ID Number: Q58412
3.00 3.10
WINDOWS
Summary:
The MS-DOS APPEND utility remaps the contents of specified directories
into the current directory, which makes the files of these directories
available to an application. Do not use this utility on systems
running the Windows operating environment because the APPEND utility
is fundamentally hostile to the operation of Windows. The design of
Windows rests on its ability to build a fully-qualified path for each
file it opens.
More Information:
When Windows opens an application file (for example, WINWORD.EXE), it
stores the fully-qualified path of this file (for example,
D:\WINWORD\WINWORD.EXE). With this information, Windows can reopen the
file even if user or application activity changes the current drive
and current directory.
The problem with the APPEND utility is that it prevents Windows from
reliably determining the proper fully-qualified path to a file. If an
application calls the open function when C:\EXCEL is the current drive
and directory, and the D:\WINWORD directory is specified in the APPEND
search path, Windows may improperly record the fully-qualified path to
the WINWORD.EXE file as follows: C:\EXCEL\WINWORD.EXE.
In this situation, when Windows reopens the file later, it receives an
error from MS-DOS because the file is not actually located in the
drive and directory indicated by the stored fully-qualified path. When
Windows detects this error, it displays the Change Disk message box.
The APPEND utility can cause similar problems for the WINOLDAP module,
which runs MS-DOS (non-Windows) applications under Windows. These
problems can result in unexpected "File Not Found" errors, failure to
start an MS-DOS application, failure when the MS-DOS application
exits, or failure when the user tries to switch back to Windows.
The current versions of all the major application software available
today do not require the APPEND utility. The MS-DOS version 4.0 and
4.01 installation programs usually add the APPEND utility to the
user's configuration, which consumes valuable application memory
without providing any benefits to the end user. The APPEND utility is
usually found in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The line with APPEND can
be removed or commented out by placing the word "remark" at the
beginning of the line.
Additional reference words: 3.00 3.10