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Can not launch command shell

Posted: 09 Jun 2011, 18:38
by jpermana
Hi

Recently I've got new PC from company, with window vista service pack 2. Once I installed Salamander, I could not launch command shell. I spoke with IT group and they tried run as administrator, but still can not launch command shell. Is there a workaround to make it work ?

Attached the error while launching command shell.

Thanks

Jozar

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 09 Jun 2011, 19:32
by th.
Please verify that the COMSPEC environment variable points to C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 09 Jun 2011, 21:15
by jpermana
attached.

But still nothing

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 09 Jun 2011, 22:23
by Ether
It seems you have attached the contents of you PATH environmental variable, but you need to check your COMSPEC environmental variable.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 09 Jun 2011, 23:03
by jpermana
can you help me where to check COMSPEC environmental variable ?? :(

thx

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 00:23
by SelfMan
Go back to the command line and enter the SET command. You'll get a list of enviroment variables.
i.e. "C:\set<enter>" The result should have an entry like this: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 02:20
by therube
Are you able to run Start | Run -> CMD ?
Are you able to run Start | Run -> command ?

(I assume based on your screenshot.)

If not, being a company PC, they could have it locked down?

Strange having CMD.EXE on your PATH. (The directory containing, yes, but the file itself seems odd.)

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 05:35
by jpermana
@therube :

answer for your questions : yes, I can run Start | run cmd.

CMD.exe, I tried put it there for trial.


@selfman :

When I tried C:\set<enter>, appear some lines, including path information like I pasted earlier.


I tried total commander, and command shell can be open from total commander command line. I was thinking this might be corruption between salamander and windows.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 12:07
by Ether
jpermana wrote:When I tried C:\set<enter>, appear some lines, including path information like I pasted earlier.
Attach a screenshot of all these lines, please.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 17:44
by jpermana
attached.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 17:52
by SelfMan
What happens when you hit the / (slash) key on the Numeric block part of the keyboard?
Any error message, "ding" sound?

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 21:06
by jpermana
@selfman

after / (slash) -> enter, then ding with error "The system can not find the file specified" . This is from command line in salamander.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 21:36
by therube
HOMEDRIVE=H: & COMSPEC points to a location on C: drive.
Is that odd?

(My Windows is purposely installed onto E:. HOMEDRIVE=E: & COMSPEC points to E:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe.
I would actually like HOMEDRIVE to point to C:, but when I looked into it at the time, I was coming across gotcha's
[which I don't recall] in doing so.)

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 21:48
by SelfMan
therube wrote:HOMEDRIVE=H: & COMSPEC points to a location on C: drive.
Is that odd?
No its not. Your home directory has been redirected using group policy to a network drive.
(I dont like this techniq becaure of high risc of data corruption.

@jpermana

OK, to debug this problem, you have to download the ProcessMonitor from Sysinternals.

Follow the steps (read them first):
- close all unnecessary application
- run salamander
- run process monitor (accept EULA on first run)
- immediately switch to Salamander and hit the Slash /
- switch back to ProcessMonitor and stop the trace by CTRL+E
- save the trace to a PML file, zip it and attach here. (in case of problem Page me and we can find another way)

You can try to locate the error yourself by searching for the cmd.exe and looking on the events around.
Some of the events will have the Result code FILE NOT FOUND or similar.

Re: Can not launch command shell

Posted: 10 Jun 2011, 23:59
by jpermana
Thx selfman,

file too big to attached....can I send to you email, instead ??

jpermana