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AST RESEARCH, INC.          TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 1202                6-5-95

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CD-ROM DEVICE NAMING ERRORS


PROBLEM

When naming a CD-ROM device during installation, if a file is referenced 
with the same name as the CD-ROM device, the action (copy, rename, delete, 
etc.) will fail.  For example, in CONFIG.SYS

	DEVICE=C:\SCSI\DOSCAM.SYS
	DEVICE=C:\SCSI\CDROM.SYS /D:CDROM

and in AUTOEXEC.BAT

	MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM

When attempting to copy, rename, or delete a file by the name of CDROM.NLM or 
CDROM.SYS, the action will fail with the message 

"Cannot write to device CDROM" 
or 
"Device not ready."  

NOTE

The above configuration is a common one.  This configuration causes specific 
problems midway through a Netware 4.1 installation.  CDROM.NLM will not copy 
to the DOS partition on the server. 


CAUSE

Once the device driver is in place, it becomes the same as LPT1, COM1, or 
any other device in the system.  Any reference to the name is interpreted as a 
redirection to the device. 


SYSTEMS AFFECTED

All AST systems.


SOLUTION

Name your device carefully.  Choose SONY001, MYCD001, or a similar name which 
would normally not occur as a filename.