CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#command-line
Andres
Andres

Reputation: 6200

Running Windows start.exe using Process

I was installing an MSI package using Process with this command:

msiexec.exe /norestart /qn /l*v! mylog.log /i package.msi

With this C# code:

// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();

// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "msiexec";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/norestart /qn /l*v! mylog.log /i package.msi";
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = workingDir;

p.Start();

string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
bool status = p.WaitForExit(timeout);

Now I want to run this command but using start.exe:

start /wait msiexec.exe /norestart /qn /l*v! mylog.log /i package.msi

But now when I run this:

// Start the child process.
Process p = new Process();

// Redirect the output stream of the child process.
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "start";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = "/wait msiexec.exe /norestart /qn /l*v! mylog.log /i package.msi";
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = workingDir;

p.Start();

string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
bool status = p.WaitForExit(timeout);

But when running it I get an Exception: The system cannot find the file specified. Also tried setting UseShellExecute to true but then I get another Exception: The Process object must have the UseShellExecute property set to false in order to redirect IO streams.

So, is it possible to run the start command using C#?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 706

Answers (1)

Mayura Vivekananda
Mayura Vivekananda

Reputation: 674

Try something like this.

p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = @"/c start /wait msiexec.exe /norestart /qn /l*v! mylog.log /i package.msi";
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = workingDir;

I think you need to use CMD to execute the start command.

Upvotes: 3

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