Shell Tips ! » DOS – Windows Batch Files

Files and directories user permissions on Windows XP

Nicolas Brousse — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 01:04:38 +0000

You may have some troubles while using a network share on windows because of access restriction errors. Don’t panic, just use CACLS on windows XP.

Displays or modifies discretionary access control list (DACL) files.

cacls FileName [/t] [/e] [/c] [/g User:permission] [/r User [...]] [/p User:permission [...]] [/d User [...]]

FileName : Required. Displays DACLs of specified files.
/t : Changes DACLs of specified files in the current directory and all subdirectories.
/e : Edits a DACL instead of replacing it.
/c : Continues to change DACLs, ignoring errors.
/g User : permission : Grants access rights to the specified user. The following table lists valid values for permission.
/r User : Revokes access rights for the specified user.
/p User : permission : Replaces access rights for the specified user. The following table lists valid values for permission.
/d User : Denies access for the specified user.
/? : Displays help at the command prompt.

Permission possible values :

n : None

r : Read

w : Write

c : Change (write)

f : Full control

CACLS accept more than one user and you can use widlcards (? and *) to specify multiple files.

Determine which Windows OS version is running

Nicolas Brousse — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 06:59:53 +0000

Many DOS commands in the 32-bit versions of Windows are similar but support different parameters, different commands or using different registry key name. Thus, if you wish to write a batch file that can run on different types of machines, it may prove beneficial to determine the version of Windows on which the batch file is running. This way the batch file can execute commands appropriate to the operating system.

The simpliest way to know the OS Version is to run the universal windows DOS command “VER” then using “FIND” on it returned result.

@echo off

ver | find “2003″ > nul
if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 goto v2003

ver | find “XP” > nul
if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 goto vxp

ver | find “2000″ > nul
if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 goto v2000

ver | find “NT” > nul
if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 goto vnt

echo Unknow OS Version.
goto exit

:v2003
:Run Windows 2003 specific commands here.
goto exit

:vxp
:Run Windows XP specific commands here.
goto exit

:v2000
:Run Windows 2000 specific commands here.
goto exit

:vnt
:Run Windows NT-specific commands here.
goto exit

:exit

You can easily add the support of other versions of Windows as necessary or set an environment variable based on the version of Windows detected.

CLI workaround for Windows XP : Doing a pause in a batch script

Nicolas Brousse — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:36:49 +0000

In our list of “CLI workaround for Windows XP“, a missing command is SLEEP or WAIT. For fixing this I suggest you two solution, first is simply a batch workaround using PING command, the second solution use the Windows Server 2003 Ressource Kit tools.

With PING you can produce a fixed delay by testing the loopback address. This can be really usefull if you don’t want (or if you can’t) install extra software.

# Doing an approximative pause of 60 seconds

PING -n 61 127.0.0.1>nul

Second way is to install the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools from microsoft.com. You will get a SLEEP.exe that will do all the requested stuff.

# Doing a pause of 60 seconds

SLEEP 60

Enjoy. ;-)

Customize your DOS/CMD Prompt

Nicolas Brousse — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 15:24:15 +0000

If you want to tune your PROMPT you just need to use… the PROMPT command ! By default the prompt is set to the current path, but you can customize it a little.

# Display prompt help

PROMPT /?

# Customize your prompt

PROMPT $T $D$_$P $F

# Will give this result in my cmd window

17:11:55,31 sam. 21/10/2006

D:\Documents and Settings\Nicolas>

CLI workaround for Windows XP : Using LIST (LESS-Like)

Nicolas Brousse — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 14:52:26 +0000

In our list of “CLI workaround for Windows XP“, a missing command is LESS. Now, you can have a LESS-Like command with the DOS command LIST. Get the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools on microsoft.com. While not 100% functionally-equivalent to most versions of the UNIX LESS command, list does support text searching and bi-directional scrolling. This command is useful when examining log files (such as web server logs), configuration files, and software “read me” files when you don’t want to open a Notepad window.

# Usage

filename
REQUIRED – The filename you wish to view

-s:STRING
Performs a case insensitive search and highlights the first line matching your search text

-g:LINE#
The list display will jump to the specified line number, displaying it at the bottom of the screen. Note that list starts its line numbering from line 0.

While running the list command, here are a few of the functions you may perform:

Cursor keys
Use the cursor keys to scroll through the file. If the file is too wide to view onscreen at once, the left and right cursor keys will be active.

Page Up, Page Down Keys
Scrolls through the text file up or down one page at a time

Home, End Keys
Jumps to the beginning or end of the file

W
Toggles text word-wrap

Q or the ESC key
Quit the list display

/
Perform a case-sensitive search of the string you specify

\
Perform a case-insensitive search of the string you specify

n or F3
Searches for the next match to the search string

N
Searches for the previous match to the search string

G
Jump to the specified line number

F
Open a new file without going back to the DOS prompt

?
Displays a full list of commands

Note that by entering more than one filename after the list command you can view more than one file. Although only one file is displayed at a time, the following commands switch between files specified on the command line:

CTRL PAGE-DOWN
Displays the next file specified on the command line, or wraps to the first file.

CTRL PAGE-UP
Displays the previous file specified on the command line, or wraps to the last file.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows XP

30 MB of free disk space

Windows XP

Windows XP SP1

Windows Server 2003 family

Note: The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools are not supported on 64-bit platforms.