SMS: 'Too Many Parameters' Error When Running Smsls.bat

When you run the Smsls.bat file on a client computer running Windows 95, you may receive errors, and the command prompt window may display the following message:

If there is a space in the directory name for the "path" environment variable (such as "C:\Program Files"), and you run the Smsls.bat file on a client computer running Windows 95, Systems Management Server does not parse the path correctly.

This problem occurs when Smsls.bat sets the SMS_P=%PATH% environment variable. SMS_P is then used in various places in the logon script that contains the space, and causes that command-line to clock.

To work around this problem, add quotation marks around the path variable in two (and only two) places in the Smsls.bat file.

1. Place quotation marks around the %PATH% variable under :RUN_FROM.
   For example, change

         if not "%OS%" == "Windows_NT" set PATH=%0\..;%0\..\%SMS_BIN%;%PATH%
   					

   to:

         if not "%OS%" == "Windows_NT" set PATH=%0\..;%0\..\%SMS_BIN%;"%PATH%"
   					

2. Place quotation marks around SMS_P when it is reassigned to the path at the end of the script under :RESTORE.
   
   For example, change

         PATH=%SMS_P%
   						

   to:

         PATH="%SMS_P%"
   					

It is also important to note that completing this workaround causes an error to be displayed on Windows NT clients while running Smsls.bat. The following message is displayed: Network traces reveal adding the quotes to :RESTORE section causes Smsls.bat to incorrectly determine the location from which to run Clrlevel.com. To complete this workaround for both Windows 95 and Windows NT clients, it will be necessary to make additional changes to the Smsls.bat file. At the end of the script, change the last two lines from to:

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.