[R] Problem downloading webpages using batchfiles and RCurl from command line in Vista Basic - couldn't connect to host

[Tony Breyal]

Dear all,

I am having a problem downloading webpages through R when i run it in
the DOS window under Windows Vista Basic. I have downloaded the
batchfiles from http://code.google.com/p/batchfiles/ and have
successfully set the PATH.

I open up 'Command Prompt' in Vista and type (after the C:\...>
stuff):

### START ###
C:\Users\Karen>Rscript -e "library(RCurl); getURL('http://
www.google.com')"
Loading required package: methods
Loading required package: bitops
Error in curlPerform(curl = curl, .opts = opts, .encoding
= .encoding) :
  couldn't connect to host
Calls: getURL -> curlPerform -> .Call
Execution halted
### END ###

I think this means that R could not connect to the internet. However,
if i run the same code in Rgui (i.e. opening R normally, not command
line) then this code works correctly.

Also, on my other computer which runs Windows Vista Ultimate, the
command line version works correctly and downloads the webpage.

I need to get this to work because i need to do some web crawls in
batch mode using R.

Any help would be most appreciated. Thank you kindly for your time in
advance,
Tony Breyal

> sessionInfo()
R version 2.9.0 (2009-04-17)
i386-pc-mingw32

locale:
LC_COLLATE=English_United Kingdom.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United Kingdom.
1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United Kingdom.
1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United Kingdom.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices datasets  utils     methods
base

other attached packages:
[1] RCurl_0.95-1   rcom_2.1-3     rscproxy_1.3-1

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] tools_2.9.0