Develop Reference

Unable to run nbtstat using System.Diagnostic.Process

I have a working piece of code which executes commands using System.Diagnostic.Process. However, when I try to run nbtstat using the same code it does not return anything (neither is there an exception). When I run hostname (as an example) it returns the hostname.
string result = "";
//string commandToExec = "hostname";
string commandToExec = "nbtstat -A 10.10.10.5";
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo =
new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe", "/c " + commandToExec);
procStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
procStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
procStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
System.Diagnostics.Process proc = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
proc.StartInfo = procStartInfo;
proc.Start();
result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
This command
nbtstat -A 10.10.10.5
works perfectly well from the command prompt. I am not able to understand the problem, neither find resources on the net which could help. If anyone can guide me in the right direction please?

You should call the nbtstat.exe program directly, there is no need to invoke CMD to call it. So use this line instead;
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(#"c:\windows\sysnative\nbtstat.exe", "-A 10.10.10.5");
I also use Sysnative because of Windows64bit redirection. As exaplained in this post

Using 7za in .net c#

I'm new to c# as well as this website so I'll probably make some mistakes but hopefully I'll learn as well.
I'm trying to develop an app to extract from a .7z a file, read it and delete it before moving to the next (there is about 12k files in there, which take up a lot of space).
Now, I'm using .NET 2.0 and I haven't found easy solutions to extract single files from an archive. I came across a post explaining that you could use 7za.exe to do so from the command line, and so I did. Now, the problem is that if I try to do the same in my app 7za throws the "cannot use absolute pathnames" error. However, as I said, the same parameters work at the command prompt.
My idea is to get a list of all the files in the compressed folder and put it in a textfile. From there it is as easy as get the name of the first one, unzip it, read it, delete it and move to next. This is what I got to get the list:
System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = #"C:\Users\yadayada\Desktop\7za.exe"; //just testing
string parameters= "-y l " + path_file7z + " > " + path_file_destination + #"\file.txt";
//needeless to say, path_file7z and path_file_destination are strings with the correct path like "C:\Users\yadayada\Desktop"
startInfo.Arguments = parameters
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit();
As I said, as the process ends I can see a console opening and closing. I took a screenshot to check what it said and the error I got was the one I said at the begining of the question.
Now, does anyone know why I get this error and how can I fix this?
SOLUTION
Ended un going for a not too elegant (being gentle) solution that works.
To list the names:
System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = #"cmd.exe";
string parameters= "/k -y l " + path_file7z + " > " + path_file_destination + #"\file.txt";
//needeless to say, path_file7z and path_file_destination are strings with the correct path like "C:\Users\yadayada\..."
startInfo.Arguments = parameters
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.Start();
Thread.Sleep(1000);
process.Kill();
Now, once this has been done the extract part is tanken care of by a method similar to the one provided by Igor's links:
public void ExtractFile(string source, string element, string destination)
{
System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startInfo.FileName = /*7zG.exe's path*/;
startInfo.Arguments = #"-y x " + source + " -o" + destination + " " + element + " -r";
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit();
}
I think it is working well now. If I have further issues I'll update this with the solutions I come up with with the help provided. Thanks again!

Use this tutorial for 7zip:
https://stick2basic.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/how-to-extract-7z-file-to-a-folder-c-net/
Use this library if rar and zip are allowed:
http://dotnetzip.codeplex.com/
private void MyExtract()
{
string zipToUnpack = "C1P3SML.zip";
string unpackDirectory = "Extracted Files";
using (ZipFile zip1 = ZipFile.Read(zipToUnpack))
{
// here, we extract every entry, but we could extract conditionally
// based on entry name, size, date, checkbox status, etc.
foreach (ZipEntry e in zip1)
{
e.Extract(unpackDirectory, ExtractExistingFileAction.OverwriteSilently);
}
}
}
EDIT
This can help you:
Unzip a file in c# using 7z.exe
Happy to help you!

