WYSIWYG -

Sometimes its easier to navigate one step at a time in DOS.

The command window will probably open showing you in C:\windows or in C:\Documents and Settings.

You should be able to use CD \Documents and Settings\Susan\Desktop for the command to get there, but often the "long file names" don't get through.

In XP, it's common for your DIR command to be preset to show you "long file names," but you can't necessarily use them to navigate.

If you use "CD \" it should take you to C:\

You can then use "DIR" to get a list of the first level folders, but if it shows only the "long names" it's not helpful. You need to use "Dir /-N" to list the DOS names of the folders. The "/-N" turns off the long name display, so you you can see the "real" DOS folder names. As an alternative, you can use "DIR /X" to display only the DOS names.

You'll probably see "Documents and Settings" as something like "DOCU~1". Use whatever it shows in a "CD DOCU~1" command and then repeat the DIR /-N or DIR /X to find the next level.

(Note that the next time you open Command and do a "DIR /X" it may be something different. The DOS names are updated constantly as files are added, moved, and deleted in "new" Windows.)

Once you get to the folder you want, you probably will want the long file names, so just use DIR *.* /s > filename.txt to get your list.

Sorry, I forgot about this little quirk in the newer Windows Command. It's one (of several) of the reasons I don't use the "My Documents" setup. I create a folder on C:\ with a "DOS legal" filename, and put all my documents there, using DOS sub-folder names as much as possible, and don't see this problem very often.

I don't know of a way to get a folder listing, as text, directly in Windows. For a very short listing, I've used Alt-PrtScr to capture a screen shot from Explorer, paste it in Word, and then just "re-type" from the picture. I've tried cropping the screen shot and running it through my OCR, but the 72dpi you get with a screen shot doesn't usually come though very accurately.

I've been complaining to Mickey about the lack of a list output since Win3.0, but they haven't come up with an answer (that I've seen) yet.

John