.exe was just an example. What happens is that, in the command
prompt,
he executes edit and the program doesn´t launch.

Example:
Going to Command Prompt with Start; Run; CMD.EXE

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> Edit (after pressing enter
here, the editor should appear. It doesn´t appear and returns to command
prompt giving no messages)
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

Other programs are Clipper executables (stock and invoice applications):

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> STOCKS.EXE (again, after
pressing enter here the stocks application should execute. Is doesn´t and
returns to prompt saying nothing)

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

If he executes CMD here (creating another instance of the command
prompt), everything works OK

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> CMD.EXE
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(c) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> EDIT (now the editor is
executed normally)

Leaving edit.exe and trying the other applications also works
normally

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator> STOCKS.EXE (now the application
runs normally)

Thanks again for your help,
Paulo

Hi all,

A customer of mine has a new PC with XP SP2 installed.

The problem is that, when he goes to the command prompt executing CMD.EXE
or
Start; Accessories;
Command Prompt, and executes, for example EDIT, it returns to the prompt
whitout executing the editor and without any messages.
This happens with any DOS programs he calls from the prompt.

Strangely, if, when in the prompt he executes CMD.EXE, in this new
instance
of the command prompt everything executes as it should.

Does anyone know what could be causing this ?


TIA,
Paulo


Edit.exe is a 16-bit legacy program. Your customer should use
notepad.exe instead. It is much better and it fully supports Windows
cut & paste (which edit.exe does not).

What other programs is he unable to run? How exactly does he
run them? Pleasse give a specific example - your description is
a little unclear.