What is the reason for the error message "System cannot find the path specified"?
There is not only 1 %SystemRoot%\System32
on Windows x64. There are 2 such directories.
The real %SystemRoot%\System32
directory is for 64-bit applications. This directory contains a 64-bit cmd.exe
.
But there is also %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64
for 32-bit applications. This directory is used if a 32-bit application accesses %SystemRoot%\System32
. It contains a 32-bit cmd.exe
.
32-bit applications can access %SystemRoot%\System32
for 64-bit applications by using the alias %SystemRoot%\Sysnative
in path.
For more details see the Microsoft documentation about File System Redirector.
So the subdirectory run
was created either in %SystemRoot%\System32
for 64-bit applications and 32-bit cmd
is run for which this directory does not exist because there is no subdirectory run
in %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64
which is %SystemRoot%\System32
for 32-bit cmd.exe
or the subdirectory run
was created in %SystemRoot%\System32
for 32-bit applications and 64-bit cmd
is run for which this directory does not exist because there is no subdirectory run
in %SystemRoot%\System32
as this subdirectory exists only in %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64
.
The following code could be used at top of the batch file in case of subdirectory run
is in %SystemRoot%\System32
for 64-bit applications:
@echo off
set "SystemPath=%SystemRoot%\System32"
if not "%ProgramFiles(x86)%" == "" if exist %SystemRoot%\Sysnative\* set "SystemPath=%SystemRoot%\Sysnative"
Every console application in System32\run
directory must be executed with %SystemPath%
in the batch file, for example %SystemPath%\run\YourApp.exe
.
How it works?
There is no environment variable ProgramFiles(x86) on Windows x86 and therefore there is really only one %SystemRoot%\System32
as defined at top.
But there is defined the environment variable ProgramFiles(x86) with a value on Windows x64. So it is additionally checked on Windows x64 if there are files in %SystemRoot%\Sysnative
. In this case the batch file is processed currently by 32-bit cmd.exe
and only in this case %SystemRoot%\Sysnative
needs to be used at all. Otherwise %SystemRoot%\System32
can be used also on Windows x64 as when the batch file is processed by 64-bit cmd.exe
, this is the directory containing the 64-bit console applications (and the subdirectory run
).
Note: %SystemRoot%\Sysnative
is not a directory! It is not possible to cd
to %SystemRoot%\Sysnative
or use if exist %SystemRoot%\Sysnative
or if exist %SystemRoot%\Sysnative\
. It is a special alias existing only for 32-bit executables and therefore it is necessary to check if one or more files exist on using this path by using if exist %SystemRoot%\Sysnative\cmd.exe
or more general if exist %SystemRoot%\Sysnative\*
.
The following worked for me:
- Open the
Registry Editor
(press windows key, typeregedit
and hitEnter
) . - Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
and clear the values. - Also check
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
.