I have a program on a Windows XP computer on another continent. If I start it by double-clicking on an associated file, so that it runs the program according to the file-type association, it crashes at a certain point. If I start it by dragging an associated file to the program icon, it works fine. If I double-click on the icon and drag the associated file to the window, it works fine.
The guy on site assures me that he's triple-checked the file-type association, and it should be correct.
Assuming that the icon points to the same executable as the registry, what differences would there be in starting the program in these two different ways?
EDIT: In response to a comment, the machine I'm having problems on is running in Japanese, while my normal machine is US English.
One possible difference is the initial working directory: if you drag a file onto the executable, the initial working directory is set to the directory containing the executable, whereas if you double click the file, the initial working directory is set to some default value independent of where the file or executable is located.
If you want to get consistent behavior in all cases, you can use SetCurrentDirectory() to set the current working directory to whatever you want; I recommend the directory containing the executable, which can be found by calling GetModuleFileName(NULL, ...) and stripping off the executable name, or by examining argv[0] inside main().
When you double click the file, the program is run, and (usually) the name of the file that you double click, is passed in to the program as a command line argument.
When you are dragging onto the window, the program is already running.
The difference is obviously in the startup process that the program has. Is this software written in-house? Perhaps check how it handles starting up, and make sure that all appropriate code paths are still executed when there is a file in the command line arguments.
If you can't check the program code, or how it behaves at startup, about the only thing to check in the registry, and possibly change, is how the filename is passed in. Usually they are passed in inside talking marks, so that the path to the file can have spaces and not confuse the program. Something to try would be to make sure the association uses talking marks on the argument, or if it already does, try it without. Perhaps the program isn't handling the talking marks correctly.
Related
I can't figure out how the OS knows what files to start first... Like how does it know to run the script which lets you login, instead of another random file. How is the file executed on bootup specified?
It's a program. It can contain names of other program(s) to execute when needed and in whatever order desired. It can also take that information from a file. I see no conceptual problem here.
I'm looking for solution to delete or (preferably directly) overwrite source of an exe file while it is running.
To explain further before you get it all wrong, I'll give an example:
I have an exe file on drive D:\ which I run (with previously posted question's answer, giving params to "Start in" folder on C:\Program Files\MyProgram\" so it finds its dlls.
Now after the file is running, I'd like to rewrite the file's byte stream (just like opening it in hex editor...), or at least delete it so I can copy over new exe file directly using same name.
So far the solution I'm using is that I trigger format D: command for the whole drive D:\ (which, in my case is ramdisk and thumb-drive, as I only have this exe on it, I copy it there as necessary), since that removes the file and let's me copy new file there.
Trying to use del myProgram.exe even with -force flag triggers error that access to the file is denied. Same goes if I try to overwrite the contents of the file.
Is there any alternative to do that without using the format command, as that requires to have partition drive only for the purpose?
Update: Note: MoveFileEx and similar techniques that require termination of the process or system restart/reboot are not qualified as a solution. This should be done while the process is running without further actions that can compromise the process's run state.
On a side note, when formatting the drive using the Powershell's format command, the file is gone, although if viewing the partition using Hex viewer tool, there is full binary (hex) content of the exe visible there and an be restored using just as simple as copy-paste technique. This is one of the points as to where overwriting the file contents would be preferable than deleting the file directly.
Please note: This is a knowledge and skills based question, and would therefore appreciate sparing the moral and security-concerning comments about such actions and behaviour.
For deleting/replacing/overwriting a file at least two conditions must be met:
The user performing the operation must have the required permissions to do so. This can be verified for instance via Get-Acl or icacls.
Windows must not have an open handle to the file. This can be checked for instance with tools like Process Explorer or handle. These tools can also be used to forcibly close open handles, although that's not recommended as it may cause data loss and/or damage to the files in question. I'm not sure, though, if it's actually possible to close handles to an executable without terminating the process.
Note that antivirus software is likely to interfere with this kind of operation.
The basic problem here is that Windows loads from the .EXE upon demand, it's not all read in at once.
If you destroy the original file what happens when it tries to load in a page that no longer exists?
If I had to write something of this sort I would copy the .exe to a temporary location (beware that running code from the temp directory may be prohibited), run the new .exe, terminate the old one and then do what I want to it.
Objective:
I'm trying to use a program called Texmod.exe to start another program (exe) with certain parameters.
Background:
Texmod is program that opens up another exe and extracts/replaces textures that are pulled up in the second program while it is running. I'm trying to start the second exe with the parameters: -AlwaysFocus -ControllerOffset=1 -SaveDataId=2. Starting the second exe with shortcuts/.bat that have these parameters in a command line DOES work. However, I would like to do this in conjunction with Texmod.
Complications:
I'm using Texmod v0.9 b which doesn't support starting an exe with command line parameters. Newer versions, such as the open source reboot known as uMod, does support but it doesn't replace textures as well and crashes often compared to the original version.
Texmod.exe must start the second exe directly. Texmod can't select a shortcut to start the exe. I've tried making Texmod start another exe/.bat that then starts the second desired exe with parameters but this causes Texmod not to function.
Methods I have thought about but not sure if they work or even possible:
Somehow forcing all processes started by Texmod.exe to start with certain parameters
Somehow force the desired exe to always start with certain parameters regardless of start method (via Texmod, shortcuts, .bat, etc)
Add parameters to the process started by the desired exe after it is already running
Obviously I'm open to any ideas. Is what I'm asking even possible? Sorry if it seems unclear or I sound irrational; my knowledge on this is limited.
