Line Added to Autoexec.bat on Client Cannot Be Truncated (216881)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0

This article was previously published under Q216881

SYMPTOMS

A Microsoft Windows 95-based or Microsoft Windows 98-based Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0 client may receive an "Out of environment space" error message and the client software may not be correctly installed if the line that is added to the client's Autoexec.bat file is manipulated every time the system is rebooted.

For example, this behavior can be caused by a program file in the Autoexec.bat file that truncates all lines to 80 characters. Because the line that is added by SMS contains over 80 characters, the line is truncated. The SMS Client service detects that the line is not correct and adds it again to the first line. This process continues until eventually there are many truncated lines and the client receives an "Out of environment space" error message at startup.

CAUSE

When an SMS 2.0 client is installed, the following line is added to the Autoexec.bat file:

if not "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" if "%COMSPEC%"=="C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM" set SMS_LOCAL_DIR=C:\WINDOWS

Each time the SMS Client service is started, it checks to make sure that the line in the Autoexec.bat file is present and complete. If not, it adds the line to the top of the Autoexec.bat file.

A known cause of this behavior is an Aztech audio driver that is placed in the Autoexec.bat file. During startup, it truncates all lines in the Autoexec.bat file to 80 characters if the /A:ON switch is present. For example:

AZTPNP.EXE /A:ON

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, remove this switch or the driver itself.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/14/2005
Keywords:kb3rdparty kbenv kbprb KB216881