xcopy is not recognized as an internal or external

Question

I have a problem using 'xcopy' command.

I'm building a C# project with msbuild. At the end of the build, a batch file is called to copy my assemblies from Debug/Release to some other folders.

Here is the problem, my build fail and the error log is 'xcopy is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file'.

The path is correctly set, xcopy do works from a windows command line and from the visual studio command line (the one set with the project environment).

I tried to set the path in the batch file but it doesn't help.

Any suggestion?

I'm using windows 7

Cheers :)

Answer 1

I also had a problem with xcopy (same error message) - with a very simple batch program that I use to backup files to a removable drive. Have been using that program for at least 5 years with never a problem. Then yesterday xcopy is unknown to Win7. The replacement of xcopy with %systemroot%\System32\xcopy at each instance solved the problem. Very strange.

Answer 2

This is not a problem with Windows 7 or 8. It's actually a problem with applications that update environment variables such as PATH. The PATH is stored in the Registry as an "Expandable string value" (REG_EXPAND_SZ), but a lot of applications write it back to the Registry as a "String Value" (REG_SZ). If your path contains anything like %SYSTEMROOT%, this will not be expanded into C:\Windows (or whatever yours is) if the path is sotred in a REG_SZ.

The fix is simply to edit your path manually from the control panel. You need to make a change (eg add a ; to the end of the path) and then apply it. This will fix up your path in the Registry to be a REG_EXPAND_SZ. (Go to the System Control Panel and select Advanced System Settings. Edit the Path Environment variable in the lower box, and that should fix it.

You can tell whether your path is broken in this way by opening a command prompt and typing PATH. Your path will be listed. If you can see anything enclosed in % % then your path is not being expanded.