Batch file automated a clean-up job, then fouled itself by deleting the wrong directory
It survived testing and the boss signed off, so who was really to blame?
Welcome to another edition of Who, Me? – a weekly column from The Register where we highlight your tales of IT woes. This week, we'll be featuring Pascal, who once worked for a company that recently acquired its first Exchange server, housing approximately 600 mailboxes. Pascal's IT manager recommended taking the server offline once a week to defragment the Information Store, which Pascal thought was a reasonable idea.
Pascal wrote a batch file to stop the Information Store, run eseutil /d to compact the database, delete temporary files, and then restart the service. The batch file performed satisfactorily and improved the store's size, so Pascal scheduled it to run on Fridays, leaving for the weekend.
However, Pascal's weekend plans took an unexpected turn when he received frantic calls from work. The Windows NT 4 server was no longer functioning correctly, and the Exchange services had ceased. Pascal inspected the server and discovered that his batch file, which contained the command DEL *.*, had inadvertently deleted crucial System32 files. This devastating mistake rendered the server inoperable, necessitating a complete rebuild and data restoration process that consumed most of the weekend.
Reflecting on the incident, Pascal acknowledged that it wasn't his most impressive moment, but it did come with a silver lining. He earned double time for fixing the issue. Pascal's batch file inadvertently deleted System32 files, but fortunately, it did not erase his career. If you've ever mistakenly deleted something important, share your story with Who, Me? by clicking here. We may restore your memory of the experience in full during a future Monday.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Software's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
