CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified

Question

I am writing a program in java which would execute winrar and unzip a jar file for me placed in h:\myjar.jar into the folder h:\new. My java code goes something like this

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class MainClass {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();
        Process p = null;

        try {
            File dir = new File("C:/Program Files/WinRAR");
            p = r.exec("winrar x h:\\myjar.jar *.* h:\\new", null, dir);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

When I execute this, I am getting this error

java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "winrar" (in directory "C:\Program Files\WinRAR"): CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
    at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Unknown Source)
    at MainClass.main(MainClass.java:16)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
    at java.lang.ProcessImpl.create(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ProcessImpl.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(Unknown Source)
    ... 4 more

Can anyone tell me why am I encountering such a problem. What is the change I need to incorporate in code so that it works?

MadProgrammer · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-24T22:09:05.390

Assuming that winrar.exe is in the PATH, then Runtime.exec is capable of finding it, if it is not, you will need to supply the fully qualified path to it, for example, assuming winrar.exe is installed in C:/Program Files/WinRAR you would need to use something like...

p=r.exec("C:/Program Files/WinRAR/winrar x h:\\myjar.jar *.* h:\\new");

Personally, I would recommend that you use ProcessBuilder as it has some additional configuration abilities amongst other things. Where possible, you should also separate your command and parameters into separate String elements, it deals with things like spaces much better then a single String variable, for example...

ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(
    "C:/Program Files/WinRAR/winrar",
    "x",
    "myjar.jar",
    "*.*",
    "new");
pb.directory(new File("H:/"));
pb. redirectErrorStream(true);

Process p = pb.start();

Don't forget to read the contents of the InputStream from the process, as failing to do so may stall the process

my case just i put path to bin for that exe in my system variables in windows — shareef, Aug 21 '17 at 06:35
I ran python code with the full path to python.exe directory. Thank you — visrahane, Nov 27 '17 at 08:12

score 29 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 02 '21 at 14:25

29

I used ProcessBuilder but had the same issue. The issue was with using command as one String line (like I would type it in cmd) instead of String array. In example from above. If I ran

ProcessBuilder pb = 
   new ProcessBuilder("C:/Program Files/WinRAR/winrar x myjar.jar *.* new");
pb.directory(new File("H:/"));
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);

Process p = pb.start();

I got an error. But if I ran

ProcessBuilder pb = 
   new ProcessBuilder("C:/Program Files/WinRAR/winrar", "x", "myjar.jar", "*.*", "new");
pb.directory(new File("H:/"));
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);

Process p = pb.start();

everything was OK.

edited Jun 02 '21 at 14:25

RubioRic

2,442
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35

answered Nov 17 '16 at 07:20

EagleEye1984

463
5
6

1

This fixed it for me. The critical thing was the `pb.directory(...)` statement. As others mentioned below, once you do that, you can just have the name of the exe as the first command argument. I did also have to use the cmd /c like so `List params = Arrays.asList("cmd", "/c", "quack1.exe", "inputfile.txt", "param1", "param2", "A"); ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(params); pb.directory(new File("C:/dev/test")); Process pr = (pb).start();` – Chris Clark May 31 '17 at 18:03

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 27 '13 at 19:27

16

The dir you specified is a working directory of running process - it doesn't help to find executable. Use cmd /c winrar ... to run process looking for executable in PATH or try to use absolute path to winrar.

answered Oct 27 '13 at 19:27

viator

1,413
3
14
25

Can u please tell me the command for knowing the absolute path..? – Trijit Oct 27 '13 at 20:05
p = rt.exec(new String[] {"C:\Program Files\WinRAR\winrar.exe", "x", "h:\\myjar.jar", "*.*", "h:\\new" } null, dir);...i still get the same error. – Trijit Oct 27 '13 at 20:07
what if you perform `rt.exec(new String[] {"cmd", "/c", "winrar.exe x h:\\myjar.jar . h:\\new"}, null, dir)` ? – viator Oct 27 '13 at 20:10

Reimeus · Answer 4 · 2013-10-27T18:44:58.267

3

The complete first argument of exec is being interpreted as the executable. Use

p = rt.exec(new String[] {"winrar.exe", "x", "h:\\myjar.jar", "*.*", "h:\\new" }
            null, 
            dir);

edited Oct 27 '13 at 18:44

answered Oct 27 '13 at 18:38

Reimeus

158,255
15
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Is `winrar.exe` on your PATH? – Reimeus Oct 27 '13 at 18:45
I have just installed winrar...i didn't set the environment path for winrar – Trijit Oct 27 '13 at 18:57
1

It needs to be on the PATH otherwise you will have to specify the full path along with the executable – Reimeus Oct 27 '13 at 18:59

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 06 '17 at 11:47

2

My recomendation is to keep the getRuntime().exec because exec uses the ProcessBuilder.

Try

 p=r.exec(new String[] {"winrar", "x", "h:\\myjar.jar", "*.*", "h:\\new"}, null, dir);

answered Feb 06 '17 at 11:47

Grim

1,938
10
56
123

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 07 '21 at 14:01

Either way worked for me: Runtime.getRuntime().exec(...) or using the ProcessBuilder. Still for some calls it still failed with the same error as stated in the original question: "CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified". On closer inspection, that was because I was executing a command file that made use of current directory references (%~dp0). Apparently they did not work, even when calling the command from the same directory. Using absolute paths solved the problem.

CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified

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