Microsoft KB Archive/135268

= How to Use CACLS.EXE in a Batch File =

Article ID: 135268

Article Last Modified on 2/20/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q135268



NOTE: This article only applies to English language versions of Windows.

The CACLS.EXE command line utility does not provide a /Y switch that automatically answers with Y for Yes to the ARE YOU SURE? Y/N prompt. However, you can use the echo command to pipe the character Y as input to the ARE YOU SURE? Y/N prompt when you call Cacls.exe in a batch file.

To programmatically answer with Yes to the ARE YOU SURE? Y/N prompt during batch file execution, use the following command line in your batch file:

echo y| cacls  /g  :

NOTE: Do not type a space between the "y" and the pipe symbol (|), otherwise, Cacls.exe fails to make the permission changes.

In larger batch files, this may produce the following error before continuing to the next line:

The Process tried to write to a nonexistent pipe.

The echo command does not expel its output before the system has a chance to build the pipe to cacls. There are different ways to work around this.

As an alternative, you can create a dummy file with just a "y" in it and use the syntax:

Cacls "F:\Directory" /g "Domain Users":R < yes.txt

Or you can use the xcacls utility which does allow the /y:

xcacls "F:\Directory" /e /g "Domain Users":R /y

For additional information about the syntax and usage of the Xcacls.exe utility, refer to the Xcacls.doc file included in the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit Supplement Three.

Additional query words: prodnt 3.50 3.51 bypass skip confirmation

Keywords: KB135268

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.