Microsoft KB Archive/69269

Causes for ‘Basic Conversion Error 8’

PSS ID Number: Q69269 Article last modified on 09-26-1995

5.50 6.00

MS-DOS

Summary:

Basic conversion error 8 is the most common error of the 22 possible error codes returned by the Microsoft Word version 5.5 file conversion utilities. Error code 8 indicates that when the conversion was initiated, there was an error opening a file.

The most common cause for this occurrence is an invalid MS-DOS TMP environment variable setting.

More Information:

For example, if the MS-DOS environment variable is set to a drive and/or directory path that does not exist, and the Word 5.5 DCA-RFT conversion utility WORD_DCA is executed, the following error message will be displayed:

Conversion error (8) occurs

Conversion stop.

Another possible message that may occur from an invalid MS-DOS TMP environment variable is as follows (the error message depends on the conversion utility in use):

Error creating temporary file. Conversion shut down.

To resolve the problem, enter a valid MS-DOS TMP setting at the command prompt, or make the change permanent by editing or adding a

SET TMP=

line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

Proper syntax for the TMP environment variable is as follows:

SET TMP=C:(Point the TMP variable to any valid subdirectory.)

KBCategory: kbinterop KBSubCategory: Additional reference words: 5.50 6.00 textconv geninfo ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.