Can not get msconfig .exe to run in the system32 folder shellexecute Delphi

Question

Im on Win 7 64b. Im trying to run msconfig from my delphi app. The msconfig.exe file is in the system32 folder . I copied the msconfig.exe to the c:\ and it works great. This looks like some kind of permission issue.

var
errorcode: integer;
 begin
   errorcode :=
ShellExecute(0, 'open', pchar('C:\Windows\System\msconfig.exe'), nil, nil, SW_NORMAL);
if errorcode <= 32 then
ShowMessage(SysErrorMessage(errorcode));
end;

Has anyone seen this and figured out how to run the msconfig.exe from the sys32 .

Answer 1

This behavior is caused by the File System Redirector as workaround you can use the Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection and Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection functions.

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}


uses
  ShellAPi,
  SysUtils;

Function Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(Var Wow64FsEnableRedirection: LongBool): LongBool; StdCall;
  External 'Kernel32.dll' Name 'Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection';
Function Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection(Wow64FsEnableRedirection: LongBool): LongBool; StdCall;
  External 'Kernel32.dll' Name 'Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection';


Var
  Wow64FsEnableRedirection: LongBool;

begin
  try
   Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(Wow64FsEnableRedirection);
   ShellExecute(0, nil, PChar('C:\Windows\System32\msconfig.exe'), nil, nil, 0);
   Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection(Wow64FsEnableRedirection);
  except
    on E: Exception do
      Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;
end.

Answer 2

To access the 64-bit System folder from a 32-bit process, you should use the special ”SysNative" alias instead of the ”System32" folder directly:

PChar('C:\Windows\SysNative\msconfig.exe')

If you need to support 32-bit OS versions or 64-bit compiling, use IsWow64Process() to detect if your app is running under WOW64:

{$IFDEF WIN64}
function IsWow64: Boolean;
begin
  Result := False;
end;
{$ELSE}
function IsWow64Process(hProcess: THandle; out Wow64Process: BOOL): BOOL; stdcall; external 'kernel32.dll' delayed;

function IsWow64: Boolean;
var
  Ret: BOOL;
begin
  Result := False;
  // XP = v5.1
  if (Win32MajorVersion > 5) or
    ((Win32MajorVersion = 5) and (Win32MinorVersion >= 1)) then
  begin
    if IsWow64Process(GetCurrentProcess(), Ret) then
      Result := Ret <> 0;
  end;
end;
{$ENDIF}

var
  errorcode: integer;
  SysFolder: string;
begin
  If IsWow64 then
    SysFolder := 'SysNative'
  else
    SysFolder := 'System32';
  errorcode := ShellExecute(0, 'open', PChar('C:\Windows\'+SysFolder'+\msconfig.exe'), nil, nil, SW_NORMAL);
  if errorcode <= 32 then
    ShowMessage(SysErrorMessage(errorcode));
end;

Answer 3

If you're building a 32bit Delphi app, then when it runs on 64bit Windows, the System32 folder is actually remapped. To a 32bit application, System32 is actually SysWOW64. Because you "see" it in System32 from the Explorer or cmd.exe, is because those are 64bit processes. In this case, a 32bit process cannot "see" the actual 64bit System32 folder.

One solution is to get the latest Delphi which supports 64bit targeting and build a 64bit version.