Bad Command or File Name Error

We’ve all been there. We’ve started our computer like we do everything other day and everything seems to be running smoothly, when instead of opening our operating system, we get an error message instead.

Bad command or file name is an error message that appears when a computer receives a wrong direction; usually it is an internal issue that will cause the error message to pop up when a computer is booting up. Sometimes things happen internally that will disrupt the flow of language used by the computer. If there is a mistake in the programming language when the computer attempts to boot up and run, this is when the bad command, file name or syntax error will be displayed. At this point, the computer will not be able to proceed until the language can be properly interpreted.

It is not that uncommon for files that are used to automatically run the computer to have a line that is missing or has a mistake within it. For example, the autoexe.bat or config.sys are command files that provide information for programs to run on a computer. While they are not essential to later versions of Windows, from Windows 95, users may still be required to edit the files should an issue arise.

If you receive a bad command or file name error message, there are steps you can take to resolve the issue. To repair the files, you will need to perform a step-by-step configuration. It sounds difficult, but is fairly simple if you follow the instructions. If you are using a common Microsoft Windows operating system, the menus are similar and the following instructions will walk you through the system configuration for Windows systems.

First, you will need to get into the start up menu for your computer. This is done during the boot up of your computer. You will have to hit one of the F keys, usually F8.

Choose the Step by step confirmation command and follow the prompts on that screen. You will then be asked to answer YES or NO to a series of commands. For each question that you are asked to respond to, chose the YES option. Continue to go through this process until you are asked to respond to the error message.

The error message, autoexec.bat/config.sys, will appear automatically. Simply, edit the line by typing the letters REM and then a space directly before the autoexec.bat/config.sys line. The REM command is short for remarking. Remarking the line is the term used for preventing the error line from loading and causing the bad command error message to be displayed. Once you remark the line, this error message will be skipped, and you will be able to proceed through boot up without any problems.

Newer operating systems such as Windows NT, graphical user interface systems (GUI) and OS/2 have reworded this message. The message may also say not recognized, batch file or command not found. All of these differently worded error messages are stating the same thing.