Why do I get error "The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect" using netsh set route?

Question

On a windows7 machine I was trying to set the standard gateway following this example:

netsh.exe interface ipv4 set route 0.0.0.0/32 "Internet" 172.16.5.1

which returned the following error:

The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect

Why is that the case, and how can I fix set the standard gateway for my connections?

Answer 1

There's some kind of an "underlying name" to the interface, set up on its 1st creation, or when it's manually changed. You can get it using:

netsh interface ipv4 show config

It might be different from what you see in the GUI window or from running netsh interface show interface

Try using that interface name instead - this worked for me on windows 7.

Answer 2

You need to use your real interface's name instead of "Internet". You can list them with netsh interface show interface.

Answer 3

I just had a similar same issue. The problem was the " character. I copied the netsh from a word document I got from our software vendor and pasted that directly into the CMD and changed the needed parts which failed with the error mentioned here. However when I copied the string at first to notepad and replaced one from the " I discovered that they are different, so I replaced both / re-typed both and the issue is solved now.

Answer 4

Apparently on Windows 7, you need to use a different syntax to execute the command in the correct context. Preface the context specifiers interface ipv4 with a -c parameter and quote the entire context specifier. For example, to set the adapter to DHCP:

netsh -c "interface ipv4" set address name="Local Area Connection" source=dhcp