In Excel and in Access, you receive an "Invalid procedure call" error message when you try to use an MS-DOS core command from the Shell function

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, perform the commands that cause the error message by using the equivalent VBA commands.

You can perform most of the functions that are provided by Command.com through commands that are included in VBA. Some common core MS-DOS commands and their VBA equivalents are listed below.

MS-DOS command                       Microsoft VBA command
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEL [drive][path]filename            Kill "[drive][path]filename"
CD [drive][path]                     ChDir "[drive][path]"
MD [drive][path]directory name       MkDir "[drive][path]directory name"
RD [drive][path]directory name       RmDir "[drive][path]directory name"
COPY [source] [destination]          FileCopy "[source]","[destination]"
DIR [path]                           Dir("[path]",[attributes])
				

Note The Visual Basic for Applications Dir command does not function identically to its MS-DOS equivalent, and requires extra code to retrieve an entire directory.

For more information about the Dir command in Visual Basic for Applications, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help or in Microsoft Access Help, type the following text and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Dir function" topic.

In cases where it is absolutely essential to use one of the MS-DOS core commands, it is possible to invoke an instance of the command interpreter manually and pass it the desired command. To do this, use the following syntax:

   a = Shell("command.com /c [command]", [WindowStyle])
				

Note You must include /c for the command to be executed correctly. For example, to perform a directory command of all hidden files in the root directory, use the following syntax:

   Shell("command.com /c dir c:\ /ah", 1)
				

   a = Shell("MEM /C /P", 1)