Executable "C:\Windows\System32\Fodhelper.exe" not found - c++

Question

I am trying to start the above builtin Windows executable from within a C++ program. Firstly I can confirm that the program does exist, at the path "C:\Windows\System32\fodhelper.exe"
I have tried 3 different methods for running this program:
System()
ShellExecuteW()
CreateProcessW()
None of these methods work. The error I receive is: The system cannot find the file specified.
Due to the fact that I can start this executable as my usual Windows account from the start menu, run box and from within Windows explorer, i believe that my user account does have the privileges to run the program. Also, I am not receiving an access denied error from my code. Regardless, I have run VS as an Administrator and I have still experienced the same problem.
I believe the code I am using to start the process is correct, as the same code will start cmd.exe without issue. See below:
#include <Windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <iostream>
void CreateProcessMethod(LPCWSTR programPath) {
HRESULT result;
STARTUPINFO startupInfo;
PROCESS_INFORMATION processInformation;
ZeroMemory(&startupInfo, sizeof(startupInfo));
startupInfo.cb = sizeof(startupInfo);
ZeroMemory(&processInformation, sizeof(processInformation));
result = CreateProcessW(programPath, NULL, NULL, NULL, FALSE, CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE, NULL, NULL, &startupInfo, &processInformation);
if (result == 0) {
wchar_t buf[256];
FormatMessageW(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
NULL, GetLastError(), MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
buf, (sizeof(buf) / sizeof(wchar_t)), NULL);
/* Display error */
std::wcout << programPath << " not started: " << buf << std::endl;
}
else {
std::wcout << programPath << " started successfuly" << std::endl;
}
}
void ShellExecuteMethod(LPCWSTR programPath) {
SHELLEXECUTEINFOW shExecInfo = { 0 };
shExecInfo.cbSize = sizeof(SHELLEXECUTEINFOW);
shExecInfo.fMask = SEE_MASK_FLAG_NO_UI;
shExecInfo.hwnd = nullptr;
shExecInfo.lpVerb = L"open";
shExecInfo.lpFile = programPath;
shExecInfo.lpParameters = L"\\C";
shExecInfo.nShow = SW_SHOWNORMAL;
if (ShellExecuteExW(&shExecInfo) == 0)
{
if (GetLastError() != ERROR_CANCELLED) // Operation canceled by the user
{
wchar_t buf[256];
FormatMessageW(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
NULL, GetLastError(), MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
buf, (sizeof(buf) / sizeof(wchar_t)), NULL);
/* Display error */
std::wcout << programPath << " not started: " << buf << std::endl;
}
}
else {
std::wcout << programPath << " started successfuly" << std::endl;
}
}
int main(){
CreateProcessMethod(L"C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe");
CreateProcessMethod(L"C:\\Windows\\System32\\fodhelper.exe");
ShellExecuteMethod(L"C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe");
ShellExecuteMethod(L"C:\\Windows\\System32\\fodhelper.exe");
}
See output of the program below:
Does anyone have any insight into what exactly I am doing wrong here? I cannot find any information that relates to this issue. Is far as I can understand, the code attempting to run the program is correct, works with different executables. This also occurs with three different methods. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Answer 1

32-bit applications running on WOW64 will be put under file system redirection. Therefore if your app is a 32-bit one, the path C:\Windows\System32\fodhelper.exe will be redirected to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\fodhelper.exe which doesn't exist. You have some solutions:
Use SysNative to access the real system32 folder, which means you need to use something like system(R"(C:\Windows\SysNative\fodhelper.exe)");
Turn off file system redirection explicitly (should be avoided in general)
Or better compiling your exe as a 64-bit app.