Lost BATch file commands mode, ping....

I use .bat files alot on my XP computer. I write simple batch files in loading this program by this application, or automatically loading a level or map into a game, for instance a one line bat file like 'quake.exe -level10' will run Quake with level10 loaded and ready to play without going through the Quake menu.

Anyway, as time went on I discovered more bat commands and incorporated them in my bat files. Recently I dicovered that the command 'MODE' works on XP in bat files. So I started using, for instance,

'mode con cols=80 lines=50'

to set the size of my little bat files display.

Anyway, yesterday the 'MODE' command quit working and gives me this error message:

'mode' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Now I find 'PING' quit working too, and no telling what other commands stopped working now.

This really messes up all the bat files for the dozens of games and applications I have automated for (I couldn't help but to use the 'MODE' command in most of them and 'PING' is indispensible).

The bat files work fine on my NT at work and on my friend's XP but don't on my PC. For a year plus the bat files I wrote worked fine. They worked fine even after all the updates from Microsoft a week ago. They quit working yesterday.

Anyone have a line on this?

 

Check to see that mode.com is still in your System32 directory.

Take a look at your environment variables. If the commands are still on your machine, it may be a problem with paths.

Right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced tab, Environment Variables button. Be sure that %SystemRoot%\System32 is specified in your Path variable. If you have probelms, post the contents of the Path variable here.

 

Thanks

Thanks, that was it- path was missing.

 

You're welcome. Strange that it vanished.

 

In a batch file the current system path is held in the variable %PATH%. If you have the line:

%PATH% = C:\<path to folder>

Your system path can be over-written by the single path.

Instead you should use

PATH = C:\<path to folder>