PHP exec on a Windows with IIS configuration

Question

so I have read about 10 answers and everyone seems to suggest ideas which for some reason don't work.

i am trying to execute a simple command line which is "svn update" but it is not working and it returns NULL

so i have tried trial and error the way and for now this is what i can say;

i have tried several commands like

<?php
exec ("cmd /c ping 127.0.0.1 -n 1 > results.txt ");
?>

and

<?php
exec ("cmd /c chdir > results.txt ");
?>

and both work.. infact chdir says the exact position where the php file executing the line is stored on the pc..

so the problem now is, why do some commands like this:

<?php
exec ("cmd /c dir > results.txt ");
?>

don't work? this results and empty value even though inside the folder i have several files and directories.

and why if i use the command prompt to move into the folder where the php file is store and type svn update it works and doing

<?php
exec ("cmd /c svn update > results.txt ");
?>

return a NULL?

any help is really appreciated.

it feels like i have some restrictions dued to the configuration setup because when i try in local using apache i can get most of the commands to work (shell_exec, system, exec, even without the cmd /c)

So, just when you run the 'cmd /c svn update > result.txt' command from the php exec function, it doesn't work. And if you run it yourself from the console, it works? — Benz
– Benz, Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 20:50
yes exactly.. but i get the same problem also with the dir command which if ran from the console gives me the correct output. while for instance ping and chdir give both the same result — mstation
– mstation, Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 21:10
And what if you take a detour by creating a .bat file and let php run that file instead of the 'svn up' command? — Benz
– Benz, Commented Feb 7, 2014 at 7:43
this is what i have been trying all day.. i also tried the same thing but nothing changes.. executes some commands but not dir not svn — mstation
– mstation, Commented Feb 7, 2014 at 8:06

mstation · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-15 10:17:11Z

9

Ok.

i have managed to solve the issue..

this is what i did:

first check exactly what username is running for the specific website.. to do so do:

<?php 
$out = array();
exec('cmd /c whoami 2>&1',$out,$exitcode);
echo "<br />EXEC: ( exitcode : $exitcode )";
echo "<hr /><pre>";
print_r($out);
echo "</pre>";
?>

this will return the computername followed by the username..

now on the computer running the webserver run

control userpasswords2

and give administrator powers to the username whoami said

this will allow you to finally run any command you want using exec or system_exec

on the other hand continuing with my SVN command i found out that I had another problem which is that when you run it, it will look for the config file which is under the administrator account and will give an error saying:

svn: E125001: Can't determine the user's config path

to solve this issue you simply have to specify in the command the config_dir by doing this:

exec('cmd /c svn update --config-dir C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Subversion C:\\inetpub\\vhosts\\websitename\\httpdocs\\folder 2>&1',$out,$exitcode);

hope this helps others which are having problems like the ones i had!

answered Feb 15, 2014 at 10:17

mstation

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2 Comments

mesnicka Over a year ago

I am not very happy that I had to give admin privileges for this user. Unfortunately it was the only way how to let it work :( However, thanks for the solution

Maicon Lino Over a year ago

I have a similar problem, I can not use on a server: Windows Server 2012 R2, IIS 8, PHP Version 5.6.12 the exec () command. I have a pdftotext program that converts a PDF to TXT and writes the result to a file, but exec returns error 1 because the user IUSR_ANONYMOUSUSER has no privileges to access the CMD. We have already tested the AppPool user, but it does not work there and gives the FORK error.

tremor · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-06 20:52:16Z

0

This is likely a system user permissions issue. I tried your example:

<?php exec ("cmd /c dir > results.txt "); ?>

On my Windows7 with Xampp installed and it worked perfectly fine. However with IIS the "user" may not have permissions to the directory, off the top of my head I think it may be the system user IIS-IUSR or something like that.

Here is a link that might help with user permissions for IIS: http://www.iis.net/learn/get-started/planning-for-security/understanding-built-in-user-and-group-accounts-in-iis

answered Feb 6, 2014 at 20:52

tremor

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2 Comments

mstation Over a year ago

i also think it is a permission issue but other than give full access (777) to the IISUSR i don't know what else i could do. I didn't find any further help from the link you gave me, sorry

tremor Over a year ago

@user889030 did you even read my answer? Clearly not..

Benz · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-07 09:08:20Z

0

Okay, based on your answers, I think you should try this:

Execute your command using the 'svn.exe' executable (replace the [[reposity location]]). It is possible that your client has another svn.exe location, but you will have to figure that out yourself :)

exec('cmd /c "c:\\Program Files\\TortoiseSVN\\bin\\svn.exe" up "[[repository location]]"');

What happends now?

There is also a second parameter in exec, maybe you should also take a look at that one.

answered Feb 7, 2014 at 9:08

Benz

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2 Comments

mstation Over a year ago

thanks for the hint! as i dont have tortoisesvn command line installed i am using sliksvn.. i tried this as a command: <?php exec('cmd /c "c:\\Program Files\\SlikSvn\\bin\\svn.exe" update > test.txt'); ?> but it generates an empty txt file, while in a .bat files says updated to revision x

mstation Over a year ago

while waiting for a proper solution i have add an automated operation on windows 2k8 so that it starts hourly the bat file which since to work and i am parsing the result.txt so that i know if the source has been updated or not.. probably will stick to this solution for a moment, until i don`t get how to run the cmd from php directly

German Gracia · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-05 16:55:01Z

0

The only thing that helped me was, complete routes:

        $template_file = "C:/archivos/archivos.tex"
        $cmd = sprintf("C:/texlive/2020/bin/win32/pdflatex.exe " .$template_file );
        $result = exec($cmd, $output, $a);

answered Oct 5, 2020 at 16:55

German Gracia

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