1. Opening Remote Directories with the Append Utility
The Append utility lets you
open multiple directories as if they exist in the current directory. In
short, this utility lets you consolidate several directories into a
single directory on the hard drive. The other directories don't actually
appear in the current directory; the Append utility only makes them
appear that they do. This utility uses the following syntax:
APPEND [[drive:]path[;...]] [/X[:ON | :OFF]] [/PATH:ON | /PATH:OFF] [/E]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
drive:
Specifies the drive
you want to use to append directories. The drive is always a letter. If
you want to use a drive on another machine, you must first map the drive
using Windows and then use the mapped drive letter for access.
path
Contains one or more paths on the drive that you specify. Separate multiple paths using a semicolon (;). If you want to append paths from multiple drives, you must execute the Append utility multiple times, once for each drive.
/X:ON
or X:OFF
Defines whether you
can use the appended path to perform file searches and application
execution or just to open files. The default setting is X:OFF, which only allows you to use the appended path to open files.
/PATH:ON
or /PATH:OFF
Determines whether the appended path is included with commands that rely on a path. For example, if you have C:\Temp included within the path statement and use /PATH:ON with the Append utility, any requests to C:\Temp automatically include the appended path as well. However, if you select /PATH:OFF, the appended paths aren't included as part of the path. The default setting is /PATH:ON.
/E
Stores all of the appended directories in an environment variable named APPEND. You can only use this command line switch the first time you execute Append within a particular command line window. However, other command line windows aren't affected by this command line switch; the APPEND
environment variable only exists within the command line window in
which you executed the Append utility and only for the time the command
line window is open.
Executing Append with just a
semicolon clears all of the appended paths for a particular directory.
Running Append by itself lists the appended paths for a particular
directory.
NOTE
Windows XP and above ignores the results of the Append utility. Microsoft supplies the Append
command in these versions of Windows for DOS batch file compatibility.
When the appended directory feature is important, store the appended
directories in the APPEND environment variable using the /E
command line switch and then use the environment variable to search for
files in other directories. As an alternative, you can employ data
redirection. The Subst utility can also help by assigning long paths
to a drive letter. You can also employ some direct substitutes for the
Append utility, such as the shared folder redirection technique
discussed at http://windowsxp.mvps.org/sharedfolders.htm . Consider modifying the path as described in the "Setting and Viewing Application Paths with the Path Command" section to make executables accessible.
2. Determining the Current Directory and Changing Directories with the CD and ChDir Commands
The CD and ChDir
commands perform the same two tasks. First, you can use these commands
to establish your current location at the command line. Second, you can
use these commands to move to another directory. You can display the
current directory by typing CD or ChDir without any arguments and pressing Enter. These commands use the following syntax:
CHDIR [/D] [drive:][path]
CHDIR [..]
CD [/D] [drive:][path]
CD [..]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
drive
Specifies the new drive. The default is the current drive.
path
Specifies the
relative or absolute path of the new directory. The default is the
current directory. You can use a double period (..) to specify the parent directory of the current directory.
/D
Changes the current drive as well as the directory.
3. Converting FAT Partitions to NTFS with the Convert Utility
At some point, you may need
to convert a hard drive formatted using the FAT format into one that
uses NTFS. However, this task is becoming less common as people move
from Windows 9x
to Windows NT–based operating systems. Newer machines usually come with
NTFS installed. In fact, the number of existing systems with FAT
installed diminishes every day, so you'll eventually be able to forget
about the Convert utility as a relic of some bygone era. However, for
now, you'll still need to convert hard drives from one format to
another.
The Convert utility is
unique in that it relies on three other utilities to perform its work:
AutoConv (automates the file system conversion during reboots), AutoFmt
(automates the file formatting process during reboots), and AutoLfn
(automates the conversion of long filenames). These executables exist in
the \Windows\System32 directory, but you
can't use them at the command prompt. When you try to execute them,
you'll see an error message, such as "The C:\WINDOWS\
system32\autolfn.exe application cannot be run in Win32 mode." The
reason you need to know about these three utilities, even though you'll
never use them from the command line, is that some misguided individuals
have marked them as viruses and will attempt to tell you that these
files are a source of infection. Not all of the utilities in the \Windows\System32 directory execute from the command line.
NOTE
Convert
can't update the boot drive of your system immediately because the drive
is locked by the operating system. However, the Convert utility will
offer to mark the drive for conversion during the next boot cycle when
the system hasn't locked the drive. Your system must have access to the
AutoConv, AutoFmt, and AutoLfn utilities to perform the conversion
during a boot or the conversion will fail. The system normally recovers
from this error, but it's better to check for the presence of the
required utilities at the outset.
You actually control
the activities of the AutoConv, AutoFmt, and AutoLfn utilities through
the Convert utility. The Convert utility helps you set up everything,
and then you let the system handle the details automatically. This
utility uses the following syntax:
CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
volume
Specifies the drive letter (include the colon), mount point, or volume name to convert.
/FS:NTFS
Specifies that you want the volume converted to NTFS.
/V
Performs the
conversion in verbose mode. Normally, the utility only displays
initialization and error messages. The verbose mode provides a number of
supplemental messages.
/CvtArea:
filenameSpecifies a contiguous
file (one that isn't fragmented) in the root directory that you want to
use as a placeholder for the NTFS system files. Using this technique can
help avert some of the performance degradation that normally occurs
with a converted drive.
/NoSecurity
Sets the converted
files and directories to give the Everyone group full access. This
setting means that everyone can access the files and circumvent the
security features that NTFS can provide. Make sure you set security to
reasonable levels of access after the conversion.
/X
Forces the volume
to dismount (become inaccessible) prior to conversion if necessary. The
system closes all handles to the volume, which means any open files
become inaccessible as well. Converted drives don't always perform as
well as drives that you created as NTFS drives from the outset. The main
problem is that the Convert utility may not be able to place the Master
File Table (MFT) in the same location as it would appear on a drive
that's formatted with NTFS at the outset. The additional head movement
causes the drop in performance. The converted drive security setup may
differ from the original drive as well. Make sure you read the Knowledge
Base article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237399 for additional information about security changes that can occur as the result of a conversion.
