Question

I am trying to have a C++ program call an already made C# program to run in the background.

STARTUPINFO info = {sizeof(info)};
PROCESS_INFORMATION processinfo;
DWORD error1 = GetLastError();
bool x = ::CreateProcess((LPCWSTR)"C:\Convert_Shrink.exe", GetCommandLine(), NULL, NULL, false, 0,NULL,NULL, &info, &processinfo);
DWORD error = GetLastError();

error1 is 0 before CreateProcess
error is 2 after CreateProcess

error 2:

ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND 2 (0x2) The system cannot find the file specified.

I’ve changed it to C:\ \ incase they were checking for escape sequences but I still get error 2 and I’m not sure why.

Answer 1

You can:

• Use CreateProcessA to match your ANSI file path:

  bool x = ::CreateProcessA("C:\\Convert_Shrink.exe", GetCommandLineA(), NULL, NULL, false, 0,NULL,NULL, &info, &processinfo);
  

* Provide a file path which matches the string format required by your Unicode settings:

    bool x = ::CreateProcess(_T("C:\\Convert_Shrink.exe"), GetCommandLine(), NULL, NULL, false, 0,NULL,NULL, &info, &processinfo);

or

• Use CreateProcessW so you can pass a Unicode filepath (supports extended characters):

  bool x = ::CreateProcessW(L"C\\\Convert_Shrink.exe", GetCommandLineW(), NULL, NULL, false, 0,NULL,NULL, &info, &processinfo);
  

(as @dolphy noted, the argument has to be a writable string)

• Provide a file path which matches the string format required by your Unicode settings:

  #if UNICODE
  std::wstring exename =
  #else
  const char* exename =
  #endif
      _T("C:\\Convert_Shrink.exe");
  bool x = ::CreateProcess(&exename[0], GetCommandLine(), NULL, NULL, false, 0,NULL,NULL, &info, &processinfo);
  

or

• Use CreateProcessW so you can pass a Unicode filepath (supports extended characters):

  wchar_t exename[] = L"C:\\Convert_Shrink.exe";
  bool x = ::CreateProcessW(exename, GetCommandLineW(), NULL, NULL, false, 0,NULL,NULL, &info, &processinfo);