thanks-- i do actually have the comma..

I found another way- don't need to pull from registry-- XP has environmental variables %homedrive%%homepath%
this gives you--
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%

from there I should be able to append \application data\microsoft\word\startup\

copy "\\mm_cluster\mltwdata\mltw common\microsoft user\wd global\MLTWwd2k3.dot" "%homedrive%%homepath%\application data\microsoft\word\startup\" /c /r /h

this SHOULD work. but it doesn't.
so I tried this to troubleshoot...
copy "\\mm_cluster\mltwdata\mltw common\microsoft user\wd global\MLTWwd2k3.dot" "%homedrive%%homepath%" /c /r /h

This worked! So what is the problem with the rest of the path??