Microsoft KB Archive/74217

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EXPAND.EXE Halts upon Expanded File in Windows

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Q74217

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows versions 3.0, 3.0a

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SUMMARY
If you want to expand or decompress a group of Windows files, you should use the batch file EXPALL.BAT instead of the Windows utility file EXPAND.EXE. You can create the EXPALL.BAT file by following the steps on page 553 in the &quot;Microsoft Windows User's Guide.&quot;

When you use the EXPAND.EXE utility with wildcard characters on the command line, EXPAND.EXE halts processing when it comes to a file that is already in the expanded file format. It processes all the files on a disk in the order they appear in the directory listing until all files are decompressed, or until it comes upon a file that is not compressed.

MORE INFORMATION
When EXPAND.EXE is used with wildcard arguments to expand an entire Windows disk, EXPAND.EXE will halt processing at the point where it finds a file already in the expanded format. For example, the command

"EXPAND A:\*.* C:\KBNETWORK" will process all the files on the disk found in drive A, and will halt processing when it tries to expand a file already in the expanded format and generate the error message:

input file  already in expanded format

The rest of the files on the disk will not be expanded.

This is why the EXPALL.BAT file must be used for a network installation of Windows.