Running .exe from Javascript

Question

I am trying to run a .exe file from Javascript. This is what I have:

var   oShell = new
ActiveXObject("Shell.Application");  
var commandtoRun = "C:\Documents and
Settings\User\Desktop\ABCD.exe";
oShell.ShellExecute(commandtoRun,"","","open","1");

If I have only the first 2 lines code it seems to work fine (it asked me do I want activeX when I opened it first time in IE) but if I add the last line (ShellExecute) there seems to be an error. I want to pass arguments to the exe.

Does anyone know how to do it ?

Answer 1

You need to escape the backslashes, e.g.,

var commandtoRun = "C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\Desktop\\ABCD.exe";

Update:

This works fine on my machine:

var oShell = new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application");
var commandtoRun = "C:\\Windows\\notepad.exe"; 
oShell.ShellExecute(commandtoRun,"","","open","1");

Update 2

You can save this as a file with the extension .hta and it should work in your browser:

<HTA:APPLICATION ID="oMyApp" 
APPLICATIONNAME="Application Executer" 
BORDER="no"
CAPTION="no"
SHOWINTASKBAR="yes"
SINGLEINSTANCE="yes"
SYSMENU="yes"
SCROLL="no"
WINDOWSTATE="normal">

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
var oShell = new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application");
var commandtoRun = "C:\\Windows\\notepad.exe"; 
oShell.ShellExecute(commandtoRun,"","","open","1");
</script>