command prompt broken

[chilifrei64]

I cant really pinpoint exactaly when this happened, I have been putting up with it for a while now but it has started to become a pain. You know when you go to start->run->cmd then you are presented with c:\Documents and Settings\%username%......

under normal working conditions I would be able to just type in ipconfig and see my ip configuration or ping google.com and see my responses. but now if i want to use these commands i need to navigate to the folder (c:\windows\system32) then type in ping google.com otherwise i get the 'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Does anybody know how to fix this. I have searched online but have not found any good results..... I am constantly doing troubleshooting with my laptop and i need quick access to the command prompt but i cannot keep going to the directory where the exe is located to do my work. (well i can I just dont want to )

[Aegis]

Are you sure it's cmd.exe, not command.com?

[HyperHacker]

do "echo %path%" and post what it says. If C:\Windows and C:\Windows\System32 (or whatever your Windows dir is) isn't in there, you have a problem.

[Pat57]

try system properties ,advanced and then Environment variables

there is an entry for path %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;.....

check if all the path are correct.

[Martin Zugec]

Agree, it is problem with %windir%\system32 not included in path variable...

[Must4ng]

I had the same symptoms on one of the boxen at work. Somehow, a couple of semi-colons were missing in the path, e.g. PATH=C:\WindowsC:\Windows\System32 vice PATH=C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32

The user swears they were'nt diddling around....since it was my CFO I didn't argue

[chilifrei64]

Adding %SystemRoot%\system32 to the EV "PATH" did the trick.. thanks alot guys