Deprecated batch commands and their replacements
DEBUG
DEBUG command was used to create binaries/executabled from batch file. The command is still available in 32bit versions of windows , but is able to create binaries only with 16bit instructions with makes it unusable for 64bit machines. Now CERTUTIL is used for that purpose which allows to decode/encode binary/media files from HEX or BASE64 formats.Example with a file that creates icon file:
@echo off
del /q /f pointer.jpg >nul 2>nul
certutil -decode "%~f0" pointer.jpg
hh.exe pointer.jpg
exit /b %errorlevel%
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgAAZABkAAD/7AARRHVja3kAAQAEAAAAMgAA/+4ADkFkb2Jl
AGTAAAAAAf/bAIQACAYGBgYGCAYGCAwIBwgMDgoICAoOEA0NDg0NEBEMDg0NDgwR
DxITFBMSDxgYGhoYGCMiIiIjJycnJycnJycnJwEJCAgJCgkLCQkLDgsNCw4RDg4O
DhETDQ0ODQ0TGBEPDw8PERgWFxQUFBcWGhoYGBoaISEgISEnJycnJycnJycn/8AA
EQgACgAKAwEiAAIRAQMRAf/EAFsAAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGBwEBAQAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAEQAAIBAwQDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEDAgARBSExIwQSIhMRAQEBAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARIf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8A13PZ5eIX3gO8ktKZfFPksvQ8r4uL
ecJmx1BMSbm8D6UVKVcg/9k=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----Here’s the same with hex format:
@echo off
(echo 0000 ff d8 ff e0 00 10 4a 46 49 46 00 01 02 00 00 64) >pointer.hex
(echo 0010 00 64 00 00 ff ec 00 11 44 75 63 6b 79 00 01 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0020 04 00 00 00 32 00 00 ff ee 00 0e 41 64 6f 62 65) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0030 00 64 c0 00 00 00 01 ff db 00 84 00 08 06 06 06) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0040 06 06 08 06 06 08 0c 08 07 08 0c 0e 0a 08 08 0a) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0050 0e 10 0d 0d 0e 0d 0d 10 11 0c 0e 0d 0d 0e 0c 11) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0060 0f 12 13 14 13 12 0f 18 18 1a 1a 18 18 23 22 22) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0070 22 23 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 01 09 08 08) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0080 09 0a 09 0b 09 09 0b 0e 0b 0d 0b 0e 11 0e 0e 0e) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0090 0e 11 13 0d 0d 0e 0d 0d 13 18 11 0f 0f 0f 0f 11) >>pointer.hex
(echo 00a0 18 16 17 14 14 14 17 16 1a 1a 18 18 1a 1a 21 21) >>pointer.hex
(echo 00b0 20 21 21 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 ff c0 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 00c0 11 08 00 0a 00 0a 03 01 22 00 02 11 01 03 11 01) >>pointer.hex
(echo 00d0 ff c4 00 5b 00 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 00e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 07 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 00f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 10 00 02 01 03) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0100 04 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 03 02 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0110 11 05 21 31 23 04 12 22 13 11 01 01 01 00 00 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0120 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 11 21 ff da 00) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0130 0c 03 01 00 02 11 03 11 00 3f 00 d7 73 d9 e5 e2) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0140 17 de 03 bc 92 d2 99 7c 53 e4 b2 f4 3c af 8b 8b) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0150 79 c2 66 c7 50 4c 49 b9 bc 0f a5 15 29 57 20 ff) >>pointer.hex
(echo 0160 d9 ) >>pointer.hex
certutil -decodehex "pointer.hex" pointer.jpg
hh.exe pointer.jpg
exit /b %errorlevel%As you can see hex requires additional temp file and hex format expansions is bigger
APPEND
APPEND was command in msdos that allowed to use resource/media files like they are in the same directory.The command is still available in 32bit versions of windows but seems is not working. In some sources (including microsofts’) it is pointed that the command is replaced by DPATH ,but it is not entirely true. Despite the DPATH help message points to APPEND command it’s syntnax is the same as PATH.The directories listed in DPATH can be used with input redirection or type command :
@echo off
dpath %windir%
set /p var=<win.ini
echo using dpath with input redirection:
echo %var%
echo.
echo using dpath with type command:
type win.iniBITSADMIN
BITSADMIN was used to transfer documents, download website, download files from websites, etc… This command is a deprecated command, and may be removed on next Windows updates. To prevent this issue, use the new Powershell BIT cmdlet.
Here is a sample code utilizing BITSADMIN.
@echo off
Bitsadmin /create /download Stackoverflow.com
rem download the website StackOverflow.com