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[V7] ISSUE:“CMD.EXE was started with the above path as the current directory. UNC paths are not supported. Defaulting to Windows directory.” when running a Windows batch file as a pre or post command from a network drive (5233)

Article ID Reviewed AhsayOBM/AhsayACB Operating System
5233 2017-03-10 7.3.0.0 to 7.x Windows

ATTENTION 1st January, 2022: v7 officially End-of-Life [details]

Problem Description:

When performing a backup job on AhsayOBM/AhsayACB the following error is shown in the backup log, if a Windows batch file is run as a pre or post command from a network drive or UNC path.

[YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS] [info] [-] [Pre-Backup-1] xxxx.bat
[YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS] [warn] [-] [Pre-Backup-1] '\\UNC_PATH\folder\'
[YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS] [warn] [-] [Pre-Backup-1] CMD.EXE was started with the above path as the current directory.
[YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS] [warn] [-] [Pre-Backup-1] UNC paths are not supported.  Defaulting to Windows directory.
[YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS] [warn] [-] [Pre-Backup-1] 'xxxx.bat' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
[YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS] [warn] [-] [Pre-Backup-1] operable program or batch file.

Cause:

The warning message is returned by Microsoft Windows and not Ahsay, it is related to Windows limitation which prevents the running of batch files on UNC paths.

References:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/156276/cmd.exe-does-not-support-unc-names-as-the-current-directory

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490978.aspx

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/b3243c52-65d4-4fda-a7eb-f94733eaf408/how-to-trap-cmdexe-was-started-with-the-above-path-unc-paths-are-not-supported-message-in?forum=ITCG

Resolution:

A workaround for this Windows limitation is to use a batch file located on a local drive along with the pushd and popd commands to launch the batch file on the network drive.

Example:

Batch file : \\192.168.22.41\Production\current\shutdown_database.bat

1. Create a batch file and save on a local machine to execute the batch file on UNC path or network drive.

2. Call the local batch file (localbatch.bat) in the pre or post command in AhsayOBM/AhsayACB.

localbatch.bat

echo on
pushd \\192.168.22.41\Production\current\
\\192.168.22.41\Production\current\shutdown_database.bat
popd

Keywords:

Pre-command, post-command, UNC, network drive, batch file, popd, pushd, operable program