Renaming Files While Copying May Cause Corruption

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

SYMPTOMS

With the Windows NT command prompt, if you use the COPY command to copy a file from one directory to another, you cannot rename the file simultaneously if you are using wildcards in the command line.

For example, if you have one file called TEST.EXE in a directory called ATEST, and you want to rename the file to BINARY.EXE while copying it, the file will be corrupted if you use the following command line:

   copy c:\atest\*.exe c:\binary.exe

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use a /b switch in front of the source file. This will correctly complete the copy and rename operation. For example:

   copy /b c:\atest\*.exe c:\binary.exe

   copy c:\atest\*.exe c:\binary.exe /b

   copy c:\atest\test.exe c:\binary.exe

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.1 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.