'Process.Start("IIS Manager.lnk") fails with "The system cannot find the file specified"

I'm launching the path C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\IIS Manager.lnk via Process.Start, but it fails with The system cannot find the file specified.

The link shows up on a dir, so it exists.

Can it be permissions?

Notes:

  • The path is auto-discovered by iterating over the Start Menu directory.
  • I can launch it via explorer and command line.

Clarifications:

  • Code is as follows:

    public void Execute() { Process.Start(_shortcut.FullName);}

  • _shortcut is of type FileInfo

  • _shortcut.Exists is true, so the file can be found
  • replacing _shortcut.FullName with the explicit path @"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\IIS Manager.lnk" has the same effect.
  • This is a WPF app using Caliburn and MEF.
  • Running as Administrator has the same effect.

This here on the other hand seems to work:

    [Fact]
    public void TestIisManager()
    {
        var path = new FileInfo(@"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\IIS Manager.lnk");
        Process.Start(path.FullName);
    }

It does seem to be a bit "environment" based.

Second clarification:

  • It seems to work in a Windows 7 x86 but not in a Windows 7 x64.
c++sharp.netwindows


Solution 1:[1]

I ran into this recently. Windows Forms based solution, VS2013, x64 machine. Process.Start() could not launch applications via .lnk file. Using process explorer, it seemed that the target specified in the .lnk file was resolving incorrectly to c:\program files (x86)... instead of c:\program files... I followed Bruno's excellent advice, but then again my Target was already marked as "AnyCPU".

After some head scratching, it turned out there's a new compiler flag in VS11+ called "Prefer 32-bit" that was checked by default. This was forcing the EXE output to be 32-bit even though my OS was 64-bit and platform was set to AnyCPU. After I unchecked and recompiled, the problem was fixed.

More reading at: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/sasha/2012/04/04/what-anycpu-really-means-as-of-net-45-and-visual-studio-11/

Solution 2:[2]

This may not actually relate to your situation, but you can launch the IIS Manager by using 

Process.Start("inetmgr.exe")

If you want to continue to use the shortcut, it will probably work if you start the process using a ProcessStartInfo and set ProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute to true

Solution 3:[3]

Can you make sure that you are trying this from an STA thread? You can see whether the apartment state is a problem if the following sample succeeds:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

public class Program
{
    // make sure to call Process.Start from an STA thread
    [STAThread]
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Process.Start(@"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\IIS Manager.lnk");
    }
}

Process.Start calls ShellExecute under the hood to run the file passed. As described by Raymond Chen, shell functions require an STA thread:

One possible reason why ShellExecute returns SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED and ShellExecuteEx returns ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED

Solution 4:[4]

As stated already, you will see the "The system cannot find the file specified" error because Windows is looking for inetmgr.exe in ...\SysWOW64\intsrv\ (caused by file system redirection), but it only exists in ...\System32\intsrv\.

This is caused by your 32-bit executable attempting to launch a 64-bit executable. As suggested, not using a 32-bit executable will solve this, but for anyone who must build for 32-bit (a WiX installer bundle in my case), try the following.

Using the start menu LNK/shortcut to inetmgr.exe instead of the executable is a good start, but an extra level of distance is required. This can be provided by using explorer.exe, which can be launched from a 32-bit executable:

System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = "explorer.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "/seperate /root,\"C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Administrative Tools\\IIS Manager.lnk\"";

System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();

Solution 5:[5]

It's a bit of a hack, but try launching it like this:

string path = @"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\IIS Manager.lnk";
Process.Start("cmd.exe", String.Format("/k \"\"{0}\"\"",path));

Note the double quotes needed to save the spaces in the path. That way, you might see a more precise error message and/or walk around in the command environment afterwards to see what is wrong with the path.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 Sat Thiru
Solution 2 Richard Szalay
Solution 3 Dirk Vollmar
Solution 4 simongidney
Solution 5 M-Peror

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