php exec is not executing the command

Question

I have tried to use exec() with 'whoami' to check if it works and I got the result of

nt authority\system

Now I need to run a .exe file with parameters from PHP via the exec() function. 

When I run this command from the PHP file:

exec('..\..\some_file.exe folder="C:\path_to_folder" param=1.xml report=2.xml');

Even exec('notepad.exe'); is not working. Does something have to be done with PHP configurations maybe?

Answer 1

I've already mentioned that I'm new to the exec() method. After conducting some additional research, I discovered that the command 2>&1 needs to have 2>&1 added to the end ().

I appreciate @mattosmat bringing it up in the comments as well. Because you indicated it was a Linux command and I am using Windows, I didn't immediately attempt this.

I've now learned that the command is truly being executed in the background. Because of this, I was unable to witness it actually running as I had anticipated.

My, advice is to use that command. It will point out all the errors and also tell you info/details about execution.

exec('some_command 2>&1', $output);
print_r($output);  // to see the response to your command

I hope this helps you.