fopen "w" return errno ENOENT

My old (worked in older versions of OS and compiler) program has these global definitions and code:

Code:

---

// file name hard coded for test purpose only
char printerfile[64] = "C:\\xxx\\testenv\\hrrss\\files\\lpt1.txt";
FILE *Prn;
.
.
void main ...
.
.
// the (const char *) was added for test purpose
// I get the same wrong result even when I have
//    if((Prn = fopen(printerfile,"w")) == NULL)
        if((Prn = fopen((const char *)printerfile,"w")) == NULL)
        {
                printf("can't open printer; ERROR: %d %s\n", errno, strerror(errno));
                printf("%s\n", printerfile);
                exit(1);
        }
.
.
.

---

The program give me:
can't open printer; ERROR: 2 No such file or directory
C:\xxx\testenv\hrrss\files\lpt1.txt

errno 2 is ENOENT - No such file or directory
The directory C:\xxx\testenv\hrrss\files exists
I use Visual Studio 2010 on win7 64 bits and I tell the compiler to compile it as C not C++

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
ZA

fopen() won't change the argument, if you want to make printerfile const why not declare it const char printerfile[64] ?

Does the path actually exist? Do you actually have permission to write there?


Quzah.

Quzah: Yes and Yes

Bayint: I tried it and it did not work either

Thank you
ZA

Are you sure on the permission thing?

I mean, are you sure you have write access outside of your own "C:\Users\username" directory structure?

Have you tested with local (to your username directory)?

Hi Salem
It is my own home machine, I have all users (sans the guest) as administrators and I may write, delete or otherwise modify anything and everything on that machine.
I compile the thing into an .exe file under the Visual Studio 2010. Then I copy it to my testenv sub directory and run it from there.
However, whatever is the real issue, is there a way to get a better message?
ZA

Apparently, one may not name a file lpt1.txt. Once I changed to lpt1a.txt it worked fine.
ZA

Thanks for the feedback.
So the magic DOS device filenames are poisoned even with an extension.
Device file - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An explanation, but basically extensions would stop the redirection from happening so they're ignored.