New Drive Won't Work -- UNC paths are not supported.

  • Thread starter Thread starter jim evans
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J

jim evans

I recently installed a new drive. It is drive F:. When I try to run
batch files or go to the command line I get this error message:

CMD.EXE was started with the above path as the current directory.
UNC paths are not supported. Defaulting to Windows directory.

Best I can tell it thinks the drive is a network drive. Is that what
a UNC path is???? It is not across a network, it is part of my
computer just like drive C: This drive is of little use to me this
way. How do I make the system recognize the drive is part of my
computer and work properly with it?

jim
 
Yes. In the Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management
currently uses. If F had also been assigned to a network drive, remove
the new HDD and disconnect this mapped drive. Then reconnect the HDD
again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

In My Computer only one drive shows up under "Network Drives" and it
is not this drive. The one network drive uses a different drive
letter. In Disk Management drive F: is shown with the name that is
the label on the drive F: on my computer, so I assume it's recognized
correctly by my computer.

jim
 
It appears that the properties for a shortcut to cmd.exe may incorrectly
contain the unc path. If you launch cmd.exe directly from the
\Windows\system32 directory do you get the same error?
The normal setting in a shortcut to cmd.exe is
Target: %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe
Start in: %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%
 
It appears that the properties for a shortcut to cmd.exe may incorrectly
contain the unc path. If you launch cmd.exe directly from the
\Windows\system32 directory do you get the same error?
The normal setting in a shortcut to cmd.exe is
Target: %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe
Start in: %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%
Click to expand...

I cannot explain this but this morning the error message has changed.
When I try to use the Microsoft Power Toy "Open Command Window Here"
on any folder in the drive I get the following error message. (This
is the entire message)

The system cannot find the path specified.
'Other' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

jim
 
Oh yes. Again, what does UNC mean? I found that the letters U N & C
stand for universal naming convention, but that's pretty meaningless
-- it doesn't help understanding what UNC means/does/functions as.

jim
 
See http://isp.webopedia.com/TERM/U/UNC.html for a definition of UNC that
should clarify it for you.

1. If you open a command prompt on your C: drive and type >dir f: does it
display the contents of the F: drive?

2. Can you then change to the F: drive by typing >F: ?

3. Did you check what I suggested previously re. the properties on cmd.exe?

4. You might try this also, in a command prompt run >net use F: /delete
This is just in case there was once an F: network mapping that might relate
to this. (I've occasionally seen some dead mapping remnants in the registry
that this clears.)

I would try to narrow this down without regard to the Power Toy tool first.
If you want to look that note that the command executed by "Open Command
Window Here" is @="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""
under the registry key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
 
jim evans said:
Oh yes. Again, what does UNC mean? I found that the letters U N & C
stand for universal naming convention, but that's pretty meaningless
-- it doesn't help understanding what UNC means/does/functions as.
Click to expand...

"Universal Naming Convention (UNC) A convention for naming files and
other resources beginning with two backslashes (\), indicating that
the resource exists on a network computer. UNC names conform to the
\\servername\sharename syntax, where servername is the server's name
and sharename is the name of the shared resource. The UNC name of a
directory or file can also include the directory path after the share
name, by using the following syntax:
\\servername\sharename\directory\filename."

(Windows XP Resource Kit, Glossary)
 
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