PRB: Can't Use SET DEFAULT command to Set Default to UNC Path

 Last reviewed: July 3, 1997
Article ID: Q138093
3.00 WINDOWS kbprg kbnetwork kbprb

The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

When you use the SET DEFAULT TO <UNC> command where UNC is a network connection using the universal naming convention in Windows 95, the following error occurs: 

   Invalid path or file name.
Or if you click Do on the Program menu and select a program that has a path to a network connection not mapped to any drive letter, the following error occurs: 

   File '<program name>' does not exist.

CAUSE

The Visual FoxPro SET DEFAULT command does not support UNC paths used by Windows 95.

RESOLUTION

Before attempting to use the SET DEFAULT command to set the default to a network connection, first map the connection to a drive letter. For example, say you have a program named Test.prg located in a directory named Programs on a network node named Shared.

  1. Open the Windows 95 Explorer.

  2. On the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive.

  3. From the Map Network Drive dialog box, select a default drive letter. For this example, assume it is drive F: and the Path dialog box has this UNC:

    \\SHARED\PROGRAMS

  4. Set the path to this drive in the Visual FoxPro by typing the following in the Command window:

    SET PATH TO F:\

Other Ways to Map the Network Drive

In this example, the Windows 95 Explorer is not the only way to map the network drive. On the Start menu, click Find, and then click Computer. In the dialog box, type: 

   \\SHARED
Then click the Program directory to highlight it. On the File menu, click Map Network Drive, and select a drive letter. The Map Network Drive option is also available in the Network Neighborhood.

You can resolve the problem by mapping the network drive to a drive letter, or by adding and removing network connections programmatically from within Visual FoxPro by using the Windows application programming interface (API) through Foxtools.fll (a library file included with Visual FoxPro). In this way, you can programmatically create a connection and map it to a logical drive letter. For more information about using Foxtools.fll to make a network connection, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q105042
   TITLE     : How to Add/Remove Network Connections in FoxPro

STATUS

This behavior is by design in Visual FoxPro 3.0. In Visual FoxPro 5.0, the SET DEFAULT TO command can handle UNC's. 

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MORE INFORMATION

If a shortcut has been created on the Windows 95 desktop that uses a UNC to locate a program, the following error will also occur if on the Program menu, you click Do, locate the desktop, and then select the desired shortcut. 

   File <program name> does not exist.
To resolve this, you must map the shortcut to a network drive. That network drive letter must remain the same during all Windows 95 sessions in order for the shortcut to be successful.

Steps to Reproduce "Invalid path or filename" Error

From the Command window type: 

   SET DEFAULT TO \\SHARED\PROGRAMS
Here SHARED represents the computer or node name and PROGRAMS is a shared directory on that computer or node.

Steps to Reproduce "File <Program name> does not exist" Error

In Visual FoxPro, click Do on the Program menu. In the Do dialog box, click the Network Neighborhood, locate a network computer where a shared program is located. Locate the directory and program, double-click the program file. The error appears at this point.

Additional reference words: 3.00 VFoxWin
KBCategory: kbprg kbnetwork kbprb
KBSubcategory: FxprgSet

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Last reviewed: July 3, 1997
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