Python: the system cannot find the file specified using subprocess.Popen

Question

The entirety of my script:

#!/bin/env python

import subprocess
p = subprocess.Popen(["/bin/bash", "-i", "-c", "C:\\xampp\\xampp_stop.exe"])
stdout, stderr = p.communicate()

This results in: WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified

However, C:\xampp\xampp_stop.exe does exist

Any suggestions? I'm new to python, so I suspect it's something very, very obvious.

I guess it can't find /bin/bash. You can Probably just call subprocess.Popen(["C:\\xampp\\xampp_stop.exe"]) - I haven't tested it though. — vstm
– vstm, Commented Jun 7, 2012 at 18:26

kichik · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-07 18:25:45Z

5

It's actually bash that the system can't find. Windows doesn't come with bash. Remove it and its arguments and just call xampp_store.exe.

#!/bin/env python

import subprocess
p = subprocess.Popen(["C:\\xampp\\xampp_stop.exe"])
stdout, stderr = p.communicate()

answered Jun 7, 2012 at 18:25

kichik

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2 Comments

Perfect, thanks. (I'm actually using MINGW32, so I thought that would work since bash is available, but your solution does work)

You need to run python from cygwin for that. Otherwise, it won't be able to map /bin/bash to where you installed bash.exe.