MSDOS command window

[Cory_K]

I know that this doesnt apply to LabVIEW, but there isn't an 'Off topic' board on the forums to post under, and you guys know more about computers than anyone else I know so I decided to ask this question here.

I have windows vista (if it matters for anything), and tend to use the command prompt for a lot of things out of habit.

For absolutely no (apparent) reason whatsoever, my command prompt has stopped working.

Whenever I type a command, I get:
" (command) is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file" , which pretty much means it has no idea what I'm typing.

Does anyone know what could have caused this?

Is there anywhere I can reinstall the program files for the MSDOS command prompt if there is such a thing?

Thanks 

[Matthew_Kelton · Accepted solution]

I don't have access to Vista right now, but I am assuming that you are getting to a command prompt via cmd.exe.  If you are getting these errors and the file doesn't exist in the directory you're currently in, your Path variable may have gotten changed.  Try manually changing the diretcory to where the exe is, and confirm whether it runs fine.  If it does, then your Path environment variable is messed up.  In XP, it's under your System Properites, but I don't remember off the top of my head where it is in Vista (I'm sure Google will have it somewhere).

If the file is in the directory you are in, perhaps it is a User Priveledge problem.  Try running the command prompt as an Administrator and see if this fixes the problem.