runaway Cmd prompt script!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Craig
  • Start date Start date
C

Craig

Hi folks,
I have a simple .vbs script to open a command prompt and
then display the "ipconfig" info. When I launch the script
from the desktop..."it's off to the races!!!" The script
starts a perpetual loop and I have to shutdown to stop it.
Can someone tell me why Windows (2000-Pro) does this?

Thank you,
Craig

Here's the script:

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.Run ("%COMSPEC% /k ipconfig")
 
If those are the only lines,
there is nothing in the script causing a loop.
It's written correctly.

The same result could be achieved using a small batch file:

@echo off
ipconfig
pause


Austin M. Horst
 
Austin,
Then why does it run as if it's a perpetual loop? (Which
is EXACTLY how it behaves)

Craig
 
Craig said:
Hi folks,
I have a simple .vbs script to open a command prompt and
then display the "ipconfig" info. When I launch the script
from the desktop..."it's off to the races!!!" The script
starts a perpetual loop and I have to shutdown to stop it.
Can someone tell me why Windows (2000-Pro) does this?
Click to expand...

You didn't by chance name it ipconfig.vbs, did you?
 
Hi Paul,
Yes, I did. :-) And...I could tell by your question that
it SHOULDN'T have been named that. So...I renamed it, and
now it works fine.

Can you tell me what the problem was that I encountered
because I had it named ipconfig.vbs???

Thank you very much.

Craig
 
Craig said:
Hi Paul,
Yes, I did. :-) And...I could tell by your question that
it SHOULDN'T have been named that. So...I renamed it, and
now it works fine.

Can you tell me what the problem was that I encountered
because I had it named ipconfig.vbs???
Click to expand...

You told the script to run the command interpreter which would run ipconfig.
Since you didn't use an extension like ipconfig.exe, cmd used the first
executable ipconfig it found which is ipconfig.vbs in the current directory
(the current directory is always searched first), and in 2K, XP, etc. .vbs
files are executable extensions. So as a consequence of this behaviour
ipconfig.vbs in essence kept executing copies of itself over and over.

We've all done it some point. :)

From a command prompt type
echo %PATHEXT%
to see the file types cmd can execute.
 
Back
Top