Running CMD commands from C#

First of all, i searched a lot to avoid asking a duplicate question. If there is one, i will delete this question immediately.
All the solutions on the web are suggesting to use Process.StartInfo like this one
How To: Execute command line in C#, get STD OUT results
I dont want to run a batch file, or an .exe.
I just want to run some commands on cmd like
msg /server:192.168.2.1 console "foo" or ping 192.168.2.1
and return the result if there is one.
How can i do that ?

Those commands are still exe files, you just need to know where they are. For example:
c:\windows\system32\msg.exe /server:192.168.2.1 console "foo"
c:\windows\system32\ping.exe 192.168.2.1

The only proper way to do this is to use Process.Start. This is demonstrated adequately in this question, which is itself a duplicate of two others.
However, as DavidG says, the commands are all exe files and you can run them as such.

Apparently, i found an answer
while (true)
{
Console.WriteLine("Komut giriniz.");
string komut = Console.ReadLine();
System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
//startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "/C" + komut;
startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
Console.WriteLine(process.Start());
string line = "";
while (!process.StandardOutput.EndOfStream)
{
line = line + System.Environment.NewLine + process.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
// do something with line
}
Console.WriteLine(line);
Console.ReadLine();
}
seems like if you can run cmd.exe with arguments including your command.
thanks for contributing.

Why is auditpol not applying the local policy settings from C#?

I'm setting local auditing policies from a C# .NET program that reads settings from a file then uses Process.Start() with 'cmd' to execute the commands. This way has worked in the past for everything that I've needed it to do (including this exact situation), but recently it's just started to mysteriously fail to set the policies.
Here's the code: (command is of the form "auditpol /set /subcategory:"blah" /success:enable")
ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + command);
procStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
procStartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
procStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
procStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo = procStartInfo;
proc.Start();
proc.WaitForExit();
string result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string error = proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
In debug in VS2013 it's applying the policies just fine and even on the same computer in the full on .exe it's applying just fine, but when it gets transferred to another computer it will not set the policies from the auditpol command. Anyone have any ideas what could be happening?

Working with the command prompt in C#

I am working on a project of remotely receiving commands from a server, but I am facing a problem when working with the command prompt locally. Once I get it working locally, then I will move to remote communication.
Problem:
I have to completely hide the console, and client must not see any response when the client is working with the command line but it will show a console for a instance and then hide it.
I had to use c# to send a command to cmd.exe and receive the result back in C#. I have done it in one way by setting the StandardOutput... and input to true.
The commands are not working. For example, D: should change the directory to D and it does, but after that, if we use dir to see the directories in D, it does not show the appropriate directories.
Here is my code:
First Method
Process process = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "/C " + textBoxInputCommand.Text + " >> " + " system";
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();
Second Method
ProcessStartInfo procStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + textBoxInputCommand.Text);
procStartInfo.WorkingDirectory = #"c:\";
procStartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
procStartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
procStartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
Process proc = new Process();
proc.StartInfo = procStartInfo;
proc.Start();
string result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
richTextBoxCommandOutput.Text += result;
I want the program to run as administrator because the exe it generates does not run commands when it runs from the C drive.

Try not to run the commands by passing them to cmd instead write the commands passed by the client to a.bat file execute the .bat. file from your program this will probably hide your command prompt window.
You can also use process.OutputDataRecieved event handler to do anything with the output.
If you want to execute command using administrator rights you can use runascommand. It is equivalent to the sudo command in Linux. Here is a piece of code may be it will help you
var process = new Process();
var startinfo = new ProcessStartInfo(#"c:\users\Shashwat\Desktop\test.bat");
startinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startinfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo = startinfo;
process.OutputDataRecieved += DoSomething;
process.Start();
process.BeginOutputReadLine();
process.WaitForExit();
//Event Handler
public void DoSomething(object sener, DataReceivedEventArgs args)
{
//Do something
}
Hope it helps you.

You could hide command prompt window by adding this line of code:
startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
or do not create it at all
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
Here can be found a few awarding solutions:
Run Command Prompt Commands