Invalid Directory

[boweasel]

Working on a Vista machine that won't boot. It just goes to the repair and eventually indicates that it cannot perform a repair. This PC came w/ Vista installed and no disc, and the owner never created any CDs for installation or setup.

But I figured I could get to DOS prompt with a Windows XP disc - which it did - to copy picture files to a flash drive. So I get to a DOS prompt, go to the directory that has the sub-directories w/ pictures. and try to copy them to the flash drive. But it seems that with the way I got the PC booted, wildcards are not allowed (I'm guessing that I'm only allowed to use INTERNAL DOS commands), so I have to copy the files individually, which does work, but is laborious. Is there a way around this? I used the SET command to AllowWildCards = TRUE, but it has no effect on copying files.

Secondly, this guy has a directory called "BEHAVE!!! =>" (at least that's what it looks like its called in DOS) that contains pictures he would like saved. I have no idea how he created this, but I can't seem to get to this directory. I get "the file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect" when I try to access it w/ the DOS command CD "BEHAVE!!! =>".  And since I have no idea how to get around the 'wildcard' problem, I'm unable to access this directory.

Any thoughts on these two problems would be greatly appreciated.

[macdad-]

try the Move command:

Code: [Select]

move C:\<whateverlocation> E:\<orwhateverdrivenameforyourjumpdrive>
Hope this Helps
,Nick(macdad-)

[squall_01]

i think copy would be best here.  but then again I'm probably wrong.

[macdad-]

just have to wait what he says, and besides Move is an internal command so it should work...

[squall_01]

  true

[boweasel]

try the Move command:

Code: [Select]

move C:\<whateverlocation> E:\<orwhateverdrivenameforyourjumpdrive>
Hope this Helps

Thanks Nick, but it doesn't.  Move is NOT an internal DOS command.  When I use it I get 'The command is not recognized.  Type HELP....blah, blah, blah'

[boweasel]

i think copy would be best here.  but then again I'm probably wrong.

Gee, I've already used COPY to move stuff to the flash drive.  I just was hoping for a way to enable wilcards, so I could type 'copy c:\BEHAVE*\*.* e:'

[boweasel]

just have to wait what he says

I don't know what this (partial) sentence means...

and besides Move is an internal command so it should work...

MOVE is not an internal DOS command.

[Dias de verano]

Sounds like it's not the DOS prompt that the OP is in (not possible with an XP disk anyway) but the XP recovery console. This uses a limited set of commands, and, as has been noticed, does not support wildcards.

I don't know where this came from, it's not part of XP command prompt anyway.

I used the SET command to AllowWildCards = TRUE, but it has no effect on copying files.

[boweasel]

I don't know where this came from, it's not part of XP command prompt anyway.

When I'm at a command prompt I can type HELP for a list of valid DOS commands.  Set is one of them.  If I type SET wihout any parameters, then it  shows me various items that have been set.  It originally showed SET AllowWildCards = FALSE. and I typed in SET AllowWildCards = TRUE.  If I type in SET w/ no parameters it shows that  SET AllowWildCards is equal to True.  But it makes no difference.   I still cannot use * or ?...

[BatchRocks]

Delete.

[Dias de verano]

When I'm at a command prompt I can type HELP for a list of valid DOS commands.  Set is one of them.  If I type SET wihout any parameters, then it  shows me various items that have been set.  It originally showed SET AllowWildCards = FALSE. and I typed in SET AllowWildCards = TRUE.  If I type in SET w/ no parameters it shows that  SET AllowWildCards is equal to True.  But it makes no difference.   I still cannot use * or ?...

Like I already said, you are not at a regular command prompt. You are in the "Recovery Console". Compared to the normal command prompt, the Recovery Console is very limited. It only uses certain commands, and they don't all accept wildcards when AllowWildCards is set to TRUE. Copy is one such.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

As you can see, the Recovery Console has very limited capabilities for copying files, mostly intended to manually restore a good copy of a system file to the Windows directory.

Instead, think about booting your PC by something other than XP. A good choice would be a  KNOPPIX "live" CD, which is a free download as an ISO image. It is a large download, about 700 Meg for the CD and a few Gig for the DVD. The difference is that the DVD has more applications. The CD will suffice for rescuing data. KNOPPIX is a flavor of LINUX, with very good intrinsic support for much hardware, in fact, better than XP itself. "live" means that it runs from CD without installing on the hard drive. KNOPPIX has a windows-like file manager, supports USB and firewire, and version 5 can write to disks formatted as FAT32 or NTFS, among others.

[Dias de verano]

Code: [Select]

move C:\<blah> E:\<whateverdrive>
del C:\<blah>

Ignore this. No MOVE command in Recovery Console.

[BatchRocks]

Sorry.

[Dias de verano]

Sorry.

Never mind. At least you were trying to help. A better recovery console would be a great idea, but sadly we have to turn to other solutions.