To create or delete a folder named CON in Windows XP

Did you tried to create a folder with the name con or prn or nul. It is not possible to create a folder by a name Con?.

These words (CON, PRN, NUL, AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8 and LPT9) are reserved keywords called SYSTEM FOLDERS and can’t be created directly in Windows Explorer or Command Prompt. What’s the reason behind it?

It’s simple, Con is a reserved name from the early days from DOS, it stands for the “CONSOLE” I/O device, since it is already used by the system.

Like Con, many other reserve words are there which we can’t create.

They are,

PRN - It stands for printer.

AUX - It stands for Auxiliary device.

COM0, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9 - They stands for serial ports.

LPT1, LPT2, PRN - They stands for Parallel ports.

NUL - It stands for Bid Bucket.

But you can achieve creating those folders through Command Prompt.

Just follow these instructions.

• Go to start -> Run ->cmd or command

• To create a folder named con in your C drive then, type this in the command prompt, md \\.\c:\con and hit Enter

• Similarly to create a folder named con in your D drive then, type this in the command prompt window down and press Enter, md \\.\d:\con and hit Enter

• Now you get the folder like this:

• If you want to delete this folder, type this in the command prompt, rd \\.\c:\con

• In place of con you can write any desired name of your folder as if for now you can even try folder names like prn, nul and many others too.

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