Cannot start process from different directory - c++

Question

I'm trying to write a program in C++ that launches an executable. When I try to run the program, nothing happens. But when I try to run the program on the same directory and drive the exe is in, it does work.
Here's the code:
else if (result1 == 0) {
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow);
{
STARTUPINFO si = { 0 };
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = { 0 };
si.cb = sizeof(si);
CreateProcess(L"D:\\Games\\Origin Games\\Command and Conquer Red Alert\\RA95Launcher.exe", NULL, NULL, NULL, FALSE, NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi);
When I do it like this:
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow);
{
STARTUPINFO si = { 0 };
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = { 0 };
si.cb = sizeof(si);
CreateProcess(L"D:\\Games\\Origin Games\\Command and Conquer Red Alert\\RA95Launcher.exe", NULL, NULL, NULL, FALSE, NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, NULL, "D:\\Games\\Origin Games\\Command and Conquer Red Alert\\", &si, &pi);
I get the error:
argument of type "const char *" is incompatible with parameter of type "LPCWSTR"
Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Most likely you should set the lpCurrentDirectory parameter to the directory the exe is in.
See: CreateProcess
It's often that executables like RA95Launcher.exe are depending on other files. Usually these are reffered to by a relative path from perspective of the Current Working Directory.
If you launch the process from within the directory the exe is in, your automatically in the correct Current Working Directory. If you have the launcher running at a different location, you'll need to specify it.

Answer 2

I get the error: argument of type "const char *" is incompatible with
parameter of type "LPCWSTR"
This means that you're trying to pass incompatible type to function. LPCWSTR is Windows.h typedef for const wchar_t*(a UTF-16 string), but CreateProcess requires ANSI string(LPCSTR). You can either call the appropriate function, in this case - CreateProcessW(W at the end of the function name means it takes UTF-16 strings as parameters) or make your string ANSI by removing L before it.