Weird issues using IF NOT EXIST in Windows batch file - if-statement

Question

I have created a couple of batch files using FOR and IF statements to query remote computers. If I use short paths for the IF statement it works as expected but if the path is long it doesn't
These work:
FOR /F %%i IN (workstations.txt) DO IF NOT EXIST \\%%i\c$\catalog.dat echo Hello
--> If the catalog.dat file exists on the remote workstation it does nothing
FOR /F %%I IN (workstations.txt) DO IF EXIST \\%%i\c$\catalog.dat echo Hello
--> If the catalog.dat file exists on the remote workstation it echo's Hello
But these do not work properly:
FOR /F %%I IN (workstations.txt) DO IF NOT EXIST \\%%i\"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs\20140521.001\catalog.dat" echo Hello
--> If the catalog.dat file exists or doesn't exist on the remote workstation it always echo's Hello
FOR /F %%I IN (workstations.txt) DO IF EXIST \\%%i\"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs\20140521.001\catalog.dat" echo Hello
--> If the catalog.dat file exists or doesn't exist on the remote workstation it always does nothing
I have tried making the path names shorter (for example - "C:\Program Files\catalog.dat")
I have tried using environment variable for Program Files - %PROGRAMFILES%
I have tried using single quotes or no quotes around the long path but that returns "system cannot find the path specified"
The echo Hello is just a test of these batch files.
I am trying to update an older unsupported version of Symantec on XP workstations from a 2003 server and I have already updated some workstations and therefore want to check if the 20140521.001\catalog.dat exists before running the Symantec Intelligent Updater file 20140521-001-i32.exe using PsExec as it takes 15 minutes to complete and there are hundreds of workstations.
The batch file command I used to update the workstations after copying the Intelligent Updater file to their C drive is:
FOR /F %%I in (workstations.txt) DO psexec.exe \\%%i c:\20140521-001-i32.exe /q
--> Note that for all these batch file commands the batch files (.cmd), Intelligent Updater file and workstations.txt exist in the same directory.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Oki

Answer 1

Here is a simple script to test your logic if the machine is up and then check the hidden file share, then sub folders
#echo off
set MyPath=\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs\20140521.001
rem note the && means if the first command works i.e. returns exit /b 0 run the second cmd
for %%i in (localhost1 localhost) do call :ping %%i && call :checkDirs %%i
goto :EOF
rem dos function to ping a server return 0 is it's up 1 it is not up
:ping
set server=%1
echo ping %server%
ping.exe -n 1 %server% | findstr /i Reply >NIL
if not errorlevel 1 (
echo server %server% up
exit /b 0
) else (
echo server %server% down
exit /b 1
)
goto :EOF
:checkDirs
echo check dirs %1
if exist \\%1\c$\. (echo has share) else ( echo no share \\%1\c$\.)
if exist "\\%1\c$\Program Files\." (echo has program files) else (echo no program files)
if exist "\\%1\c$\Program Files\Common Files\." (echo has Common Files) else (echo no common files)
if exist "\\%1\c$%MyPath%" (echo has MyPath) else (echo no MyPath)
goto :EOF