Skip to main content

Problem:

When the user opens an elevated Net Express command prompt by right-clicking on 'Net Express 32-Bit Command Prompt' and clicking on 'Run as administrator', the command prompt session is created with the following error:

'createnv.bat' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

The createnv.bat file is the script to set up the Net Express environment variables, and in this case, the script could not be executed.

Resolution:

Behind the Net Express 32-Bit Command Prompt shortcut, it is actually launching:
C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\cmd.exe /k createnv.bat

In this same shortcut, you will notice that the Start in field is to specify the current directory as "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Micro Focus\\Net Express 5.1\\Base\\Bin\\"

In other words, the createnv.bat is executed from "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Micro Focus\\Net Express 5.1\\Base\\Bin\\"

When running this shortcut as administrator, Windows forces the current directory to become C:\\Windows\\system32, and obviously createnv.bat cannot be found in that location.

You can also see this behavior if you open the regular "Command Prompt", it will set the current directory to C:\\Users\\YourUserID, but when "Run as administrator", it becomes C:\\Windows\\system32

This issue has already been reported to the Micro Foucs development team, but in the meantime, you may use the following workaround:

  1. Save createnv.txt in "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Micro Focus\\Net Express 5.1\\Base\\Bin\\"
  2. Rename the original createnv.bat on your machine as createnv.bak
  3. Rename createnv.txt to createnv.bat
  4. Right-click on the Net Express 32-Bit Command Prompt shortcut
  5. Click on Properties
  6. Change the Target value from
    C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\cmd.exe /k createnv.bat
    to
    C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\cmd.exe /k "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Micro Focus\\Net Express 5.1\\Base\\Bin\\createnv.bat"

The above will allow to open regular and elevated Net Express 32-Bit Command Prompt with the exact same Net Express environment setup.

Note: If you are running Net Express on a 64-bit Windows, you still can follow the same instructions as above and ignore all references of SysWOW64 and (x86) in the directory structures, i.e.

  • C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64 --> C:\\Windows
  • C:\\Program Files (x86) --> C:\\Program Files

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement