I am trying to run the following code in a click event. However because it executes the command in the cmd shell, I don't know why it wont run. What I can do is open cmd.exe as Administrator by commenting out the Arguments. As well as stick these arguments in a .bat file, then running from process.start.
However, why I cant run the shell with the arguments? I'd prefer this method over putting the arguments in a .bat file.
Dim process As New System.Diagnostics.Process()
Dim startInfo As New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo()
' startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe"
If System.Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6 Then ' Windows Vista or higher
startInfo.Verb = "runas"
Else
' No need to prompt to run as admin
End If
startInfo.Arguments = "/C bcdedit /set {current} safeboot network"
process.StartInfo = startInfo
process.Start()
Figured it out. I had to copy bcdedit.exe to my project. I had thought that calling cmd.exe would go to the location bcdedit.exe was located.
Related
I have a tomcat that starts with a batch file (several conditions and parameters are treated inside the batch file). Let's call it startTomcat.bat. This batch file ends with
call %CATALINA_HOME%\bin\catalina.bat start %CMD_LINE_ARGS%
I know how to start startTomcat.bat from within IDEA (via external tools), but it will open another standalone cmd window where the tomcat actually starts / runs. I would like to have this latter console window inside IDEA. Can this be achieved ?
catalina.bat start uses the start command which spawns the new console window:
:doStart
shift
if "%TITLE%" == "" set TITLE=Tomcat
set _EXECJAVA=start "%TITLE%" %_RUNJAVA%
if not ""%1"" == ""-security"" goto execCmd
shift
echo Using Security Manager
set "SECURITY_POLICY_FILE=%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\catalina.policy"
goto execCmd
Notice this line: set _EXECJAVA=start"%TITLE%" %_RUNJAVA%.
Use catalina.bat run instead to not open a new console window.
I'm doing a mash between VbScript and CMD, i can call the VBScript easily with
cscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0TASK.vbs" >>"%~dp0output.txt"
But I need to disable the feature of users clicking on the VBScript and calling all sorts of errors, rather than it being called through a batch file.
My first attempt was a mess of setting a variable into a text file before i ran cscript.exe and use error handling in VBScript to tell if that variable could be collected, but it added too much time to the script.
Does VBScript have a way to tell whether it was started by CMD, or simply by double clicking, and able to act accordingly?
Here is a simple function, detecting the parent process caption. You can check if the process was started by CMD shell (the caption is cmd.exe) or by double-click (explorer.exe):
If LCase(GetParentProcessCaption()) <> "cmd.exe" Then WScript.Quit
' the rest part of your code here
Function GetParentProcessCaption()
With GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\CIMV2:Win32_Process.Handle='" & CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Exec("rundll32 kernel32,Sleep").ProcessId & "'")
With GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\CIMV2:Win32_Process.Handle='" & .ParentProcessId & "'")
With GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\CIMV2:Win32_Process.Handle='" & .ParentProcessId & "'")
GetParentProcessCaption = .Caption
End With
End With
.Terminate
End With
End Function
In the context of your question another method allowing to pass parameters from CMD shell process to WSH script child process may be useful. It uses environment variable and WScript.Shell object. Consider the below example.
There is code for task.cmd file:
set myvar=myvalue
wscript "%~dp0task.vbs"
And for task.vbs file:
WScript.Echo CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Environment("process").Item("myvar")
I have got the output as follows:
Note, process environment variables are accessible for child processes only.
One way is for your VBS file to check for the presence of parameters and if they do not exist then stop the execution.
In your VBS script:
If WScript.Arguments.Count = 0 then
' No parameters provided. Can stop here.
End If
When you call your VBS file, just passing any parameter will satisfy the condition:
REM This will work.
cscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0TASK.vbs" "hello world"
REM So will this.
cscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0TASK.vbs" 1 2 3 4
REM This will not.
cscript.exe //NoLogo "%~dp0TASK.vbs"
This will not stop people from running it manually (with a parameter) or creating a shortcut which has a parameter. It would only really stop running the VBS directly (as a parameter will not be passed).
When you double click on a .vbs file, the action is determined by the following registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VBSFile\Shell\Open\Command
If you were to change the key, you will be changing the double click action, but you will not be affecting your ability to launch the command explicitly via invoking cscript.exe directly.
If the bat file will keep the cmd.exe open while the vbs file runs, you can try to detect the cmd process inside the vbs file to continue execution.
Put this at the start of your vbs file:
Set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
list_str = shell.Exec("tasklist").stdOut.ReadAll 'get a list of processes by calling the windows program 'tasklist.exe'
If InStr(list_str, "cmd.exe") = 0 Then WScript.Quit 'quit if process is not found
I want to create a batch file to do the following:
Start selenium server(webdriver-manager start)
Run Protractor tests(protractor conf.js)
Stop Selenium server()
This needs 2 different command prompts since webdriver-manager start will keep running and simultaneously the tests need to be executed
I have achieved the following so far. I have created a .bat file with the following contents:
start runTests.cmd
webdriver-manager start
Ctrl-C(**DOES NOT WORK**)
However, I am not able to figure out a way to shutdown the Selenium server(which is achieved by pressing Ctrl+C on the same window on which the webdriver-manager start command is executed)
You can generate keystrokes using VB Script, which can be called from a batch file.
