Windows XP Dos Prompt

[thegooner]

Strange one this......

When I bring up the Command Prompt in Windows XP, either from typing "cmd" in the run box or selecting it from the start menu, I get the following error.

If I type "ipconfig" at the prompt, Windows claims that this utility doesn't exist. However, if I change directory so that the prompt is in the c:\windows\system32 folder, IPCONFIG runs fine.

It should work from the C: prompt.

Anyone know why this is and how to fix it?

Thanks

[scuzzman]

The problem is that C:\Windows\System32 is not in your %PATH% enviroment variable.

You can fix that by typing this:

set Path=%PATH%;C:\Windows\System32

[thegooner]

I went into the Environment variables, and the follwing were listed under "Path" :

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\PROGRA~1\SecureFX;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 4.1\bin;

So this means that it is already there.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for your reply though.!

[scuzzman]

Have you tried explicitly adding C:\Windows\System32 (IE: Not using the %SYSTEMROOT% enviroment variable)? This is the only solution I can think of.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Or could it be that your PATH environment variable is somewhere dynamically distroyed? When you are in command prompt, can you type path to see what its contents are?

[thegooner]

I added the follwoing into the the variable:

c:\windows\system32

and left the other as they are, including the %systemroot%\system32, and it now works.

Excellent!

Is there somewhere that defines what %systemroot% is? Could this have been corrupted at all? Can I fix this?

Thanks again.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

You can check its value from command prompt

echo %systemroot%

It should return C:\WINDOWS

[scuzzman]

You can check its value from command prompt

echo %systemroot%

It should return C:\WINDOWS

Just an expansion on this (I'm not sure if you know this or not) but you can change this variable just like above:

set %systemroot%=C:\Windows

[thegooner]

Thanks a lot guys, I'll try this tonight.

:D

[thegooner]

Ok....

Typed in "echo %systemroot%" and got the reply :

c:\windows

Which is right !

Bizarre!