Running cmd from powershell issue with escaping when running iisexpress

Question

I want to run iisexpress inside cmd and start it from powershell. I have a strange issue with escaping double quotes. My original powershell command is

Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/k "C:/Program Files/IIS Express/iisexpress.exe" /config:"d:\Repo\app\applicationhost.config" /apppool:"Clr4IntegratedAppPool"'

It fails with

'C:/Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

There is clearly some issues with double quotes, however when I try to run iis without arguments it actually starts it

Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/k "C:/Program Files/IIS Express/iisexpress.exe"'

I noticed it feels fine until I type a double quote after iisexpress.exe". For instance, just Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/k "C:/Program Files/IIS Express/iisexpress.exe" /config:" is failing with 'C:/Program' is not recognized, but Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/k "C:/Program Files/IIS Express/iisexpress.exe" /config: also fails, but it tells that I should provide a value for the argument.

All in all, how to avoid the issue with arguments for iisexpress?

mklement0 · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-05 18:36:20Z

2

You've run into a cmd.exe parsing "quirk", which you can avoid by enclosing everything that follows /k (or /c) in "..." (incredibly, this does then not require escaping the then embedded " chars):

Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/k " "C:/Program Files/IIS Express/iisexpress.exe" /config:"d:\Repo\app\applicationhost.config" /apppool:"Clr4IntegratedAppPool" "'

The problem occurs when both a double-quoted executable path and double-quoted arguments are present and there is no overall "..." enclosure. (There are situational exceptions, but overall "..." enclosure is the safe choice.)

edited Apr 5, 2023 at 18:36

answered Apr 5, 2023 at 17:09

mklement0

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