MS-DOS Reserved Words in File Manager's File Search Command

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This article was previously published under Q71843

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SUMMARY

If you search for a file in the Microsoft Windows File Manager program, using some MS-DOS reserved words with the File Search command, File Manager finds those reserved word in all directories because MS-DOS character devices are defined as files in all directories. This is standard MS-DOS behavior.

Examples of MS-DOS reserved words are:

   CON   COM1 - COM4
   PRN   AUX    LPT1

MORE INFORMATION

MS-DOS reserved words identify devices attached to the system. The following describes some of these devices:

   CON - The display monitor
   PRN - Default value is LPT1; this value can be changed
   AUX - Serial port 1 (COM1)

Although File Manager finds reserved words, if an attempt is made to delete any of these reserved words by choosing Delete from the File menu, you will receive the following error message for each reserved word, respectively:

Using Windows 3.1

Cannot delete <path\reserved word>; access denied.

Using Windows 3.0

Cannot delete <path\reserved word> Cannot find file; check to ensure the path and filename are correct.

An exception is "CON," which produces a different error message:

Cannot delete C:\CON: Access denied