VBScript not executing command-prompt command?

Question

I am using the following VBScript code to extract a setup file,

Set oShell = CreateObject ("WScript.Shell") 
oShell.Run "cmd.exe ""C:\Program Files\NewFolder\setup.exe"" /extract:""C:\Program Files\NewFolder"" "

This works fine when done manually in the command-prompt. But in VBScript it only opens the command-prompt and nothing happens.

I also tried this,

Set oShell = CreateObject ("WScript.Shell") 
oShell.Run "%comspec% /K ""C:\Program Files\NewFolder\setup.exe"" /extract:""C:\Program Files\NewFolder"" "

This way, it says that,

'C:\Program' is not recognized as as internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I also tried these,

Set oShell = CreateObject ("WScript.Shell") 
oShell.Run "cmd.exe /c ""C:\Program Files\NewFolder\setup.exe"" /extract:""C:\Program Files\NewFolder"" "

Set oShell = CreateObject ("WScript.Shell") 
oShell.Exec "cmd.exe ""C:\Program Files\NewFolder\setup.exe"" /extract:""C:\Program Files\NewFolder"" "

It does not work.

What is the issue here please?

Either of cmd /c, cmd.exe /c, or %comspec% /c should work just fine. Use /k instead of /c to prevent the CMD window from closing, so you can inspect the command output. The error message you received when you tried that suggests that contrary to what you claimed you did not put the path to setup.exe in quotes. — Ansgar Wiechers
– Ansgar Wiechers, Commented Apr 22, 2017 at 22:45
I tried the /k and I get the message which says 'C:\Program' is not recognized as as internal or external command, operable program or batch file. — Codename K
– Codename K, Commented Apr 23, 2017 at 6:44
Like I said, that could only happen with missing or broken quoting. — Ansgar Wiechers
– Ansgar Wiechers, Commented Apr 23, 2017 at 19:08
@CodenameK can you provide the setup.exe (upload it to dropbox or something) so we will test this ourselves? — user692942
– user692942, Commented Apr 24, 2017 at 10:39

Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-24 18:28:13Z

1

It looks like the self-extractor in your executable can't handle paths with spaces. As a workaround you can change the working directory and call setup without path.

Set sh = CreateObject ("WScript.Shell")
sh.CurrentDirectory = "C:\Program Files\NewFolder"
sh.Run "%COMSPEC% /c setup.exe /extract:."

answered Apr 24, 2017 at 18:28

Ansgar Wiechers

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2 Comments

Codename K Over a year ago

Worked perfectly.

Codename K Over a year ago

Thank you Ansgar Wiechers and everyone else.

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