Question

I can easily start “sh” files on Mac, but when I try the same with bat on Windows I get this:

The NativeProcess could not be started. ‘Files with ‘.bat’ extensions cannot be launched.’

Answer 1

For security reasons, you can’t do that.

AIR on Windows does not allow you to run .bat files directly. Windows .bat files are executed by the command interpreter application (cmd.exe). When you invoke a .bat file, this command application can interpret arguments passed to the command as additional applications to launch. A malicious injection of extra characters in the argument string could cause cmd.exe to execute a harmful or insecure application. For example, without proper data validation, your AIR application may call myBat.bat myArguments c:/evil.exe. The command application would launch the evil.exe application in addition to running your batch file.

If you call the start() method with a .bat file, the NativeProcess object throws an exception. The message property of the Error object contains the string "Error #3219: The NativeProcess could not be started."

Instead, try starting cmd.exe with the arguments /c your-batch-file.bat.