How do you start a program stored on a UNC share from the command line with parameters?

Question

There's an in-house program we use and it's stored on a UNC share so that updates are transparent. I'd like to supply it some command line parameters like so:

\\server\share\in_house_thingy.exe myusername mypassword

But I can't seem to get it to work in either CMD or PowerShell or via a shortcut.

Anyone got any ideas?

Could you clarify what exactly you mean by "can't get it to work"? It doesn't start, it's unable to parse its command line, it runs over your dog, etc, etc? The current description is much too vague. — Mihai Limbășan, Nov 19 '08 at 16:01

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 20 '08 at 14:14

You could use:

$app = '\\server\share\in_house_thingy.exe'
$arguments = 'myusername mypassword'
$process = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start($app, $arguments)

The $process object will give you a live process object if you want to get an exit code or other information from that process.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 20 '08 at 18:03

3

For a shortcut, change the target to be like:

"\\server\share\in_house_thingy.exe" myusername mypassword

unless you really do want to have to use powershell to make this work.

answered Nov 20 '08 at 18:03

Orihara

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That would work in PowerShell too. There are added benefits to using the Process object. – Steven Murawski Nov 20 '08 at 18:55
You will want to begin that line with an Ampersand (&) to get Powershell to switch into command mode before it attempts to parse the quoted string. & "\\quoted\path\to execute.exe" For more on running non-Powershell commands in Powershell, see the gotcha posted here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/803521/powershell-pitfalls/7028380#7028380 – Nathan Hartley Sep 01 '11 at 13:29

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 30 '15 at 16:58

1

use %~dp0 in a batch file for the current (unc) path including the trailing \

in a powershell script use this for the current (unc) path without trailing \

$0 = $myInvocation.MyCommand.Definition
$dp0 = [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($0)

edited Aug 30 '15 at 16:58

H. Pauwelyn

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answered May 06 '09 at 12:57

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 19 '08 at 15:59

0

I just noticed that there's a .CMD file that's copying the file from the share to the temp directory and running it locally.

If y'all could just vote this answer up if there's no better solution, that'll work.

answered Nov 19 '08 at 15:59

Josh Kodroff

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this is no answer but a workaround. That's why nobody up voted this answer I guess. I would suggest accepting the other example which does show how to invoke an application on a UNC path. – Davy Landman May 06 '09 at 14:51

How do you start a program stored on a UNC share from the command line with parameters?

4 Answers4