Develop Reference

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.

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

Executing command-prompt command in C#

:)
I have a software which can be executed via command line, and now I want it to be executed directly from my C# app. Sadly, there is no error but I still can't do it. :(
The path of .exe file of the software is C:\program files\mysoftware.exe
The command I would like to input is
cd c:\program files\mysoftwareFolder
enter
mysoftware.exe d:\myfolder\file1.xxx d:\myfolder\file2.xxx -mycommand
enter
exit
The commands above work so well in the actual command prompt, but they just don't work from my C# code.
Here is the code:
Process cmdprocess = new Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startinfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startinfo.FileName = "cmd";
startinfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startinfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startinfo.UseShellExecute = false;
cmdprocess.StartInfo = startinfo;
cmdprocess.Start();
System.IO.StreamReader sr = cmdprocess.StandardOutput;
System.IO.StreamWriter sw = cmdprocess.StandardInput;
sw.WriteLine(#"echo on");
sw.WriteLine(#"c:");
sw.WriteLine(#"cd" +#"program files\mysoftwarefolder");
sw.WriteLine(#"mysoftware.exe" +#"d:\myfolder\file1.xxx" +#"d:\myfolder\file2.xxx" +#"-mycommand");
sw.WriteLine(#"exit");
sw.Close();
sr.Close();
I guess the incorrect parts might be "startinfo.FileName = "cmd";" or the way I typed the command in the code, but I have no idea how to correct them. :(
Please tell me what I did wrong. I appreciate every answer from you! :)))
UPDATE Thank you for your helps! I tried writing the command in batch file, but it only works in debugging mode. (I forgot to tell you guys that I am developing a web service.) When I run my external project which will use this C# service, it won't work. I don't know whether I should add something to my code or not.
help meeeeee pleaseeeee (T___T)

Write these commands in a batch file and execute the batch file.
In batch file:
cd c:\program files\mysoftwareFolder
mysoftware.exe
d:\myfolder\file1.xxx
d:\myfolder\file2.xxx -mycommand
exit
Code:
Process cmdprocess = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo startinfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startinfo.FileName = "path to batchfile.bat";
startinfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startinfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
startinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startinfo.UseShellExecute = false;
cmdprocess.StartInfo = startinfo;
cmdprocess.Start();

Instead of:
startinfo.FileName = "cmd";
Directly use
startinfo.FileName = #"c:\program files\mysoftwarefolder\mysoftware.exe";
Then pass the arguments to the start info as
startinfo.Arguments = #"d:\myfolder\file1.xxx " +#"d:\myfolder\file2.xxx " +#"-mycommand";
So the whole code looks like:
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = #"c:\program files\mysoftwarefolder\mysoftware.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = #"d:\myfolder\file1.xxx " +#"d:\myfolder\file2.xxx " +#"-mycommand";
p.Start();
string output = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
p.WaitForExit();
If you need to see output from your program you can simply use the output string.

2 things: I think you have spacing problems and you're not reading the result of these commands. cmd is probably telling you ..."is not recognized as an internal or external command"
If you look at what you're throwing at cmd, it will be:
echo on
c:
cdprogram files\mysoftware folder
mysoftware.exed:\myfolder\file1.xxx
That won't work when you try it in cmd. CMD is almost certainly kicking back error messages at you, but you're never reading from sr so you'll never know it.
I'd add in some spaces and include all the paths in quotes internally like so:
sw.WriteLine(#"echo on");
sw.WriteLine(#"c:");
sw.WriteLine("cd \"program files\\mysoftwarefolder\"");
sw.WriteLine("mysoftware.exe \"d:\\myfolder\\file1.xxx\" d:\\myfolder\\file2.xxx\" -mycommand");
sw.WriteLine(#"exit");

How to launch an external process in C#, using a cmd window

I am having trouble executing an external console application using Process.Start
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "dump";
p.StartInfo.FileName = "test.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = s;
p.Start();
When the argument that p generates executes, the external application crashes, although if I copy the exact same argument in a command line window it runs fine.
So my question instead how would I create a new instance of a command window and then add the command test.exe + s to run?
So effectively I am launching cmd and then adding my arguments on to it

If you want to run test.exe prm1 prm2 via cmd, use cmd.exe /c test.exe prm1 prm2. Though I don't really understand what this has to do with the crashes. Sounds like your problem is with test.exe - find out what's causing it to crash, and that will help you fix your C# code so that you don't need the cmd.
One of the places I would examine is the working directory. When you set it to "dump", are you sure the current directory is what you expect? Try using a full path first. It's possible that test.exe happens to be in the system path so it gets executed, but its working directory is not what it expects, and this causes it to crash.

try this:
ProcessStartInfo processToRunInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
processToRunInfo.Arguments = "Arguments");
processToRunInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
processToRunInfo.WorkingDirectory = "C:\\yourDir\\";
processToRunInfo.FileName = "test.exe";
//processToRunInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
//processToRunInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = processToRunInfo;
process.Start();

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "/full/path/to/dump";
p.StartInfo.FileName = "/full/path/to/test.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = s; // will call 'text.exe s'
p.Start();

Take a look at MSDN.
You need to Create an instance of the StartInfo class and user Start() such as
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("IExplore.exe");
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
Process.Start(startInfo);
startInfo.Arguments = "www.example.com";
Process.Start(startInfo);
Try it!
Rewriting your code would look something like this:
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("test.exe");
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
startInfo.WorkingDirectory = "dump";
startInfo.Arguments = "s";
Process.Start(startInfo);

C#.Net: Why is my Process.Start() hanging?

