#720 CWD is still \Windows\System32 for service application

[David Rueter]

According to the changelog at http://pywin32.hg.sourceforge.net/hgweb/pywin32/pywin32/raw-file/tip/CHANGES.txt build 204 added this fix:

Python services will no longer have %System32% as the CWD when they start (the directory of the hosting exectutable will be used instead). This should prevent ImportError due to DLLs in that System32 directory being found for Python imports.

But I am using build 219 on Python 3.4 / x64 and my service application reports that at servce start the current working direcory is in fact C:\Windows\System32

The following information was included with the event:

CWD=C:\WINDOWS\system32

This log message was written by my app at the start of function def SvcDoRun(self):

Am I misunderstanding or doing something wrong? Or did the fix mentioned in build 204 subsequently go away?

[Mark Hammond]

The code remains in place in PythonService_main in PythonService.cpp - however, it's certainly possible that it is not working as expected for you. I'll try and find some time to take a look.

[David Rueter]

Thanks, Mark. I have a Windows service, packaged with Py2EXE. The service
needs to be able to find a settings.cfg

FYI I am seeing different behavior between running the service on Windows 10
Pro x64 and Win Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64, not to mention when run as a
Py2Exe vs. a .py script, as follows:

Win10

CWD: Win10=C:\WINDOWS\system32

Os.path.dirname(sys.executable): C:\MyProgramDir

Sys.argv[0]: C:\MyProgramDir\MyProgram.exe

Win2012

CWD: C:\Windows\system32

Os.path.dirname(sys.executable): C:\Windows\system32

Sys.argv[0]: C:\MyProgramDir\MyProgram.exe

Python Script on Win 10

CWD: C:\MyProgramDir

Os.path.dirname(sys.executable): C:\MyPythonDir\python.exe

Sys.argv[0]: = C:\MyProgramDir\MyProgram.py

Some of this makes sense-when running as a python script, the executable is
python.exe, and the first parameter passed to python.exe would be
MyProgram.py

The surprise is that Os.path.dirname(sys.executable) returns different
results on Win10 than it does on Server 2012.

It seems that looking to Sys.argv[0] is (in my limited testing) the only
consistent place to look for the path of the program file.

If pywin32 reported CWD as the program file directory, this would be
convenient. However, it isn't a huge deal to manually figure out the path
from Sys.argv[0]

From: Mark Hammond [mailto:mhammond@users.sf.net]
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 4:22 PM
To: [pywin32:bugs] 720@bugs.pywin32.p.re.sf.net
Subject: [pywin32:bugs] #720 CWD is still \Windows\System32 for service
application

The code remains in place in PythonService_main in PythonService.cpp -
however, it's certainly possible that it is not working as expected for you.
I'll try and find some time to take a look.

---

[bugs:#720] https://sourceforge.net/p/pywin32/bugs/720/ CWD is still
\Windows\System32 for service application

Status: open
Group: v1.0 (example)
Labels: service cwd
Created: Mon May 09, 2016 04:39 PM UTC by David Rueter
Last Updated: Mon May 09, 2016 04:39 PM UTC
Owner: nobody

According to the changelog at
http://pywin32.hg.sourceforge.net/hgweb/pywin32/pywin32/raw-file/tip/CHANGES
.txt build 204 added this fix:

Python services will no longer have %System32% as the CWD when they start
(the directory of the hosting exectutable will be used instead). This should
prevent ImportError due to DLLs in that System32 directory being found for
Python imports.

But I am using build 219 on Python 3.4 / x64 and my service application
reports that at servce start the current working direcory is in fact
C:\Windows\System32

The following information was included with the event:

CWD=C:\WINDOWS\system32

This log message was written by my app at the start of function def
SvcDoRun(self):

Am I misunderstanding or doing something wrong? Or did the fix mentioned in
build 204 subsequently go away?

---

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https://sourceforge.net/p/pywin32/bugs/720/

To unsubscribe from further messages, please visit
https://sourceforge.net/auth/subscriptions/

[Mark Hammond]

Thanks for the update - note that py2exe will have slightly different behaviour and in general does not hit that "set the cwd" code - the easiest fix for that is probably to modify boot_service.py in py2exe to set the cwd before calling the servicemanager functions.

