Windows can't find Wordpad from Run command line?

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BudV

WinXP Home SP1.

I just updated MS Office and went to IE8. Now when I try to run Wordpad,
Windows says it can't find it. A search finds several occurrences of
wordpad.exe, but none of these responds to the run dialog, although they do
work if I choose one straight from the search screen.

Any help?
 
BudV said:
WinXP Home SP1.

I just updated MS Office and went to IE8. Now when I try to run Wordpad,
Windows says it can't find it. A search finds several occurrences of
wordpad.exe, but none of these responds to the run dialog, although they do
work if I choose one straight from the search screen.

Any help?
Click to expand...

Start -> Run, enter:

"C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"

That doesn't work?

The path is *not* in a PATH environment variable. That means the file
won't be found if the PATH is used. The file is instead found by
looking in the registry for a list of common paths:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\

Under here is a subkey that is the executable file's name. For Wordpad,
it would be name "WORDPAD.EXE". Under each app's subkey should be a
default data item that points to the path of that app's executable file.
For Wordpad, it will have the above mentioned full path+filename. For
example, the Help and Support app (HELPCTR.EXE) is found under this
registry key; if missing, it isn't in the PATH which means you can't
find it from the command prompt (unless the app's folder is the default
or current one).

This registry key eliminates having to continually add to the PATH
environment variable to find applications, especially since there is a
limit to the string length of this variable.
 
WinXP Home SP1.

I just updated MS Office and went to IE8.  Now when I try to run Wordpad,
Windows says it can't find it.  A search finds several occurrences of
wordpad.exe, but none of these responds to the run dialog, although they do
work if I choose one straight from the search screen.

Any help?
Click to expand...

It would not work even before you updated MS Office and IE8 because it
is not in your path.

You can add C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories to your PATH
environment variable. This is where XP looks for things you type in.
The risk is, your PATH environment variable may become too long -
sometimes that happens if you have a lot of programs installed. Here
is a Microsoft KB that touches on how to maintain those variables:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310519

Depending on your SP, the PATH length is 1023 or 2048 characters,
usually plenty.

Type PATH from your command window to see your path.

You can copy wordpad.exe to a folder that IS in your path, like C:
\Windows\System32 (which is where notepad and most of the other
friendly executable files are).

Nothing says that Wordpad has to run out of the folder it got
installed in and you can have it in the
C:\Windows\System 32 and the Accessories folder at the same time.
There are no Wordpad dependent files out there (why do they put it
there anyway?).

Or, modify the registry (I have never tried that but it should work).

Or, use something more feature rich than Wordpad for text editing and
be sure IT is in your path.

Jose
 
It would not work even before you updated MS Office and IE8 because it
is not in your path.

***** But it DID work before the update.

You can add C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories to your PATH
environment variable. This is where XP looks for things you type in.
The risk is, your PATH environment variable may become too long -
sometimes that happens if you have a lot of programs installed. Here
is a Microsoft KB that touches on how to maintain those variables:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310519

Depending on your SP, the PATH length is 1023 or 2048 characters,
usually plenty.

Type PATH from your command window to see your path.

***** I tried it and got the same response as when I entered "wordpad".

You can copy wordpad.exe to a folder that IS in your path, like C:
\Windows\System32 (which is where notepad and most of the other
friendly executable files are).

***** That worked nicely. Thank you very much.

Nothing says that Wordpad has to run out of the folder it got
installed in and you can have it in the
C:\Windows\System 32 and the Accessories folder at the same time.
There are no Wordpad dependent files out there (why do they put it
there anyway?).

Or, modify the registry (I have never tried that but it should work).

***** I would rather walk on red hot coals than modify the registry without
an angel on my shoulder.

Or, use something more feature rich than Wordpad for text editing and
be sure IT is in your path.

***** I don't need it for text editing, but I do find it handy for
accumulating
screen snapshots for printing later.

***** Thanks for the rescue.

Bud
 
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