CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vbashellbatch-filems-accesscmd
AlFromAZ
AlFromAZ

Reputation: 41

Shell cmd in access vba returns error 5 - invalid procedure call or argument

I have used the Shell command in MS Access for several years in multiple databases in various versions. Most recently, I have received this Run-Time error 5 - invalid procedure call or argument on a Shell command I have used for many years. Can anyone tell me if there was a recent Windows update or possibly MS Office update that has caused this error to appear? I am currently using Office 2010 and Office 2013 and receiving the same error in both version on multiple computers. I have even tried creating a simple empty database and gone straight to the vba window and in the immediate window tried a simple Shell command as such: 

Shell "C:\Notepad.bat", vbNormalFocus

Notepad.bat is a simple command inside it: 

cmd /C "Notepad.exe"

The code:

Shell "Notepad.exe", vbNormalFocus

does work, but:

Shell "Cmd.exe", vbNormalFocus

still gives the same Error 5 message on every machine I test it on. Running the batch files from the Windows explorer works just fine. Any help is much appreciated.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 8294

Answers (3)

g.a
g.a

Reputation: 347

First accept that you are working with a Microsoft Office product. Take a deep breath and some tranquilizers.

Accept, that the error message you get may have nothing to do with the problem. Accept, that Windows may have paranoid settings, which prevent you to perform your work.

Having all that said:

  • In my case I was able to execute a .bat file, but not an ad-hoc command.
  • I managed to create a .bat file from VBA, but that I could not read
  • So I ended up
    • creating a .txt file with the command,
    • renaming it to .bat
    • executing it, and

    • removing it, as follows:

      cmd = "put your command here"

      Dim fso As Object

      Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

      Dim oFile As Object

      Set oFile = fso.CreateTextFile("tmp_file.txt")

      oFile.WriteLine cmd

      oFile.Close

      Set fso = Nothing

      Set oFile = Nothing

      Name "tmp_file.txt" As "tmp_file.bat"

      Shell "tmp_file.bat", vbNormalFocus

      Kill "tmp_file.bat"

Upvotes: 0

Indigo
Indigo

Reputation: 853

For anyone stumbling upon this issue, Windows Defender can also be the cause of this behavior.

You need to check if your Security Admin configured the Attack Surface Reduction capability of Windows Defender (through Intune, MEM, GPO...).

The specific rule you need to look for here is Block all Office applications from creating child processes (d4f940ab-401b-4efc-aadc-ad5f3c50688a).

You can easily verify this in the Windows Event Viewer, in Application Logs, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Defender and then Operational and looking for warning events of ID 1121.

Here is a screen capture (sorry, it's in French): Screen capture of Windows Event Viewer showing a warning event 1121 related to the ASR rule Block all Office applications from creating child processes (in French)

Note that only the GUID of the rule is shown, not the full name (the list of GUID can be found in the reference).

Or if you prefer using Powershell:

Get-WinEvent -ProviderName "Microsoft-Windows-Windows Defender" | Where-Object { $_.Id -eq '1121' }

Upvotes: 6

AlFromAZ
AlFromAZ

Reputation: 41

After a lot more investigation, I happened on a new software installed by our network software engineers that maintain our McAfee protection. Last week, there was a blind install of a new app called Adaptive Threat Protection and is set to check for MS office apps running shell commands, especially the CMD type. This is set to automatically block all of these such commands. I finally came to a conclusion to look in anything recently installed or updated on my computer and happen to find a few different things installed within the last week date range. Thank you for your assistance and answers so far. The answer provided by thx1138v2 were something I also tried prior to my post but I figured for my 1st question I tried to keep my post to a bit of a minimum.

Upvotes: 3

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