[David Rueter]

FYI, I ended up writing a procedure like this to figure out what directory
to use. I have tested it only on Windows-but it does the job on running as
a python script, running as a Py2Exe .EXE, running as a Py2Exe service, on
Win10 x64 and Win Server 2012 x64.

import os

import sys

def get_program_directory():

program_cmd = sys.argv[0]

program_directory = ''

program_filename = ''

if program_cmd:

    program_directory, program_filename = os.path.split(program_cmd)

if not program_directory:

    # no path is provided if running the python script as: python

myscript.py

    # fall back to CWD

    program_directory = os.getcwd()

    if program_directory.endswith('system32'):

        # a service application may return C:\Windows\System32 as the

CWD

        # Look to the executable path.

        program_directory = os.path.dirname(sys.executable)

        if program_directory.endswith('system32'):

            # However this too will be returned as C:\Windows\System32

when

            # running as a service on Windows Server 2012 R2.  In that

case...

            # we are stuck.

            program_directory = ''

program_directory = os.path.normpath(program_directory)

if not program_directory.endswith(os.sep):

    program_directory += os.sep

return program_directory, program_filename

From: David Rueter [mailto:drueter@assyst.com]
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 5:15 PM
To: '[pywin32:bugs] ' 720@bugs.pywin32.p.re.sf.net
Subject: RE: [pywin32:bugs] #720 CWD is still \Windows\System32 for service
application

Thanks, Mark. I have a Windows service, packaged with Py2EXE. The service
needs to be able to find a settings.cfg

FYI I am seeing different behavior between running the service on Windows 10
Pro x64 and Win Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64, not to mention when run as a
Py2Exe vs. a .py script, as follows:

Win10

CWD: Win10=C:\WINDOWS\system32

Os.path.dirname(sys.executable): C:\MyProgramDir

Sys.argv[0]: C:\MyProgramDir\MyProgram.exe

Win2012

CWD: C:\Windows\system32

Os.path.dirname(sys.executable): C:\Windows\system32

Sys.argv[0]: C:\MyProgramDir\MyProgram.exe

Python Script on Win 10

CWD: C:\MyProgramDir

Os.path.dirname(sys.executable): C:\MyPythonDir\python.exe

Sys.argv[0]: = C:\MyProgramDir\MyProgram.py

Some of this makes sense-when running as a python script, the executable is
python.exe, and the first parameter passed to python.exe would be
MyProgram.py

The surprise is that Os.path.dirname(sys.executable) returns different
results on Win10 than it does on Server 2012.

It seems that looking to Sys.argv[0] is (in my limited testing) the only
consistent place to look for the path of the program file.

If pywin32 reported CWD as the program file directory, this would be
convenient. However, it isn't a huge deal to manually figure out the path
from Sys.argv[0]

From: Mark Hammond [mailto:mhammond@users.sf.net]
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 4:22 PM
To: [pywin32:bugs] 720@bugs.pywin32.p.re.sf.net <mailto:720@bugs.pywin32.p.re.sf.net >
Subject: [pywin32:bugs] #720 CWD is still \Windows\System32 for service
application

The code remains in place in PythonService_main in PythonService.cpp -
however, it's certainly possible that it is not working as expected for you.
I'll try and find some time to take a look.

---

[bugs:#720] https://sourceforge.net/p/pywin32/bugs/720/ CWD is still
\Windows\System32 for service application

Status: open
Group: v1.0 (example)
Labels: service cwd
Created: Mon May 09, 2016 04:39 PM UTC by David Rueter
Last Updated: Mon May 09, 2016 04:39 PM UTC
Owner: nobody

According to the changelog at
http://pywin32.hg.sourceforge.net/hgweb/pywin32/pywin32/raw-file/tip/CHANGES
.txt build 204 added this fix:

Python services will no longer have %System32% as the CWD when they start
(the directory of the hosting exectutable will be used instead). This should
prevent ImportError due to DLLs in that System32 directory being found for
Python imports.

But I am using build 219 on Python 3.4 / x64 and my service application
reports that at servce start the current working direcory is in fact
C:\Windows\System32

The following information was included with the event:

CWD=C:\WINDOWS\system32

This log message was written by my app at the start of function def
SvcDoRun(self):

Am I misunderstanding or doing something wrong? Or did the fix mentioned in
build 204 subsequently go away?

---

Sent from sourceforge.net because you indicated interest in
https://sourceforge.net/p/pywin32/bugs/720/

To unsubscribe from further messages, please visit
https://sourceforge.net/auth/subscriptions/