Hi, I have a simple script that copies a file to each computer contained in txt file. I'm using the For /f to read the computer names, then I ping the computer and only if it's on the network do I try to copy the file. The problem is the that the Ping cmd does not return the proper errorlevel when used in the For loop. When I used ping form cmd line it does return the proper ErrorLevel. I thought the problem was caused by the lack of the DelayedExpansion but using !ErrorLevel! instead of %EverLevel% does not work. The script works but it ties to copy files even on computer that are not pingable, I've set Xcopy to ignore error but it takes the script a long time to run as it times out on the machine that are not reachable. Any suggestions ? Naim Setlocal enabledelayedexpansion FOR /F "tokens=1" %%a IN (mtl_computers.txt) do ( @echo Copying file to computer %%a ping -1 n %%a >nul if ERRORLEVEL 0 (xcopy custom.prf "\\%%a\c$\Program Files\Microsoft Office\custom.prf" /U /C /Y) else (echo do nothing) ) EndLocal pause exit

You have a couple problems. One is your usage. If errorlevel 0 means 0 *OR MORE* so it will always resolve to TRUE and is therefore meaningless. The other is a quirk of PING. It returms 1 only if it fails to resolve. Otherwise it returns 0 whether the IP is alive or fead. =============================== @echo off & setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion FOR /F "tokens=1" %%a IN (mtl_computers.txt) do ( ping -n 1 %%a | find "Reply" > nul if not ERRORLEVEL 1 ( xcopy custom.prf "\\%%a\c$\Program Files\Microsoft Office\custom.prf" /U /C /Y ) else ( echo do nothing ) ) ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

Ok thank you M2, My computer list came from AD so all of the account have valid DNS names, given that I changed the following : ping -n 1 %%a | find "unreachable." > nul if ERRORLEVEL 1 ( As I did some test and realized that the "Reply" keyword was found on Ping request for both reachable and unreachable computers, but "unreachable" gave me the computers I wanted to skip. One thing I don't understand When I looked for example of code I found some people using if %ErrorLevel%==1 and others if ERRORLEVEL 1 . What's the difference between both ?

if %ErrorLevel%==1 mens EXACTLY 1 if ERRORLEVEL 1 means 1 OR MORE ============================= @echo off & setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion find /v aaa echo EL is %errorlevel% find /v aaa if ERRORLEVEL 1 echo 1 or more find /v aaa if %ErrorLevel%==1 echo exactly 1 ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2