Wscript.Shell Run doesn't work consistently

Question

I'm trying to run the following bit of code in a vb6 dll:

Dim objWSShell As Object
Set objWSShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
objWSShell.Run strPath & "test.bat", 0, True

The dll process gets hung up. The batch file will not run, no matter what its contents. I even tried an empty batch file and it still hung up. However, if I try this same piece of code, with this change:

Dim objWSShell As Object
Set objWSShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
objWSShell.Run "calc", 0, True

It works fine. I can't figure out why exe files work and bat files don't. Any ideas?

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 25 '10 at 10:08

3

You don't need to use the shell scripting stuff, you can make things simpler & use the built in Shell() function:

shell environ$("COMSPEC") & " /C c:\xxx\yyy.bat", vbNormalFocus

Ditto for:

shell "calc", vbNormalFocus

answered Aug 25 '10 at 10:08

Alex K.

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I agree with this, and it can be enhanced using a "Shell and wait" technique if required. Google should turn up some examples readily. – Bob77 Aug 25 '10 at 17:48

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 24 '10 at 21:18

2

You need to run cmd.exe and pass your BAT file to it.

objWSShell.Run "%COMSPEC% /c " & strPath & "test.bat", 0, True

answered Aug 24 '10 at 21:18

Bob77

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score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 14 '20 at 04:37

1

I had a similar issue where batch files couldn't be run directly from WScript.Shell, but I didn't have access to modify the VBScript. It turns out there was a registry override on the .bat extension.

While using COMSPEC worked for me, deleting the registry key actually fixed more than just the WScript problem.

edited Feb 14 '20 at 04:37

TAbdiukov

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answered Jan 27 '12 at 20:21

cod3monk3y

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Wscript.Shell Run doesn't work consistently

3 Answers3