php Why can't I run a batch file? - php

Question

I have tried to run a batch file using PHP:
$script = "\\\MAFINFWWWPV02\D$\WebContent\\engsys.corp.ftr.com\BatchFiles\CopyFiles.bat";
exec($script,$ReturnArray,$ReturnValue);
//shell_exec($script);
//system('cmd /c $script');
//system($script,$ReturnValue);
None of these work! I've tried
var_dump($ReturnValue); echo "<br>";
var_dump($ReturnArray); echo "<br>";
to try and see what is going on, but I get what appears to be normal output like this:
int(1)
array(0) { }
But the files that I'm trying to copy with my bat file, which works fine when run manually, don't get copied!
Edit additional question
Do the \ need to be escaped in the file address?
EDIT 2
Here's what I get from running icacls:
CopyFiles.bat NT AUTHORITY\IUSR:(I)(RX)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK:(I)(RX)
CORP\ibb601:(I)(F)
CORP\taw330:(I)(F)
CORP\mmm976:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Users:(I)(RX,W)
I have full control and everybody else has at least read/execute.
EDIT 3
I have narrowed it down. It's not that the commands are not working it's that permission is denied to the files. Which I don't understand since everyone has write and read/execute access to the entire folder.
EDIT 4
I am running the commands from above trying to get it to work. I am using a function (var_export(my_exec("shell_exec($script)"));) to print what the errors are to my screen. I keep getting something like this:
'\'shell_exec\' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
I get a different one for each shell_exec, system, and exec. It just keeps saying that the command is not recognized. This is being executed on a Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard 64-bit. Is there something that I'm doing wrong with the commands?
Function that I'm using to print errors (I found it on another post):
function my_exec($cmd, $input='')
{
$proc=proc_open($cmd, array(0=>array('pipe', 'r'), 1=>array('pipe', 'w'), 2=>array('pipe', 'w')), $pipes);
fwrite($pipes[0], $input);fclose($pipes[0]);
$stdout=stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);fclose($pipes[1]);
$stderr=stream_get_contents($pipes[2]);fclose($pipes[2]);
$rtn=proc_close($proc);
return array('stdout'=>$stdout,'stderr'=>$stderr,'return'=>$rtn);
}

Answer 1

I finally got it to work. Here's what I ended up with:
$script = chr(92) . chr(92) . 'MAFINFWWWPV02\D$\WebContent\engsys.corp.ftr.com\BatchFiles\CopyFiles.bat';
if (!file_exists($script))
{
var_dump($script); echo " Script<br>";
echo "Script doesn't exist!<br>";
var_dump(!file_exists($script));
}
else
{
system('cmd /c ' . $script); echo " <br>";
}
Sometimes I still get the Script doesn't exist! message, but that is usually when I'm connected to the #1 server and not the #2 server. The .nat looks like this:
echo off
SET source2="\\MAFINFWWWPV02\engsys.corp.ftr.com"
START /wait NET USE L: "\\MAFINFWWWPV01\engsys.corp.ftr.com" Password /user:UserName
xcopy %source2% L: /E /Y /Q
NET USE L: /DELETE

Answer 2

You don't need to escape \ when inside single quotes.
If you want to run a script, make sure is exists and is executable:
$script = '\\MAFINFWWWPV02\engsys.corp.ftr.com\CopyFiles.bat';
if (!file_exists($script) || !is_executable($script)) {
// Im' sorry dave
}
// carry on...
If the script is run through a webserver, make sure the user running the service has execute rights, not your own user! is_executable only checks if the file is an executable, not if the user running the script has executable rights
Since your return code is 1, you probably have some permission issue. A successful execution has return code 0
Also consider the following note from the docs:
Note: When safe mode is enabled, you can only execute files within the safe_mode_exec_dir. For practical reasons, it is currently not allowed to have .. components in the path to the executable.
To have a OS agnostic method of running exernal processes, have a look at the Symfony Process component

Answer 3

after many hours. you should try
c:\\a\\b\\c
instead of
c:\a\b\c