You cannot create any file by name "con",Why?

[Vampire_god]

Recently one of my friend and i discovered that on any machine which is running by MS Windows (any version) u cannot create any type of file by name "con" (e.g con.txt, con.mp3, con.doc.......).

it is strange and mystery to me so we asked MS Geeks and till now they didnt figure it out.

guyz try it out urself as i'm sure that most of u r using MS OS.

if there is/are anyone who think that they can solve this mystery then please share with us.

[boooggy]

removed

Edited October 11, 2005 by boooggy

[velos]

Hi.

This probably happens because "con" is reserved for the standard input/output.

Try this

Open a command prompt and write

copy con con

Each line you write will be dublicated

Exit with Ctrl-Z (or F6)

[shooter468]

there are several words that you cant write in Windows

There was a topic once about these things

[The Rock]

Check this out.

Source: Microsoft

What's this bulletin about?

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-017 announces the availability of a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in Microsoft® Windows® 95, Windows 98, and Windows 98 Second Edition. Under certain circumstances, the vulnerability could cause affected systems to crash. Microsoft is committed to protecting customers' information, and is providing the bulletin to inform customers of the vulnerability and what they can do about it.

What's the scope of the vulnerability?

This is a denial of service vulnerability. If a malicious user were able to entice another user into attempting to access a file whose path contains certain reserved words, it would cause the machine to crash.

The vulnerability does not provide any way for the malicious user to usurp control of the machine or to read, add or modify data on it. The machine could restored to normal operation by restarting it, but any work that hadn't been saved when the attack occurred would be lost.

What causes the vulnerability?

The vulnerability results because of a flaw in the way Windows 95 and 98 (including Windows 98 Second Edition) parse file path names. Device names such as COM1, CON or LPT1 are reserved words, and they can't be used as folder or file names. When parsing a reference to a path, Windows 95 and 98 check for the presence of a single DOS device name in the path. If one is found, the path is correctly treated as invalid and an error is returned. However, neither Windows 95 nor 98 check for multiple DOS device names. This is the source of the vulnerability.

If a read or write operation is attempted to a path whose name contains multiple DOS device names, it will cause Windows 95 and 98 to attempt to access invalid resources. In some cases, the effect of this invalid access would be to cause the application that supplied the path to hang, but the more likely effect is that the machine would present a blue debug screen and crash.

[InTheWayBoy]

Warez hackers use those a lot when they take over an FTP server...allows them to hide their files a little longer.

[bledd]

you can't call anything ' ' (space)

but you can hold ALT, press 255 -release ALT and get a blank to use instead

[Genosaber]

Recently one of my friend and i discovered that on any machine which is running by MS Windows (any version) u cannot create any type of file by name "con" (e.g con.txt, con.mp3, con.doc.......).

it is strange and mystery to me so we asked MS Geeks and till now they didnt figure it out.

guyz try it out urself as i'm sure that most of u r using MS OS.

if there is/are anyone who think that they can solve this mystery then please share with us.

Well I heard about this rumor from a friend of mine said that some one discorvered about this and claimed that no one from microsoft knows the answer.

*Sigh*

I was one of the few people who weren't suprised by this fact. So for all other people who aren't aware about this or somehow amazed that no one in microsoft know about this well microsoft knows about this and if you want proof that they know then I suggest you read on.

Here is the link wherein it points you to MSDN "MICROSOFT SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT NETWORK" which microsoft geeks know about.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....ming_a_file.asp

Hope this clarifies it

[k33]

1. from command prompt

mkdir \\.\c:\con

rd /S /Q \\.\c:\con

or

mkdir c:\con\

rmdir c:\con\

2. save the following text into a htm file, then browse it

<html>

<body>

<script type="text/vbscript">

dim filesys, newfolder, confolder

confolder = "\\.\c:\con"

set filesys=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

If not filesys.FolderExists(confolder) Then

Set newfolder = filesys.CreateFolder(confolder)

document.write("Create CON folder<br>")

else

set newfolder = filesys.GetFolder(confolder)

newfolder.Delete

document.write("Delete CON folder<br>")

End If

document.write("<B>CopyRight ©2005 k33, k33@k.ro</B>")

</script>

</body>

</html>

[SiMoNsAyS]

this is something i didn't knew about, thanks for the tips

i usually create my 'noname' folders by renaming it and using alt+0160 ' '

[BlueMe]

But you can't do anything with the folder..you can't copy move it or place something in it