PHP exec() fails when trying to run .bat file

Question

I have a server running from XAMPP on my pc and when I try to run exec('generate_image.bat') it returns false, so it fails. However when I run the .bat myself it runs perfectly. The exec method also runs perfectly when I run a second, 'test.bat' file, located in the same directory. The script is supposed to start a python program, that generates an image with Stable Diffusion.

Here are my PHP and .bat codes:

PHP:

<?php
    $command = 'generate_image.bat';
    if(!exec($command, $output)) {
        echo "Exec failed";
    } else {
        echo "Exec finished\n<br>\n";
        echo implode("\n", $output);
    }
?>

generate_image.bat

@echo off
g:
cd "G:\User\VS Code\Python\Stable Diffusion"
python main.py

test.bat

@echo off
echo Test
echo Test2

I cannot figure out what's going on.

Tried running the file both with system() and with exec(), using both relative and full paths, and outside of code (this one worked).

Did you check this out - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/835941/how-do-you-run-a-bat-file-from-php — Mohammed Jhosawa, Aug 28 '23 at 15:31
What is the `.bat` for? Can't you run your `python.exe main.py` directly via `exec()`? — brombeer, Aug 28 '23 at 15:56
Unfortunately not, since I noticed that messes with relative paths (it wouldn't find temp.png for example, which was in the directory of the python code). — Kaboka22, Aug 28 '23 at 18:14
Does this answer your question? [How do you run a .bat file from PHP?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/835941/how-do-you-run-a-bat-file-from-php) — Ken Lee, Aug 29 '23 at 00:47

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 28 '23 at 15:28

0

When you run exec in PHP, you should not rely on the environment variables (including path) to execute the command(s). Hence, you should provide full-paths.

So, assuming that the python.exe is in location c:\python3.9\python.exe, then please change generate_image.bat from

@echo off
g:
cd "G:\User\VS Code\Python\Stable Diffusion"
python main.py

to

@echo off
c:\python3.9\python.exe "G:\User\VS Code\Python\Stable Diffusion\main.py"

answered Aug 28 '23 at 15:28

Ken Lee

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If there is a need to change the working directory, which you haven't catered for in your answer above, use ```@PushD "G:\User\VS Code\Python\Stable Diffusion" 2>NUL || Exit /B``` as the first line instead, then use ```@"C:\python3.9\python.exe" "main.py"``` as the second line. Or do it in a single line, ```@PushD "G:\User\VS Code\Python\Stable Diffusion" 2>NUL && "C:\python3.9\python.exe" "main.py"```. – Compo Aug 28 '23 at 16:12
I tried this, however sadly the problem still remains :/ – Kaboka22 Aug 28 '23 at 23:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '23 at 08:36

I figured out the problem after looking at the Apache's error.log:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "G:\User\VS Code\Python\Stable Diffusion\test.py", line 1, in <module>
    import requests
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'requests'

My modules were only installed to my user, I fixed this by uninstalling them, then opening cmd in administrator mode and running pip install.

Works like a charm!

PHP exec() fails when trying to run .bat file

2 Answers2