SP2 -vs- XCOPY

B

Bill Martin

Apparently SP2 changes the behavior of XCOPY for some reason. I have a bunch
of batch files written to back up selected stuff across the network which
suddenly fail (sort of) now that I've installed SP2.

Specifically, I have commands of the form:
XCOPY c:\FileName \\AnotherMachine\Directory /d

These commands copy the files which have been updated from one subdirectory
across the network to another backup machine. Or in some cases they copy
files from one directory to another on the same machine.

After installing SP2 the commands still work properly, but they stop now
before every copy and ask if I really want to copy a new version over top of
the old one of the same name.

Yes, I can go through and edit every line of every backup batch file to add
"/y" to the end of it, but it's not clear why I should have to.

Has installing SP2 changed some default in my system which I could change
back? Or has SP2 truly changed the character of the XCOPY command? I would
have thought XCOPY was buried too deeply in the OS to be something SP2 would
have tweaked.

Thanks...

Bill -- (Remove KILLSPAM from my address to use it)
 
G

Guest

Bill Martin said:
Apparently SP2 changes the behavior of XCOPY for some reason. I have a bunch
of batch files written to back up selected stuff across the network which
suddenly fail (sort of) now that I've installed SP2.

Specifically, I have commands of the form:
XCOPY c:\FileName \\AnotherMachine\Directory /d

These commands copy the files which have been updated from one subdirectory
across the network to another backup machine. Or in some cases they copy
files from one directory to another on the same machine.

After installing SP2 the commands still work properly, but they stop now
before every copy and ask if I really want to copy a new version over top of
the old one of the same name.

Yes, I can go through and edit every line of every backup batch file to add
"/y" to the end of it, but it's not clear why I should have to.

Has installing SP2 changed some default in my system which I could change
back? Or has SP2 truly changed the character of the XCOPY command? I would
have thought XCOPY was buried too deeply in the OS to be something SP2 would
have tweaked.

Thanks...

Bill -- (Remove KILLSPAM from my address to use it)

A service pack changes your entire operating system it is much more than
just a hotfix. I'm not surprised that Xcopy doesn't work as you expect.You
copied your files under XP or XP SP1 which now you no longer have.
 
B

Bill Martin

A service pack changes your entire operating system it is much more than
just a hotfix. I'm not surprised that Xcopy doesn't work as you expect.You
copied your files under XP or XP SP1 which now you no longer have.

It surprises me very greatly because I thought Microsoft went to some
extremes to make the service packs as transparent as possible. It's
obviously not supposed to be a new operating system which breaks everything
written pre SP2. Given that perspective, I'm surprised at this particular
change which seems egregious rather than necessary as some security change to
the firewall might be.

Bill -- (Remove KILLSPAM from my address to use it)
 
G

Guest

The explanation of the XCOPY parameters refers to the COPYCMD environment
variable setting a default for the "Y" flag. Maybe you should check its value
 

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