Microsoft KB Archive/114375

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BUG: Setup Cannot Create Directory ":\:INDOWS"

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Q114375

1.00 1.50 WINDOWS kbsetup kbbuglist -- The information in this article applies to: - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0 and 1.5 -- SYMPTOMS ======== During installation, the Visual C++ setup can fail with a message box that reads as follows Cannot create directory :\:INDOWS or: '\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI' cannot be opened for reading. or a similar message containing a different garbled windows directory name. CAUSE ===== The path environment variable contains an entry for "\WINDOWS" or ".\WINDOWS" instead of a full path such as "C:\WINDOWS". RESOLUTION ========== Edit the path in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include: :\WINDOWS where is the drive on which Windows is installed. Remove any references to the WINDOWS directory that do not include drive letters. STATUS ====== Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Visual C/C++ versions 1.0 and 1.5. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available. MORE INFORMATION ================ The information the Visual C++ Setup program uses for the Windows location is derived from the PATH environment variable which is set in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Using a "\WINDOWS" or ".\WINDOWS" in the PATH statement will also modify the "windir" environment variable, which Setup and other Windows applications depend on. For this reason, "windir" should be a fully qualified path, including a drive specification. When Visual C++ tries to place files in the Windows directory, it assumes the directory does not exist, which causes the setup program to fail and display one of the above messages. This problem is not likely to occur on Windows NT, since the windir environment setting cannot be modified by the user. Additional reference words: 1.00 1.50 KBCategory: kbsetup kbbuglist KBSubcategory: vc10setup vc15setup

Keywords : kb16bitonly

Issue type : kbbug

Technology : kbVCsearch kbAudDeveloper kbvc150 kbvc100