Arguments being passed to CreateProcess aren't being parsed as I expected - c++

Question

I'm trying to use devcon.exe to check the status of various pieces of hardware. In the example I'm trying to check my SATA HBA status but devcon is whining about it. Here's the code:
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
std::string cmdLine("\"C:\\Users\\afalanga\\Documents\\Visual Studio 2010\\Projects\\PlayGround\\Debug\\devcon.exe\" status PCI\\VEN_8086^&DEV_3A22^&SUBSYS_75201462^&REV_00");
char* pCmdLine(new char[cmdLine.length() + 10]);
memset(pCmdLine, 0, cmdLine.length() + 10);
for(int i(0); i < cmdLine.length(); i++)
pCmdLine[i] = cmdLine.at(i);
STARTUPINFO si = { sizeof(STARTUPINFO) };
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = {0};
if(!CreateProcess(NULL, pCmdLine, NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi)) {
std::cout << "Create child process failed. Error code: "
<< GetLastError() << std::endl;
return 1;
}
WaitForSingleObject(pi.hProcess, INFINITE);
CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
return 0;
}
The problem is that when the above executes, devcon complains that, "No matching devices were found." However, if I copy/paste that command line from the debugger into my command prompt and hit the enter key (or course deleting the all encompassing quotes that the debugger puts around it), the command executes perfectly as expected.
What am I getting wrong in my handing of the string? What's above is the result of reading the CreateProcess() docs on MSDN (found out that the first argument isn't necessarily needed and the cmd args shouldn't go there at all). The reason I'm allocating 10 extra bytes of memory to copy the string into is so that "whatever" may change down in the guts of the CreateProcess() function can do so without stomping on other memory. At least, that was my thought when I did that.

Answer 1

Command line metacharacters are parsed by the command processor. In particular you are using the ^ to prevent CMD.EXE from breaking the command at the ampersand. But you are executing the program directly, bypassing CMD.EXE. Therefore, the ^ passes through to devcon.exe who gets confused by them.
Solution: Remove the ^ characters.
Your problem is actually the opposite of your title. The command line you passed to CreateProcess is being passed directly to the application exactly as you specified it.

Answer 2

std::string cmdLine("\"C:\\Users\\afalanga\\Documents\\Visual Studio 2010\\Projects\\PlayGround\\Debug\\devcon.exe\" status PCI\\VEN_8086^&DEV_3A22^&SUBSYS_75201462^&REV_00
Presumably the ^ carets in there are residues from a command entered in the command line interpreter, where they serve to turn off the special meaning of &.
Simply remove the carets.
Also note that your current code leaks memory.
To avoid that, do e.g.
string commandLineArg = cmdLine + '\0';
... CreateProcess( 0, &commandLineArg[0], ... )

Answer 3

Can you try like this:
CreateProcess(NULL, pCmdLine.c_str(), ...);

Answer 4

I used:
TCHAR var[] = _T(" C:\\filepathe\\foo");
CreateProcess(NULL, var,...);