Windows CMD.exe "The system cannot find the path specified." - php

Question

Solved by restoring Windows to previous state
The message (The system cannot find the path specified.) shows...
1) When i open new CMD (Win+R => cmd). It starts with introduction. (on line 3)
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The system cannot find the path specified.
C:\Users\ViliamKopecky>
2) When i execute some command like cmd /C dir (or cmd /C php -v or whatever) (on line 2)
C:\Users\ViliamKopecky>cmd /C dir
The system cannot find the path specified.
Volume in drive C is Windows7_OS
Volume Serial Number is 8230-1246
...
C:\Windows\System32>cmd /C php -v
The system cannot find the path specified.
PHP 5.4.8 (cli) (built: Oct 16 2012 22:30:23)
Copyright (c) 1997-2012 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.4.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2012 Zend Technologies
3) (the most annoying) when i run exec function from PHP or Node.js or probably any scripting lang. (which are probably runned from inside as cmd /C <command>)
The message does not show...
1) when i execute the command right from the cmd (or mingw, ...)
C:\Users\ViliamKopecky>dir
Volume in drive C is Windows7_OS
Volume Serial Number is 8230-1246
Directory of C:\Users\ViliamKopecky
Let's start with simple command from cmd.
php -r "exec('dir', $stdout, $stderr); print(implode(\"\n\", $stdout), $stderr);"
and the result is like this (the directory test is empty - that is correct):
E:\test>php -r "exec('dir', $stdout, $stderr); print(implode(\"\n\", $stdout), $stderr);"
The system cannot find the path specified.
Volume in drive E is www
Volume Serial Number is 0C99-95EC
Directory of E:\test
09.11.2012 22:42 <DIR> .
09.11.2012 22:42 <DIR> ..
0 File(s) 0 bytes
2 Dir(s) 13 495 296 000 bytes free
int(1)
Which shows that the command dir has is executed from php correctly. Only thing thats wrong is the second line - The system cannot find the path specified. - that should not be there.
This message is output by exec from PHP (and also from Node.js as require('child_process').exec("dir", function(err, stdout, stderr) {console.log(stderr)});)
When I execute command right from cmd (or mingw, etc.) it executes correctly without the message. Environment variable PATH seem ok. Problem is just executing from script environment through exec functions.
How to get rid of that annoying message? Thanks

Answer 1

The problem is that some program has been set to autorun when you run cmd.exe.
In my case it was ANSICON that was installed... and then I moved the file without properly uninstalling.
I found a solution in this blog post:
http://carol-nichols.com/2011/03/17/the-system-cannot-find-the-path-specified/
The short version is to find
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
and clear the value.

Answer 2

This message can mean a path in the PATH enviromental variable doesn't exist.
The following PowerShell command will print missing paths.
($env:path).Trim(";").Split(";") | ? {-not (test-path $_)}
e.g.
> ($env:path).Trim(";").Split(";") | ? {-not (test-path $_)}
C:\Program Files\CMake\bin
C:\Program Files\SDCC\bin
C:\Users\wjbr\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin
References
http://carol-nichols.com/2011/03/17/the-system-cannot-find-the-path-specified/
https://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-system-cannot-find-path-specified-error-in-command-prompt.html

Answer 3

This actually looks like a startup error with PHP, not with your code. Does
php -r "echo 1;"
also throw the same error? If so, your php.ini file or an include may be pathed incorrectly.
php -i
should give you more info.

Answer 4

I think you should try this out ! I had the same issue and solved it like this :
ok type : cd\windows\system32
After that you will see this: System32/:
Type what you want (ex:ipconfig):
System32: ipconfig
Then that should do it !
:)