Edit: #Toby Speight I'm not sure what you mean by an example of the code I'm having trouble with as I'm just wondering if it's possible to perform the scenario I described. This is where I got the Texmod program from (it's the oldest release texmod.zip - Original TexMod 0.9 beta). I've searched the internet for possible solutions but I've found very few so some of the methods I've tried are:
Used Texmod.exe to start a desktop shortcut with target: "directory to exe" -AlwaysFocus -ControllerOffset=1 -SaveDataId=2. The result was Texmod couldn't use the shortcut and just opened the exe without the parameters.
Used Texmod to start an exe named caller.exe which started the exe I desired using the method described here. In command.txt, described by the instructions, I put ""name of exe.exe" -AlwaysFocus -ControllerOffset=1 -SaveDataId=2." The result was the exe started with the parameters but Texmod failed to modify the textures because it was modifying textures pulled up by caller.exe instead.
Used Texmod to open a .bat file with the lines: ""name of exe.exe" -AlwaysFocus -ControllerOffset=1 -SaveDataId=2." The result was the same as attempt described in #2.
Edit2: I also stumbled on this page where someone else claims they managed to achieve what sounds like the objective I desire. However, I do not know enough about code to understand it. If someone could look over this to see if it would work or see if they can modify it to fit the arguments that I desire.
You can use windows registry to force Windows run another app when specific .exe is called. Let me show an example: i'm trying to use TexMod with Remember Me.
Required setup:
Create a copy of game .exe, place it near original with different name, eg RememberMe_copy.exe
Go to windows registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
create new key named as original .exe, in my case it's RememberMe.exe. Registry key looks like a folder.
In this key, create new string value named Debugger with full path to copy of .exe with required commandline args. For example: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Remember Me\Binaries\Win32\RememberMe_copy.exe" -ReadPoolSizeFromIni. Note the path to .exe is quoted, commandline arguments are not. String value has type REG_SZ.
Now when you try to run anything called RememberMe.exe, Windows will instead run the RememberMe_copy.exe with specified parameters (and something else but we don't care). This feature is left in Windows for debugging purposes.
Finally, open TexMod, select RememberMe.exe. It will think it's running original file, but instead Windows will silently run another file with another parameters. As there is nothing else in between, TexMod is happy.
Why can't we use single file? Well, Windows will run original .exe instead of original .exe, then instead of it will run original .exe... causing infinite loop.
My problem is as described. My script downloads files through an external call to cmd (using the system function and then .NET to make keypresses). The issue is that when it tries to fopen these files I downloaded (filenames from a text file I write as I download), it doesn't find them, causing an error. When I run the script again after seeing it fail, it works but only up to the point where it's trying to download/call new files again, where it runs into the same problem.
Are new files downloaded during when a script is running somehow not visible to the search path? Because the folder is most definitely in my search path (seeing as it works outside of during-script downloads). It's not that it isn't getting the files fast enough either, cause they appear in my folder almost instantly, and I've tried a delay to allow for it to recognize it, but that didn't work either.
I'm not sure if it's important to note that the script calls an external function which tries to read the files from the .txt list I create in the main script.
Any ideas?
The script to download the files looks like so:
NET.addAssembly('System.Windows.Forms');
sendkey = #(strkey) System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.SendWait(strkey);
system('start cygwinbatch.bat')
pause(.1)
sendkey(callStr1)
sendkey('{ENTER}')
pause(.1)
sendkey(callStr2)
sendkey('{ENTER}')
pause(.1)
sendkey('exit')
pause(2)
sendkey('{ENTER}')
But that is not the main reason I am asking: I am confident that the downloads are occurring when the script calls them, because I see them appearing in my folder as it called. I am more confused as to why MATLAB doesn't seem to know they are there while the script is running, and I have to stop it and run it again for it to recognize the ones I've downloaded already.
Thank you,
Aaron
The answer here is probably to run the 'rehash' function. Matlab does not look for new files while executing an operation, and in some environments misses new files even during interactive activity.
Running the rehash function forces Matlab to search through its full path and determine if there are any new files.
I've never tried to run rehash in the middle of an operation though. ...
My guess is that the MATLAB interpreter is trying to look ahead and is throwing errors based on a snapshot of what the filesystem looked like before the files were downloaded. Do you get different behavior if you run it one line at a time using F9? If that's the case then you may be able to prevent the interpreter from looking ahead by using eval().
I have a fairly simple question that has me stymied. I am trying to run an executable built from a simple C program using MATLAB as a shell, i.e. using the following MATLAB code:
FileName = ['D:\Users\person\Desktop\MATLAB\GUI','\Program.exe &'];
dos(FileName);
The executable correctly begins running, but crashes giving the error:
Debug Assertion Failed!
Program: D:\Users\person\Desktop\MATLAB\GUI\Program.exe
File: f:\\dd\vctools\crt_bld\self_x86\crt\src\fscanf.c
Expression: (stream != NULL)
The programs opens a text file, reads the input, performs math functions, and writes outputs back to another text file. I assume that this error means there is a problem reading from the text file, BUT-- when I run the executable by itself (i.e. Windows Explorer doubleclick), it executes flawlessly, as I would expect.
So, it's only MATLAB pointing to the file location that is causing the crash. Any ideas? Thank you.
Sounds like relative paths are the culprit. The Matlab command is running from whatever directory you've specified within Matlab; cmd runs from root or something like that (don't know much about Dos). That's why it works when you specify absolute paths. Change your Matlab directory to DOS root, and see if it works as originally coded.
Edit: Note that it's the path to whatever file Program.exe is trying to read that's the problem, not the path to Program.exe itself.