Createprocess and 0xc0000142 error

i have the following test code:

#define CMDLINE ".\\dummyFolder\\dummyProc.exe op1 op2 op3"

int main(int argc, char **argv) {

STARTUPINFO info;
info.cb = sizeof(STARTUPINFO);
info.lpReserved = NULL;
info.cbReserved2 = 0;
info.lpReserved2 = NULL;

PROCESS_INFORMATION processInfo;

SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES procAttr;
procAttr.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
procAttr.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
procAttr.bInheritHandle = false;

SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES threadAttr;
procAttr.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
procAttr.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
procAttr.bInheritHandle = false;

bool handlersInheritable = true;

char cmdLine2[sizeof(CMDLINE)];
strcpy(cmdLine2, CMDLINE);

char AppName[sizeof(".\\dummyFolder\\dummyProc.exe")];
strcpy(AppName, ".\\dummyFolder\\dummyProc.exe");


if (CreateProcess(AppName, cmdLine2, &procAttr, &threadAttr,
        handlersInheritable, 0, NULL, NULL, &info, &processInfo)) {

    //::WaitForMultipleObjects(procQty, handlers, waitForAll, waitInterval);
    CloseHandle(processInfo.hProcess);
    CloseHandle(processInfo.hThread);
    CloseHandle(info.hStdError);
    CloseHandle(info.hStdInput);
    CloseHandle(info.hStdOutput);
} else {
    std::cout << "Returned: " << GetLastError() << std::endl;
}

std::cout << "Exiting main process" << std::endl;

return 0;
}

This is just a test code for creating processes in windows. The problem is that when i launch "dummyProc.exe" i get a 0xc0000142 error.

The process dummyProc.exe runs fine from the command line, but not from within the code.

Here's the dummyProc code if it helps:

int main(int argc, char **argv) {


std::cout << "Working!!!!" << std::endl << "Receivedi: " << std::endl;

for (int i = 0; i < argc; ++i)
    std::cout << argv[i] << std::endl;


return 0;
}

So, any ideas?

The most obvious thing that char cmdLine2[sizeof(CMDLINE)]; declares a string of length equal to your machine's pointer size. You need to use strlen(CMDLINE)+1 instead. Likewise for appName.

Note that the first parameter to CreateProcess does not need to be writeable. Just pass the string literal directly to it. No need for appName variable.

As for lpCommandLine which does need to be writeable it's easiest to do it like this:

char cmdline[] = "op1 op2 op3";

That gives you a writeable buffer. Note that you do not need to repeat the executable file name.

Another problem is that you have not initialized all the parameters to CreateProcess. For example the STARTUPINFO struct has 19 fields and you initialize only 3. You should initialize all your structs to 0 and then fill out any fields you need to be non-zero. Like this:

STARTUPINFO info = { 0 };

Do this for all the structs you pass.

You can, and should, pass NULL for the lpProcessAttributes and lpThreadAttributes parameters.