The odd thing about this problem is that when the code loops around to the Shell command again, I do not get the Error 2250 message (network connection not found) as I do the first time the Shell command is executed. I copied your suggestion to replace the Shell command I had in the code and still have the Error message... I also tried replacing %comspec% with %SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe...thinking that a direct path may find the COMSPEC...

Still no go..