Running command-line commands in the background without opening a window - c++

Question

I'm running some command line script to encrypt a file using AxCrypt software.
My code compiles and runs fine, but when I check the file afterward, it has not been encrypted.
Here is the code:
LPCWSTR loc = L"C:\\\\Axantum\\\\AxCrypt\\\\AxCrypt";
STARTUPINFOW si;
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
ZeroMemory(&si, sizeof(si));
si.cb = sizeof(si);
ZeroMemory(&pi, sizeof(pi));
if (CreateProcessW(loc, const_cast<LPWSTR>(master), NULL, NULL, FALSE, CREATE_NO_WINDOW, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi))
{
WaitForSingleObject(pi.hProcess, INFINITE);
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
}
The master variable contains the commands, loc contains the location of the AxCrypt program.
LPCWSTR axLocation = L" C:\\\\Axantum\\\\AxCrypt\\\\AxCrypt ";
LPCWSTR flags = L" -b 2 -e -k ";
LPCWSTR passcode = L" \"***************\" ";
LPCWSTR command = L" -z ";
LPCWSTR imagelocation = L"%pathName";
std::wstring mast = std::wstring(axLocation) + flags + passcode + command + imagelocation;
LPCWSTR master = mast.c_str();

Answer 1

LPCWSTR loc = L"C:\\\\Axantum\\\\AxCrypt\\\\AxCrypt";
This is wrong. You have too many slashes in your literal. It needs to be this instead:
LPCWSTR loc = L"C:\\Axantum\\AxCrypt\\AxCrypt";
Same goes with axLocation.
Also, you have unnecessary spaces in your various substrings. Ultimately, you are creating this master command line, from the interpreter's perspective:
C:\\Axantum\\AxCrypt\\AxCrypt -b 2 -e -k "***************" -z %pathName
When it should look more like this:
C:\Axantum\AxCrypt\AxCrypt -b 2 -e -k "***************" -z %pathName
Try something more like this instead:
LPCWSTR axLocation = L"C:\\Axantum\\AxCrypt\\AxCrypt";
LPCWSTR flags = L"-b 2 -e -k";
LPCWSTR passcode = L"***************";
LPCWSTR command = L"-z";
LPCWSTR imagelocation = L"%pathName";
WCHAR master[STRSAFE_MAX_CCH];
StringCchPrintfW(master, STRSAFE_MAX_CCH, L"\"%s\" %s \"%s\" %s %s", axLocation, flags, passcode, command, imagelocation);
STARTUPINFOW si;
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
ZeroMemory(&si, sizeof(si));
si.cb = sizeof(si);
ZeroMemory(&pi, sizeof(pi));
if (CreateProcessW(axLocation, master, NULL, NULL, FALSE, CREATE_NO_WINDOW, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi))
{
WaitForSingleObject(pi.hProcess, INFINITE);
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
}
Lastly, %pathname looks suspicious. Is that supposed to be specified as-is like that? Or is it supposed to be an environment variable instead? If the latter, you are missing a percent sign:
%pathname%
CreateProcess() does not interpret environment variables, so if you need to pass such a variable then you would have to either:
resolve the variable yourself using ExpandEnvironmentStrings() before calling CreateProcess().
have CreateProcess() launch cmd.exe /C and let it interpret environment variables for you, eg:
StringCchPrintfW(master, STRSAFE_MAX_CCH, L"cmd /C \"%s\" %s \"%s\" %s %s", axLocation, flags, passcode, command, imagelocation);