System cannot find file even when it exists

command-line-interfacefileswindows-server-2008

I have a file that my OS (Windows 2008 Server) / File System (NTFS) are having trouble with. Here is a 'dir' of the directory:

07/20/2009  11:28 AM    <DIR>          .
07/20/2009  11:28 AM    <DIR>          ..
07/20/2009  11:28 AM             9,425 when_it_initializes.cs
               1 File(s)          9,425 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  15,536,758,784 bytes free

I am running a command prompt 'as administrator' and using the 'more' command produces:

more when_it_initializes.cs
Invalid parameter - when_it_initializes.cs

Similarly when I run 'notepad' on the file I get

The system cannot find the path specified.

The file was created by Team City, a continuous integration server that builds my code. What is weird is that it also creates over 10k other files that I have no problems opening, even when they are in sibling folders.

A check of the owner and readonly porperties look ok to me, as compared to other files that work. What is weird is that if I use 'explorer' to launch 'notepad' and open the, it works fine. I'm thinking there might be something with the command prompt that is affecting it, but I don't know.

What else can I check to see why it cannot open?

Best Answer

You can create a file like that for testing by typing the following, then hold the ALT and type 255 on the numeric keypad, then release ALT and press ENTER. This will create a filename with a hidden character at the end.

echo.>when_it_initializes.cs

However, the error message I get is:

more when_it_initializes.cs
Cannot access file c:\path\to\file\when_it_initializes.cs

I can delete it with:

del when*

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Windows – Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

A little known one is

getmac

It shows the MAC address(es) of your network adapter(s).

Screenshot of running getmac from a Windows commandline window.

Startup Script + Local System user = no functional program UI

Getting the UI to display is going to be a real pain.

First, I'd consider wrapping these programs in a service wrapper (like Non-Sucking Service Manager, for example) and letting the Service Control Manager start them on boot. From the sound of your comment these programs really should be coded as Windows services anyway. (I'd love software vendors to stop writing non-Service "service" programs that require my servers to sit logged-on, etc. Crappy timeclock polling programs seem to all be this way, for example.)

This doesn't solve your UI problem. You're not going to get a GUI interface to launch on top of Winlogon in Windows Server 2008 without "helping" the program. You could get programs running via Startup Scripts in Windows Server 2003 to display their UI on top of Winlogon. To do such a thing now you'd need to create a process with a duplicate of the Winlogon token with the desktop set for the Winlogon desktop.

You may get the UI to pop up after logon by allowing the Service-wrapped programs to interact with the desktop. Maybe. You're probably also exposing yourself to "shatter" attacks, too.

If these are in-house programs you should consider altering them so that they work like real Service programs should. The management UI should talk to the back-end service process via an RPC mechanism. Do this over TCP/IP and, as a bonus, you can run the management program on other machines. Your monolithic Service-and-UI-together approach isn't going to give you the best results.

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