SMS: APM16 Does Not Run Batch File Without Extension in Command Line

ID: Q215014

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0

SYMPTOMS

When using a 16-bit operating system, such as Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11, the Advertised Program Monitor (APM) will not be able to run a batch command correctly unless an extension (.bat) is added to the command line. This happens with both Windows NT 16-bit clients and Novell NetWare 16-bit clients.

CAUSE

APM16svc.dll does the actual work of running an application selected by the Advertised Programs Monitor Wizard. After you select the application to run, it checks to see if the first token in the command line has an extension of ".bat"; if it does, it always maps the path to a temporary drive letter and builds a new command line by prepending the original command line with c:\command.com /c (wherever Command.com is). The command line fails because the temporary drive mapping is not passed to the MS-DOS Command.com environment.

MORE INFORMATION

This is by design. By default, Systems Management Server 2.0 handles the .exe type of file; there is no way to handle both .exe and .bat by default in the a 16-bit operating system environment. To make sure that everything works correctly, file extensions should be placed on all package command lines, regardless of type, for both 16-bit and 32-bit clients.

Additional query words: prodsms


Keywords          : kbSMS200 
Version           : winnt:2.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 19, 1999