Not able to create folders

Hi guys im not able to create folders with folder names either nul or aux it is saying that a file with the specified name already exists why is this happening :confused:

We need more information like, Which Operating system are you running?

Im using Windows 2000 Professional

Probably becasue they are commands. It would confuse the system to try and oepn a "nul" file or an "aux" file.

Hi makkapati

It is nothing wrong with your system, I have just tested it on a Win2000 Pro box and got the same message.

Actually it is not just Win2000, as I got exactly the same on Win ME as well.

They are obviously prohibited filenames, as you cannot create them on a totally separate hard drive either. nul1, aux1 and so on are quite acceptable.

I think it is a case of the error message being misleading, as the files/folders do not exist, and even if they did, Windows would let you create duplicates on a separate drive or partition ?

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to use those names?

From the mouth of Microsoft: ;)

Quote:

---

Several special file names are reserved by the system and cannot be used for files or folders:
CON, AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, PRN, NUL

---

Source

Cheers:

The Nul/Aux/Etc file names are actually command line driven programs. If you want to create a folder with one of the two names that you specified you need to create it through the command prompt. Also possible to create a batch file that will create the new directory but it more work than it is worth. I'll post back when i find what commands you need to use to create the directory.

TheRouter

They are devices. con is the console, aux is the serial port,
and nul is the infamous "bit bucket". Everything redirected to it
is deleted.

In a batch file, if you don't want the output of a command to appear
on the screen, just append >nul to the command.

Code:

---

@echo off
cd\windows
dir>nul

---

The output from the dir command will not appear.
:cool:

So you can't create any files or folders with any of those reserved names.
It's a legacy of MSDOS.
:cool: