Command Prompt & PowerShell open with different GUI when executed in different ways
Posted: 23.02.2021, 17:25
So I have been through this two topics
https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtop ... 23&p=35599
https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtop ... 20&p=35603
but they still do not answer to a peculiar question
Apparently on the drive C: with Windows 10 installed on has EXE files for the Command Prompt
Version "A"
Version "B"
I can setup two shortcut ways of executing them
Method #1
With a Favorite toolbar icon with its options set to
Method #2
With a LNK file with its options set to
With each of these versions / methods I am getting the CMD with Administrator rights opened in >>C:\<< in a maximized form. So far so good
But if I change GUI settings in A-2 and B-2, for example set the font to blue and read, then the A-1 and B-1 will not be affected. In a matter of fact I can change in either A-1 or B-1 the font to green and get that green in both of them - with A-2 still retaining blue and B-2 still being red
In other words: when executing these two different versions of EXE file for CMD via LNK methods I am able to distinct them * with two different colors. But when I am running the supposedly very same EXE files for CMD via Favorite icon method then I get only one color which is a third color - and I would expect to be not able to do that at all as I should be seeing the same two previous colors from the LNK files
But I have checked all the versions / methods with the Task Manager and they all seem to be running in the end the
file. So when I wrote a moment ago * distinct them I was referring to them in theory, because in reality it is only one version of the EXE, with the other one
nowhere to be seen. And this is also true for running these EXE files not as Administrator - in that the also have their own unique color configurations and are shown in Task Manager with the same path
So this does not make any sense at all, because:
by executing two EXE versions I am able to store three different GUI settings for them in apparently some one config file [assigned to that one EXE which is always being run despite the version / method chosen] - and if I add another two [non-Administrator] versions the number of GUI increases from 3 to 5
So what is happening here? How is that even possible? Is FreeCommander somehow ignoring the paths - depending in the method chosen? Or is it the Windows that fools the FC and user later on by laying about what EXE is really being run - by showing everything under one
umbrella? The info available at https://freecommander.com/fchelpxe/en/F ... wsx64.html says:
Comments on FreeCommander XE 32-bit version.
Like all 32-bit programs on Windows x64, FreeCommander is subject to the following restrictions:
- 32-bit programs are not able to display the control panel.
- 32-bit programs show different contents for the folder "%windir%\system32" and its subfolders.
Notes:
- %windir% is a system variable that points to the Windows install folder - often: c:\Windows
- 32-bit programs are redirected from "%windir%\system32" to "%windir%\SysWOW64" automatically.
If FC is supposedly redirecting me to >>SysWOW64<< version, then why it is that I have 3 [5] different GUIs - and which GUI if for which?
And yes I have copied the LNK files [i.e. A-2 and B-2] to different locations and run them from Windows Explorer. And they still displayed their color [i.e. blue and red] while the third color remained for FreeCommander Favorite icons [i.e. A-1 and B-1]
As for the PowerShell
The Matrix situation is similar - if not the same. If needed I can indulge myself in writing it down in details - but I hope that the situation with CMD will be somehow unrevealed -thus talking extensively about PowerShell GUI will not be needed
I am using FreeCommander XE 2020 Build 840 32-bit public on Windows 10 Enterprise 20H2 19042.746
https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtop ... 23&p=35599
https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtop ... 20&p=35603
but they still do not answer to a peculiar question
Apparently on the drive C: with Windows 10 installed on has EXE files for the Command Prompt
Version "A"
Code: Select all
C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
Version "B"
Code: Select all
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe
I can setup two shortcut ways of executing them
Method #1
With a Favorite toolbar icon with its options set to
Code: Select all
Program or folder:
[PATH]\cmd.exe
Start folder:
[EMPTY]
Parameter:
/K "cd /d C:\"
[SELECTED OPTIONS:]
Enclose each selected item with "
With "Run as" dialog
Maximized
Method #2
With a LNK file with its options set to
Code: Select all
Target: [PATH]\cmd.exe
Start in: [PATH]
Run: Maximized
Advanced: Run as administrator
With each of these versions / methods I am getting the CMD with Administrator rights opened in >>C:\<< in a maximized form. So far so good
But if I change GUI settings in A-2 and B-2, for example set the font to blue and read, then the A-1 and B-1 will not be affected. In a matter of fact I can change in either A-1 or B-1 the font to green and get that green in both of them - with A-2 still retaining blue and B-2 still being red
In other words: when executing these two different versions of EXE file for CMD via LNK methods I am able to distinct them * with two different colors. But when I am running the supposedly very same EXE files for CMD via Favorite icon method then I get only one color which is a third color - and I would expect to be not able to do that at all as I should be seeing the same two previous colors from the LNK files
But I have checked all the versions / methods with the Task Manager and they all seem to be running in the end the
Code: Select all
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe
Code: Select all
C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
So this does not make any sense at all, because:
by executing two EXE versions I am able to store three different GUI settings for them in apparently some one config file [assigned to that one EXE which is always being run despite the version / method chosen] - and if I add another two [non-Administrator] versions the number of GUI increases from 3 to 5
So what is happening here? How is that even possible? Is FreeCommander somehow ignoring the paths - depending in the method chosen? Or is it the Windows that fools the FC and user later on by laying about what EXE is really being run - by showing everything under one
Code: Select all
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe
Comments on FreeCommander XE 32-bit version.
Like all 32-bit programs on Windows x64, FreeCommander is subject to the following restrictions:
- 32-bit programs are not able to display the control panel.
- 32-bit programs show different contents for the folder "%windir%\system32" and its subfolders.
Notes:
- %windir% is a system variable that points to the Windows install folder - often: c:\Windows
- 32-bit programs are redirected from "%windir%\system32" to "%windir%\SysWOW64" automatically.
If FC is supposedly redirecting me to >>SysWOW64<< version, then why it is that I have 3 [5] different GUIs - and which GUI if for which?
And yes I have copied the LNK files [i.e. A-2 and B-2] to different locations and run them from Windows Explorer. And they still displayed their color [i.e. blue and red] while the third color remained for FreeCommander Favorite icons [i.e. A-1 and B-1]
As for the PowerShell
The Matrix situation is similar - if not the same. If needed I can indulge myself in writing it down in details - but I hope that the situation with CMD will be somehow unrevealed -thus talking extensively about PowerShell GUI will not be needed
I am using FreeCommander XE 2020 Build 840 32-bit public on Windows 10 Enterprise 20H2 19042.746