Why does CreateProcess give error 193 1 is not a valid Win32 app

Question

The code below fails to start documents  I get error 193   1 is not a valid Win32 app   Starting executables work fine  The files are properly associated  they start the corresponding app when double clicked  I have searched SO and elsewhere for the error message  createprocess stuff etc   E g  Why is CreateProcess failing in Windows Server 2003 64-bit  I know about quoting the command line    This is a Delphi XE2  Update 4  Win32 app in a Win7 64bit VMWare VM   The code also fails on the host machine  Win7 64 bit  and in a Virtual PC VM with 32bit XP  The apps that should start in the Win7 VM  Excel 2003 and Crimson Editor  are 32 bit  The failure occurs both when starting from the IDE or when running the test app standalone It used to be Delphi2007 code  the compiled D2007 app where this code comes from works fine everywhere    What s wrong with the code  It s almost as if I m overlooking something very obvious      Thanks in advance   Jan  procedure StartProcess WorkDir  Filename  string  Arguments   string        var   StartupInfo    TStartupInfo    ProcessInfo    TProcessInformation    lCmd           string    lOK            Boolean    LastErrorCode  Integer  begin   FillChar  StartupInfo  SizeOf  TStartupInfo    0      StartupInfo cb    SizeOf  TStartupInfo      StartupInfo dwFlags    STARTF USESHOWWINDOW    StartupInfo wShowWindow    sw Normal     FillChar  ProcessInfo  SizeOf  TProcessInformation    0       lCmd           WorkDir   FileName               Quotes are needed https   stackoverflow com questions 265650 paths-and-createprocess   if Arguments  lt  gt     then lCmd    lCmd         Arguments     lOk    CreateProcess nil                         PChar lCmd                          nil                         nil                         FALSE      TRUE makes no difference                        0          e g  CREATE NEW CONSOLE or NORMAL PRIORITY CLASS makes no difference                        nil                         nil        PChar WorkDir  makes no difference                        StartupInfo                         ProcessInfo      if lOk then   begin     try       WaitForSingleObject ProcessInfo hProcess  INFINITE       finally       CloseHandle  ProcessInfo hThread          CloseHandle  ProcessInfo hProcess        end    end   else   begin     LastErrorCode    GetLastError      ShowMessage IntToStr LastErrorCode           SysErrorMessage LastErrorCode      end  end   procedure TFrmStartProcess Button1Click Sender  TObject   begin    StartProcess  c  program files  x86  axe3    axe exe          Works end   procedure TFrmStartProcess Button2Click Sender  TObject   begin    StartProcess  d     klad xls                                  Fails end   procedure TFrmStartProcess Button3Click Sender  TObject   begin    StartProcess  d     smimime txt                               Fails end

User · Accepted Answer

The most likely explanations for that error are:

The file you are attempting to load is not an executable file. CreateProcess requires you to provide an executable file. If you wish to be able to open any file with its associated application then you need ShellExecute rather than CreateProcess.
There is a problem loading one of the dependencies of the executable, i.e. the DLLs that are linked to the executable. The most common reason for that is a mismatch between a 32 bit executable and a 64 bit DLL, or vice versa. To investigate, use Dependency Walker's profile mode to check exactly what is going wrong.

Reading down to the bottom of the code, I can see that the problem is number 1.

User · Answer

If you are Clion anyOtherJetBrainsIDE user  and yourFile exe cause this problem  just delete it and let the app create and link it with libs from a scratch  It helps

User · Answer

Let me add an example here      I m trying to build Alluxio on windows platform and got the same issue  it s because the pom xml contains below step            lt plugin gt           lt artifactId gt exec-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt           lt groupId gt org codehaus mojo lt  groupId gt           lt inherited gt false lt  inherited gt           lt executions gt             lt execution gt               lt id gt Check that there are no Windows line endings lt  id gt               lt phase gt compile lt  phase gt               lt goals gt                 lt goal gt exec lt  goal gt               lt  goals gt               lt configuration gt                 lt executable gt   build path  style check no windows line endings sh lt  executable gt               lt  configuration gt             lt  execution gt           lt  executions gt         lt  plugin gt    The  sh file is not executable on windows so the error throws    Comment it out if you do want build Alluxio on windows

User · Answer

Your Button2Click and Button3Click functions pass klad xls and smimime txt  These files most likely aren t actual executables indeed   In order to open arbitrary files using the application associated with them  use ShellExecute

[windows] Why does CreateProcess give error 193 (%1 is not a valid Win32 app)

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