Re: CreateProcess(...) cannot create 'winword'
* Simon:
When I use CreateProcess(...) to launch any application it works without
any problems.
but I have to specify the full path of my application for it to work.
If I try to run common applications such as 'winword' or iexplore' it
does not work.
::GetLastError() returns 2, (not found).
Even passing GetEnvironmentStrings( ); does not seem to do the trick.
Of course I can start them if I entered the full path, but I still don't
see why 'winword' does not work.
But when I use my run window, 'winword' works fine.
What could be the problem?
I have tried it on a Vista and XP pro machine.
As mentioned else-thread, CreateProcess only searches the directories specified
by the PATH environment variable, plus I think a few common ones (check the docs).
Your "run window", presumably the [Start -> Run] dialog, instead uses
ShellExecute, which can do quite a lot more than simply run a specified program.
In particular, it checks whether there is some application named "winword"
that is registered with the shell (in the registry). And there is, on your machine.
You can get largely the same effect, that of invoking ShellExecute, via the
"start" command in the command interpreter. Thus, "start winword" will
generally work in the command interpreter, while just "winword" will not. Of
course this behavior of the "start" command isn't documented, or at least used
to be undocumented, and the whole mechanism is severely under-documented. And
just to complicate things Microsoft has repeatedly changed the behavior of the
"start" command as well as Windows Explorer address bar, and it seems, has put
in a randomizer function just for fun. For example, typing "notepad" in the
Explorer address bar may start Notepad, or may send you to some Microsoft search
page, or something else, depending on the phase of the moon, apparently.
Cheers, & hth.,
- Alf