Powershell issue - 32-bit vs 64-bit

Question

I am having an issue on my machine with PowerShell (x86). If I type:

cmd

I get no output. However, If I type this into 64-bit PowerShell, I get the output:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

And idea why this is behaving this way? It's as if PowerShell (x86) is just not executing this command. I am running 64-bit Windows 7.

Edit: cmd is just an example of what's happening. It also happens when I want to execute foo.exe in some random folder. I'm looking for a solution for the general case of running executables in 32-bit PowerShell.

Edit: In case somebody with the same issue sees this, the way I was able to fix this was by changing my ComSpec environment variable to:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe

CB. · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-11 18:54:39Z

1

To start and open a 32-bit command prompt you need to type:

$env:windir\SysWoW64\cmd.exe

answered Feb 11, 2013 at 18:54

CB.

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8 Comments

DiscoInfiltrator Over a year ago

That's not really what I'm trying to do. What I want to know is why cmd doesn't work in 32-bit PowerShell, and how I can fix it.

DiscoInfiltrator Over a year ago

And cmd isn't necessarily the command I want to run - it could be foo.exe in some random folder - the same thing is happening.

CB. Over a year ago

try this in your 32bit powershell session and tell me what returns: $env:ComSpec

DiscoInfiltrator Over a year ago

I get: C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

CB. Over a year ago

then you can't run/start a 64bit application from a 32bit shell

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