Change Directory Command Can Use Colon Parameter from NTFS

• Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
• Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

SYMPTOMS

A colon (:) is accepted as a parameter for the change directory (CD) command at the Windows NT command line when the current volume is formatted for NTFS. This results in the current directory becoming the previous directory with a colon appended as if it were a valid subdirectory name. This results in some unpredictable behavior for other command line utilities such as COPY when you attempt to transfer files between the "current" directory and the "parent" directory because these both evaluate to the same physical location.

The following is an illustration of the effect:

   F:\DIR
    Volume in drive F is fffff
    Volume Serial Number is 6C15-9A0F

    Directory of F:\

   10/14/93  01:33p                     5 test.p
   10/14/93  01:33p                     5 test.q
   10/14/93  01:32p                     0 test.s
   08/03/93  08:33a                     5 test.t
                 4 File(s)         15 bytes
                             19724288 bytes free
   F:\CD :
   F:\:\DIR
    Volume in drive F is fffff
    Volume Serial Number is 6C15-9A0F

    Directory of F:\:

   10/14/93  01:33p                     5 test.p
   10/14/93  01:33p                     5 test.q
   10/14/93  01:32p                     0 test.s
   08/03/93  08:33a                     5 test.t
                 4 File(s)         15 bytes
                             19724288 bytes free

   F:\:\copy test.p ..
           1 file(s) copied.
   F:\:\

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.