Calling CreateProcess from PowerShell - powershell

Question

I'm trying to call CreateProcess from PowerShell. The API call indicates that it succeeded, but no new application or process is visible in Task Manager.
Add-Type -TypeDefinition #"
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct PROCESS_INFORMATION
{
public IntPtr hProcess;
public IntPtr hThread;
public uint dwProcessId;
public uint dwThreadId;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
public struct STARTUPINFO
{
public uint cb;
public string lpReserved;
public string lpDesktop;
public string lpTitle;
public uint dwX;
public uint dwY;
public uint dwXSize;
public uint dwYSize;
public uint dwXCountChars;
public uint dwYCountChars;
public uint dwFillAttribute;
public STARTF dwFlags;
public ShowWindow wShowWindow;
public short cbReserved2;
public IntPtr lpReserved2;
public IntPtr hStdInput;
public IntPtr hStdOutput;
public IntPtr hStdError;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
{
public int length;
public IntPtr lpSecurityDescriptor;
public bool bInheritHandle;
}
[Flags]
public enum CreationFlags : int
{
NONE = 0,
DEBUG_PROCESS = 0x00000001,
DEBUG_ONLY_THIS_PROCESS = 0x00000002,
CREATE_SUSPENDED = 0x00000004,
DETACHED_PROCESS = 0x00000008,
CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE = 0x00000010,
CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP = 0x00000200,
CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT = 0x00000400,
CREATE_SEPARATE_WOW_VDM = 0x00000800,
CREATE_SHARED_WOW_VDM = 0x00001000,
CREATE_PROTECTED_PROCESS = 0x00040000,
EXTENDED_STARTUPINFO_PRESENT = 0x00080000,
CREATE_BREAKAWAY_FROM_JOB = 0x01000000,
CREATE_PRESERVE_CODE_AUTHZ_LEVEL = 0x02000000,
CREATE_DEFAULT_ERROR_MODE = 0x04000000,
CREATE_NO_WINDOW = 0x08000000,
}
[Flags]
public enum STARTF : uint
{
STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW = 0x00000001,
STARTF_USESIZE = 0x00000002,
STARTF_USEPOSITION = 0x00000004,
STARTF_USECOUNTCHARS = 0x00000008,
STARTF_USEFILLATTRIBUTE = 0x00000010,
STARTF_RUNFULLSCREEN = 0x00000020, // ignored for non-x86 platforms
STARTF_FORCEONFEEDBACK = 0x00000040,
STARTF_FORCEOFFFEEDBACK = 0x00000080,
STARTF_USESTDHANDLES = 0x00000100,
}
public enum ShowWindow : short
{
SW_HIDE = 0,
SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1,
SW_NORMAL = 1,
SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2,
SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3,
SW_MAXIMIZE = 3,
SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4,
SW_SHOW = 5,
SW_MINIMIZE = 6,
SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7,
SW_SHOWNA = 8,
SW_RESTORE = 9,
SW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10,
SW_FORCEMINIMIZE = 11,
SW_MAX = 11
}
public static class Kernel32
{
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
public static extern bool CreateProcess(
string lpApplicationName,
string lpCommandLine,
ref SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpProcessAttributes,
ref SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes,
bool bInheritHandles,
CreationFlags dwCreationFlags,
IntPtr lpEnvironment,
string lpCurrentDirectory,
ref STARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo,
out PROCESS_INFORMATION lpProcessInformation);
}
"#
$si = New-Object STARTUPINFO
$pi = New-Object PROCESS_INFORMATION
$si.cb = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SizeOf($si)
$si.wShowWindow = [ShowWindow]::SW_SHOW
$pSec = New-Object SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
$tSec = New-Object SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
$pSec.Length = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SizeOf($pSec)
$tSec.Length = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SizeOf($tSec)
[Kernel32]::CreateProcess("c:\windows\notepad.exe", $null, [ref] $pSec, [ref] $tSec, $false, [CreationFlags]::NONE, [IntPtr]::Zero, $null, [ref] $si, [ref] $pi)
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::GetLastWin32Error()
$pi

Answer 1

Try using a real CurrentDirectory instead of $null:
[Kernel32]::CreateProcess("c:\windows\notepad.exe", $null, [ref] $pSec, [ref] $tSec, $false, [CreationFlags]::NONE, [IntPtr]::Zero, "c:", [ref] $si, [ref] $pi)