batch files no longer recognised.

[mick2]

hi folks, a week a go all my .exe files and shortcuts changed to .lnk extension, i got a small programme that fixed this problem but since then all .bat files are unrecognised in xp. they have no icon and when i right click and go to properties instead of them being recognised as ms-dos batch files they are coming up as bat files. clicking on them now does nothing.
i did a windows repair but its still the same.
any ideas on what i can do?

cheers mick

 

[mikescorpio81]

You could try renaming one to .cmd or try right-clicking one and select "Open with" (you can change this through the properties of the batch file too) and browsing to C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe

Apart from that, can you create a new batch file?

 

[mick2]

when i change them to .cmd they work perfectly. i cant do the "open with" option because it isnt there when i right click. i cant create a new batch file with notepad but its still the same, unrecognised with no icon. as soon as i rename to .cmd then the cogs icon appears again.
is it possible to create it in file types? didnt want to do this incase i buggered it up more.

cheers mick

 

[mikescorpio81]

Renaming them to .cmd is a good option because it works for you. It is the same as a .bat file, so rather than creating new .bat files, create .cmd files.

.bat is the old MS DOS extension whereas .cmd is the newer Windows extension. They both point to the same location (C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe) so remember to use .cmd extensions from now on.

Why this happened to you I am not sure. It is possible a worm or bug has corrupted them or a program did it or it simply failed.

 

[mick2]

ive managed to sort it, went in to file types and added new one (bat) went into advanced and browsed to ms-dos batch file to be associated with.
hopefully thats the last thing needed to be put right for a bit.
thanks for looking in, appreciated.

cheers mick