Troubleshooting DOS Difficulties

This section runs through a few problems you might encounter when running DOS commands or DOS programs.

When you double-click a shortcut for an MS-DOS–based program, you receive the following error message:

Cannot find the file 'Path.' Make sure that the file
exists on your system and that the path and filename
are correct.

Shortcuts for DOS programs are stored in PIFs rather than LNK files, and the maximum length for a command line in a PIF is 62 characters. Therefore, you receive the preceding error message if the program's command line is longer than 62 characters.

You can work around this problem in several ways:

  • Add the program's folder to the PATH so that you have to enter only the executable filename ...

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