I followed this post: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/f5-key-via-batch-file.18046/, substituting {F5} with ^{C} for Ctrl+C. So my file looks like:
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.SendKeys "^{C}"
You need to save this file with a ".vbs" extension.
I also found from this answer VBScript - switching focus to window using AppActivate how to set the focus to another window (which you know the title of). Doing this first, you can direct your keystroke to the appropriate window, so:
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.AppActivate "Untitled - Notepad"
objShell.SendKeys "^{C}"
I experimented with an empty instance of Notepad, so you'll need to change the window title string appropriately. (Ctrl+C doesn't do anything in Notepad, but Alt+F4 closes it, so I used "%{F4}" to test it.)
Then you can simply call the VBS file from your batch file to run it.
I have a legacy application which doesn't support utilizing the default applications defined in windows which requires that I specify a specific an executable for a file format to be opened within the application. Since Microsoft no longer includes MODI with Office by default I have been looking at using launching Windows Picture Viewer for .TIF, .TIFF, & .BMP files since it is built into Windows; however Microsoft does not have a direct executable for Windows Picture Viewer which can be called forcing me to create a script which executes the command which calls for Windows Picture Viewer to execute. After research the only way I have been able to call the application to open a specific file is by creating a batch file such as below:
GIFTS.BAT
rundll32.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreen %~1
If I execute the above code such as GIFTS.BAT "C:\Example Directory\Sample File.tif" from a command prompt or from the application launches and the Sample File.tif opens without a problem; however a command prompt opens along with the file when launching from the application.
Upon which I tried to create a vbscript to hide the batch file from executing however I can't seem to pass my argument if the argument has a "space" within the argument.
GIFTS.VBS
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run """C:\GIFTS.BAT"" " & WScript.Arguments.Item(0), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing
If I try to execute the VBScript from a command prompt such as GIFTS.VBS "C:\Example Directory\Sample File.tif" the application never launches and the command prompt returns no message or error. If I simplify the execute command (removing spaces to GIFTS.VBS "C:\Sample_File.tif" the application launches as well as the file Sample_File.tif is displayed and there is no command prompt displayed when the application executes the VBScript.
My question is how can I pass an argument into the VBS script that in return passes the the batch file when the argument contains spaces (which there is always going to be spaces since the argument will be a file name and path)?
There might be an easier approach to what I want to accomplish; however I am looking for a solution that Windows 7 - 8.1 can utilize with no additional software to install or manage on each workstation. The batch files works great I just need to be able to hide the command prompt that opens along with the application as my end users won't know what to do with it.
Thanks!
Sometimes, nested levels of escaping characters requires intimate knowledge of the undocumented behavior of CMD or some voodoo. Another way to attack the problem is to guarantee that you won't have any spaces in the name of the file. Windows has a concept of a short path (no spaces or special chars) for which every existing file has a unique one.
Here's a modified version of your program for which invoked subcommand doesn't need quotes around the file name.
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set fsoFile = fso.GetFile(WScript.Arguments.Item(0))
WshShell.Run """c:\GIFTS.BAT"" " & fsoFile.ShortPath, 0
Set WshShell = Nothing
You may wish to add your own error checking. The specified file must exist in order for the GetFile() command to succeed.
I have a bunch of batch files which I want to run sequentially. One of them runs an MSI which adds a folder to the PATH. How can I make sure that subsequent batch files will notice this change, without restarting CMD? I'm using Windows Server 2008 R2 x64.
I've tried call, cmd /c and start "", in the hope that starting a new process will work, but it doesn't.
in run-both-scripts.bat
call script1.bat <-- This runs an MSI which modifies the PATH
call script2.bat <-- This relies on the PATH changes which were made by the MSI in script1.bat
To clarify: this is fairly straightforward to reproduce.
Start CMD
Create an environment variable manually, not using setx, to mimic what the MSI does.
Right click on Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Environment variables -> New
Create an environment variable called, say, hello with the value hi there.
In your CMD window, type echo %hello%. You'll get %hello%.
Try cmd /c "echo %hello%. You'll get %hello%.
Try start "" to open a new CMD process; type echo %hello%. You'll get %hello%.
Try start "" echo %hello% to run the command in a new CMD process. You'll get %hello%.
Finally, try manually opening a new CMD window from the Start menu and type echo %hello% from there. You'll see hi there.
So you can see that the only way I've been able to make CMD see the change to the environment variable is by restarting CMD.
Ok, did some research, and found out why the soloutions we've been throwing at you don't work. When you start cmd.exe as an application, it looks at the current environment variables and copies it to memory. When you start cmd in a batch file, it will not look at the environment variables, instead it will look at the variables set in the current batch file, and utilise those. Thats the problem when your storing data on memory. The only way this is possible is if you copy the current environment variables into a text file as memory on a hard disk. Now, the question is how to go about doing this.
After heavy research, the only thing I could find that related to the topic was the use of start /i, however, when I tested this it didn't work. (start /? for more info).
In other words, other the setx, I don't think this is possible with batch.
Mona