Author Topic: Invalid Directory (Read 9382 times)

boweasel · « **on:** March 11, 2009, 11:24:01 AM »

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- · « **Reply #1 on:** March 11, 2009, 11:33:47 AM »

try the Move command:

Code: [Select]

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

squall_01 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 11, 2009, 11:48:45 AM »

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

macdad- · « **Reply #3 on:** March 11, 2009, 11:51:02 AM »

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

squall_01 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 11, 2009, 11:59:49 AM »

true

boweasel · « **Reply #5 on:** March 11, 2009, 02:49:36 PM »

Quote from: macdad- on March 11, 2009, 11:33:47 AM

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 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 11, 2009, 02:52:53 PM »

Quote from: squall_01 on March 11, 2009, 11:48:45 AM

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 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 11, 2009, 02:58:22 PM »

Quote from: macdad- on March 11, 2009, 11:51:02 AM

just have to wait what he says

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

Quote from: macdad- on March 11, 2009, 11:51:02 AM

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

MOVE is not an internal DOS command.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #8 on:** March 11, 2009, 03:20:20 PM »

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.

Quote

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

boweasel · « **Reply #9 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:19:08 PM »

Quote from: Dias de verano on March 11, 2009, 03:20:20 PM

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 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:36:11 PM »

Delete.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #11 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:39:53 PM »

Quote from: boweasel on March 11, 2009, 04:19:08 PM

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 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:40:42 PM »

Quote from: BatchRocks on March 11, 2009, 04:36:11 PM

Code: [Select]
move C:\<blah> E:\<whateverdrive> del C:\<blah>

Ignore this. No MOVE command in Recovery Console.

BatchRocks · « **Reply #13 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:42:29 PM »

Sorry.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #14 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:44:39 PM »

Quote from: BatchRocks on March 11, 2009, 04:42:29 PM

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.

BatchRocks · « **Reply #15 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:45:01 PM »

Meh. What about copy?

Dias de verano · « **Reply #16 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:48:09 PM »

Quote from: BatchRocks on March 11, 2009, 04:45:01 PM

Meh. What about copy?

One file at a time; no wildcards.

BatchRocks · « **Reply #17 on:** March 11, 2009, 04:48:56 PM »

Quote from: Dias de verano on March 11, 2009, 04:48:09 PM

One file at a time; no wildcards.

Oh... I see.

boweasel · « **Reply #18 on:** March 11, 2009, 05:10:55 PM »

The other thing that I'm still concerned about is getting to this one directory. In the recovery console it shows up as the previously mentioned 'BEHAVE!!! =>'.

I no longer know what the actual name of the directory is. Maybe the DOS-like display of the recovery console is putting in those = and > characters because the directory name is too long. I don't know.

As far as KNOPPIX goes, I wonder if I could download that onto a 1 GB flashdrive on my XP, and then set up the Vista to boot from a removable device?

Dias de verano · « **Reply #19 on:** March 12, 2009, 01:13:31 AM »

Quote from: boweasel on March 11, 2009, 05:10:55 PM

As far as KNOPPIX goes, I wonder if I could download that onto a 1 GB flashdrive on my XP, and then set up the Vista to boot from a removable device?

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/installing-usb-knoppix-51-using-linux/

macdad- · « **Reply #20 on:** March 12, 2009, 06:21:04 AM »

Quote from: boweasel on March 11, 2009, 02:58:22 PM

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

MOVE is not an internal DOS command.

yes it is...but your not using Command Prompt, your using recovery console....which is my bad...
see here:
http://www.computerhope.com/movehlp.htm

squall_01 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 12, 2009, 01:07:41 PM »

pmf getting gifed here. how about xcopy then?

Dias de verano · « **Reply #22 on:** March 12, 2009, 01:25:00 PM »

Quote from: squall_01 on March 12, 2009, 01:07:41 PM

pmf getting gifed here. how about xcopy then?

Not in Recovery Console.

squall_01 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 12, 2009, 01:30:20 PM »

ah I was thinking he was else were sorry about that copy seems to be your strongest point then.

boweasel · « **Reply #24 on:** March 12, 2009, 03:57:52 PM »

I appreciate all the input, and I have used COPY to copy the pictures from the hard drive to the flash drive. And it seems to work just fine - I just can't use wildcards, which is workable - it just makes the process take longer.

And I HAVE copied all the individual pictures we want to the flash drive. EXCEPT for the items on the directory that displays in the recovery console as "BEHAVE!!! =>"

At this point I need a way to access this directory from the recovery console.

squall_01 · « **Reply #25 on:** March 12, 2009, 04:38:54 PM »

so you cant do it like copy C:\windows\documents and settings\desktop\*.jpg G:\

Dias de verano · « **Reply #26 on:** March 12, 2009, 04:43:20 PM »

Quote from: squall_01 on March 12, 2009, 04:38:54 PM

so you cant do it like copy C:\windows\documents and settings\desktop\*.jpg G:\

No, you can't use the * wildcard. You can use the ? one I think. (I'm not sure about that)

squall_01 · « **Reply #27 on:** March 12, 2009, 04:45:53 PM »

he could of probably used it, but I think that it only takes the place of one interger or something

boweasel · « **Reply #28 on:** March 12, 2009, 05:16:07 PM »

No. I can't even use the '?'.

squall_01 · « **Reply #29 on:** March 12, 2009, 05:37:12 PM »

thats very odd?

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Author Topic: Invalid Directory (Read 9382 times)

boweasel

macdad-

squall_01

macdad-

squall_01

boweasel

boweasel

boweasel

Dias de verano

boweasel

BatchRocks

Dias de verano

Dias de verano

BatchRocks

Dias de verano

BatchRocks

Dias de verano

BatchRocks

boweasel

Dias de verano

macdad-

squall_01

Dias de verano

squall_01

boweasel

squall_01

Dias de verano

squall_01

boweasel

squall_01