Launch programs from vbscript

Question

I need to launch programs in my local system using VBScript. But I am having trouble with the syntax. This is what I am using right now -

Dim objShell
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
objShell.Run("iexplore")
Set objShell = Nothing

The above code successfully launches IE. I want to launch other browsers. But, if I use -

Dim objShell
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
objShell.Run("c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe")
Set objShell = Nothing

it is throwing an error saying that the file or path was not found. I am not sure how the parameter inside the Run() function is taken - should I give the path to an EXE or should I give some DOS commands?!

Answer 1

Try:-

Dim objShell
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
objShell.Run("""c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe""")
Set objShell = Nothing

Note the extra ""s in the string. Since the path to the exe contains spaces it needs to be contained with in quotes. (In this case simply using "firefox.exe" would work).

Also bear in mind that many programs exist in the c:\Program Files (x86) folder on 64 bit versions of Windows.