Execute command line from a specific folder

Question

I have a project , running from c:\work\SomeVariantFolder\MySolution\MyProject\Bin\Debug, and I need to execute a command line from this project from one of the subfolders : c:\work\SomeVariantDev. The problem I am facing is to get from the folder where my project running from to the folder where i am suppose to run this command line from.

Please note that I can't use batch file for this solution.

What I've tried to do - declare a private method which execute three commands from the same process, going four folders up and then execute my command, but that doesn't seem to work. I feel like I'm doing something wrong here because if I run this command from c:\work\SomeVariantFolder\ it wroks well.

var process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
var startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
                {
                       WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal,
                       FileName = "cmd.exe",
                       RedirectStandardInput = true,
                       UseShellExecute = false
                };

process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();



 process.StandardInput.WriteLine("cd..");
 process.StandardInput.WriteLine("cd..");
 process.StandardInput.WriteLine("cd..");
 process.StandardInput.WriteLine("cd..");

 process.StandardInput.WriteLine("my command");

Please note that due the nature of my solution I can't use batch files and can't use c:\work\SomeVariantFolder as a hard coded folder since "SomeVariantFolder" name may change under some circumstances.

Any help would be appriciated

to ensure you are where you want to be you could first select the drive `C:` then go to the root of that drive `cd\\` then enter the directory you finally want `cd path\to\subfolder`; keep in mind that you need to either escape "\" in c#-strings or precede the string with `@` to ignore escape sequences — DrCopyPaste, Jan 13 '14 at 08:27
Instead of `CD`-ing from one directory to another, why not set the `WorkingDirectory` of the `ProcessStartInfo` directly? — IronGeek, Jan 13 '14 at 08:31
@NahumLitvin, I tried to use this example but it didn't setisfy my needs. Thomas W , This is a good answer which I didn't came across. IronGeek , I believe that this is the right answer, If you could answer my question I will mark you . — user3150947, Jan 13 '14 at 08:35
What IronGeek said. Also, don't forget that you may run into permission issues - since Windows loads DLLs in working directory with a high priority, you may be stopped from changing the working directory if you're not running the application with root permissions. Trying to run an application with root privileges is always a good try to catch a lot of permission issues :) — Luaan, Jan 13 '14 at 08:38
The linked question does not explain how to set the working directory, thus this is not a duplicate. — Martin Braun, Jan 13 '22 at 01:51

score 35 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 13 '14 at 08:44

35

Try setting the WorkingDirectory property of ProcessStartInfo to sets the initial directory for the process to be started.

var startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
{
  WorkingDirectory = @"The\Process\Working\Directory",
  WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal,
  FileName = "cmd.exe",
  RedirectStandardInput = true,
  UseShellExecute = false
};

References: ProcessStartInfo.WorkingDirectory Property

answered Jan 13 '14 at 08:44

IronGeek

4,764
25
27

This will fail for UNC paths, check [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2586719/setting-processstartinfo-workingdirectory-to-an-unc-path) to find a working solution for UNC working directories. – Martin Braun Jan 13 '22 at 01:52

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '14 at 08:42

1

System.Environment.CurrentDirectory = @"..\..\..";
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("MyCommand", "arg1, arg2, arg3");

answered Jan 13 '14 at 08:42

Thejaka Maldeniya

1,076
1
10
20

6

*Never* set a global setting when a local one will work just fine. `System.Environment.CurrentDirectory` changes the working directory for your whole process, that usually isn't quite what you want. Instead, you should use the `ProcessStartInfo.WorkingDirectory` property (with `UseShellExecute` as appropriate). – Luaan Jan 13 '14 at 08:45

Execute command line from a specific folder

2 Answers2