How to get return/exit code of a batch file started with START command?

Question

I am trying to run a batch file with start /high and still get the return/exit code, i.e. %ERRORLEVEL%. The problem seems to be that command START does not return the exit code that the batch file returns.

We have a simple batch file for testing named BatFileThatReturnsOne.bat.

The contents of BatFileThatReturnsOne.bat are

EXIT /B 1

We are calling this as such:

start /high /wait BatFileThatReturnsOne.bat

But no matter what the batch file returns, the execution of start never has a %ERRORLEVEL% of anything other than 0 (zero).

This is all actually called by cfn-init in CloudFormation, but that is probably not relevant because we can reproduce it from a command line window.

The actual call is:

cmd.exe /C start /high /wait BatFileThatReturnsOne.bat

How do I get start to set the %ERRORLEVEL% to something other than 0 (zero)?

MC ND · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-04 15:51:40Z

8

directly from a cmd window or a batch file you can use

start /high /wait cmd /c BatFileThatReturnsOne.bat

but if you need to start the cmd instance to execute the start command that launchs the batch file then you can use

cmd /v /e /c" start /high /wait cmd /c launched.cmd & exit ^!errorlevel^!"

edited Mar 4, 2017 at 15:51

answered Mar 4, 2017 at 15:46

MC ND

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1 Comment

Tim Bassett Over a year ago

Because the cmd is actually being executed from cfn-init in AWS CloudFormation, the 2nd proposed solution worked great. Thanks, I would have never figured that out!

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:25:13Z

4

Just change EXIT /B 1 by EXIT 1.

As explained in the Table 4 given in this answer about START /WAIT bat command:

When the started Batch file ends, set ERRORLEVEL = value from 'EXIT number' commmand.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:25

CommunityBot

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answered Mar 4, 2017 at 16:31

Aacini

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2 Comments

Tim Bassett Over a year ago

Thanks. The problem was actually a little more complicated than the simple bat file (I just created it to test it). It's actually calling chef-client, which in turn is calling ruby.exe. Neither of those actually have the "EXIT /B 1", so MC ND's solution ended up working well.

Aacini Over a year ago

I am confused by your comment. My answer solves the problem as stated in the question. How an answer can solve a problem that is not described in the question? (answer: just by chance) :(

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