I'm trying to run a batch file, as another user, from my web app. For some reason, the batch file hangs! I can see "cmd.exe" running in the task manager, but it just sits there forever, unable to be killed, and the batch file is not running. Here's my code:
SecureString password = new SecureString();
foreach (char c in "mypassword".ToCharArray())
password.AppendChar(c);
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
psi.WorkingDirectory = #"c:\build";
psi.FileName = Environment.SystemDirectory + #"\cmd.exe";
psi.Arguments = "/q /c build.cmd";
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.UserName = "builder";
psi.Password = password;
Process.Start(psi);
If you didn't guess, this batch file builds my application (a different application than the one that is executing this command).
The Process.Start(psi); line returns immediately, as it should, but the batch file just seems to hang, without executing. Any ideas?
EDIT: See my answer below for the contents of the batch file.
The output.txt never gets created.
I added these lines:
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
Process p = Process.Start(psi);
String outp = p.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
and stepped through them in debug mode. The code hangs on the ReadLine(). I'm stumped!

I believe I've found the answer. It seems that Microsoft, in all their infinite wisdom, has blocked batch files from being executed by IIS in Windows Server 2003. Brenden Tompkins has a work-around here:
http://codebetter.com/blogs/brendan.tompkins/archive/2004/05/13/13484.aspx
That won't work for me, because my batch file uses IF and GOTO, but it would definitely work for simple batch files.

Why not just do all the work in C# instead of using batch files?
I was bored so i wrote this real quick, it's just an outline of how I would do it since I don't know what the command line switches do or the file paths.
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Security;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace asdf
{
class StackoverflowQuestion
{
private const string MSBUILD = #"path\to\msbuild.exe";
private const string BMAIL = #"path\to\bmail.exe";
private const string WORKING_DIR = #"path\to\working_directory";
private string stdout;
private Process p;
public void DoWork()
{
// build project
StartProcess(MSBUILD, "myproject.csproj /t:Build", true);
}
public void StartProcess(string file, string args, bool redirectStdout)
{
SecureString password = new SecureString();
foreach (char c in "mypassword".ToCharArray())
password.AppendChar(c);
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
p = new Process();
psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
psi.WorkingDirectory = WORKING_DIR;
psi.FileName = file;
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = redirectStdout;
psi.UserName = "builder";
psi.Password = password;
p.StartInfo = psi;
p.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
p.Exited += new EventHandler(p_Exited);
p.Start();
if (redirectStdout)
{
stdout = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
}
}
void p_Exited(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (p.ExitCode != 0)
{
// failed
StringBuilder args = new StringBuilder();
args.Append("-s k2smtpout.secureserver.net ");
args.Append("-f build#example.com ");
args.Append("-t josh#example.com ");
args.Append("-a \"Build failed.\" ");
args.AppendFormat("-m {0} -h", stdout);
// send email
StartProcess(BMAIL, args.ToString(), false);
}
}
}
}

Without seeing the build.cmd it's hard to tell what is going on, however, you should build the path using Path.Combine(arg1, arg2); It's the correct way to build a path.
Path.Combine( Environment.SystemDirectory, "cmd.exe" );
I don't remember now but don't you have to set UseShellExecute = true ?

Another possibility to "debug" it is to use standardoutput and then read from it:
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = True;
Process proc = Process.Start(psi);
String whatever = proc.StandardOutput.ReadLine();

In order to "see" what's going on, I'd suggest you transform the process into something more interactive (turn off Echo off) and put some "prints" to see if anything is actually happening. What is in the output.txt file after you run this?
Does the bmail actually executes?
Put some prints after/before to see what's going on.
Also add "#" to the arguments, just in case:
psi.Arguments = #"/q /c build.cmd";
It has to be something very simple :)

My guess would be that the build.cmd is waiting for some sort of user-interaction/reply. If you log the output of the command with the "> logfile.txt" operator at the end, it might help you find the problem.

Here's the contents of build.cmd:
#echo off
set path=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;%path%
msbuild myproject.csproj /t:Build > output.txt
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 goto :end
:error
bmail -s k2smtpout.secureserver.net -f build#example.com -t josh#example.com -a "Build failed." -m output.txt -h
:end
del output.txt
As you can see, I'm careful not to output anything. It all goes to a file that gets emailed to me if the build happens to fail. I've actually been running this file as a scheduled task nightly for quite a while now. I'm trying to build a web app that allows me to run it on demand.
Thanks for everyone's help so far! The Path.Combine tip was particularly useful.

I think cmd.exe hangs if the parameters are incorrect.
If the batch executes correctly then I would just shell execute it like this instead.
ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
Process p = new Process();
psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
psi.WorkingDirectory = #"c:\build";
psi.FileName = #"C:\build\build.cmd";
psi.UseShellExecute = true;
psi.UserName = "builder";
psi.Password = password;
p.StartInfo = psi;
p.Start();
Also it could be that cmd.exe just can't find build.cmd so why not give the full path to the file?

What are the endlines of you batch? If the code hangs on ReadLine, then the problem might be that it's unable to read the batch file…