Cannot start applications from CD in Vista

Flint · Post by *Flint » 2006-12-17, 13:40 UTC

I have a CD containing TC 7 beta distribution (tcmd7pb2.exe file). When I try to start this installation from CD I get the "File not found" message. When I put the name into command line with Ctrl+Enter and then press Enter, the installation is working fine. Vista shows a UAC message when I do it, so this may be the cause of the problem.
Screenshot

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2006-12-17, 16:03 UTC

TC calls WinExec when starting files from CD, because ShellExecute doesn't work correctly with files which have invalid short names (which is quite common with CDs). Unfortunately Microsoft forgot to add elevation support for WinExec, only ShellExecute supports elevation.

I will therefore not change this behaviour.

Flint · Post by *Flint » 2006-12-17, 16:09 UTC

ghisler(Author)
What about a partial solution? TC looks if the file has valid short name, if yes - uses ShellExecute, if no - uses WinExec.

BTW, why does in this case Ctrl+Enter/Enter work?

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2006-12-17, 16:15 UTC

What about a partial solution? TC looks if the file has valid short name, if yes - uses ShellExecute, if no - uses WinExec.

Yes, this should be doable.

BTW, why does in this case Ctrl+Enter/Enter work?

The command line seems to always use ShellExecute to handle parameters correctly. It will not work with badly authored CDs then. As you can see, there is always at least one drawback...

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2007-01-16, 17:18 UTC

This should be fixed now. Could someone with Vista please test it?

Flint · Post by *Flint » 2007-01-16, 18:24 UTC

Yes, it works now!
The only issue is that when I double-click the EXE file, the UAC window is shown and a temporary name is given there:
http://flint-inc.ru/Temp/uac.png

It does not affect the functionality itself, when I press Continue, the installator is started normally, when I press Cancel, TC shows "Error executing program" message.

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2007-01-18, 21:14 UTC

a temporary name is given

This is a known bug in Vista: This strange tmp name is shown when the EXE does not contain any version info resource. Apparently the Microsoft programs all contain such a version info resource, so the developpers at Microsoft never encountered that bug.