PRB: "Bad command or file name" Error When RC.EXE Not Found

The information in this article applies to:

• The development environment included with: Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.5, 1.51 and 1.52

SYMPTOMS

The Visual Workbench is unable to run the resource compiler, RC.EXE. The output windows shows results similiar this:

   Compiling resources...
   Bad command or file name
   Compiling...
   <drive>:\<path>\<filename>.cpp
   Linking...
   Binding resources...
   Bad command or file name
   Creating browser database...
   <filename>.EXE - 0 error(s), 0 warning(s)

This occurs only when you run Visual C++ version 1.5x under Windows NT.

CAUSE

There is a problem with the AUTOEXEC.NT file that results in the removal of <msvc>\BIN from the PATH environment variable, where <msvc> is the directory in which Visual C++ is installed.

RESOLUTION

Remove or correct the PATH statement in the AUTOEXEC.NT file. If the existing PATH contains <msvc>\BIN, you can remove the PATH statement from the AUTOEXEC.NT. If you want to add the existing PATH to the AUTOEXEC.NT, add %PATH% as the last item on the PATH environment variable in the AUTOEXEC.NT. Otherwise, add <msvc>\BIN to the PATH in the AUTOEXEC.NT file.

NOTE: AUTOEXEC.NT is located in the <winnt>\SYSTEM32 directory, where <winnt> is the directory in which Windows NT is installed.

STATUS

This behavior is by design. The error message notifies you that RC.EXE was not found.

MORE INFORMATION

Most of the command line tools (compiler, linker, and so on) that ship with Visual C++ versions 1.5x are native Win32-based applications that use the DOSXNT DOS-extender to permit them to run under MS-DOS. In the Windows NT environment, they run as native 32-bit applications without the DOS-extender. RC.EXE is an exception, in that it is a 16-bit tool.

When RC.EXE is spawned by the development environment during a build, Windows NT determines that RC.EXE is an MS-DOS application and prepares to run an MS-DOS application. One of the steps in this preparation is to run the AUTOEXEC.NT batch file.

If <msvc>\BIN is on the existing PATH, a PATH statement is in AUTOEXEC.NT, and neither <msvc>\BIN nor %PATH% are part of that statement, then RC.EXE will not be found.