Process.Start("IExplore.exe"); --> System.IO.FileNotFoundException

Question

Been trying to run this simple code is it's driving me nuts as it doesn't work.

I was also expecting Visual Studio to break the program in the line where I get the error but it breaks on the function call and not inside of the function as you can see in the picture bellow.

        OpenFolder();

        private void OpenFolder()
        {
            Process.Start("explorer.exe", @"c:\temp");

        }

And I get:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: 'Could not load file or assembly 'System.Diagnostics.Process, Version=4.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a'. The system cannot find the file specified.'

Answer 1

Cause of the problem: Because UseShellExecute defaults to false on .NET 6. When UseShellExecute = false, the code will use the incoming parameter as the filename, throwing a "The system cannot find the file specified" exception.

Reason:

UseShellExecute defaults to false on .NET 6:

public bool UseShellExecute { get; set; }

Defaults to true on the .NET Framework:

 [DefaultValue(true)]
 [MonitoringDescription("ProcessUseShellExecute")]
 [NotifyParentProperty(true)]
 public bool UseShellExecute
{
     get
    {
         return this.useShellExecute;
     }
     set
    {
        this.useShellExecute = value;
     }
 }

     private bool useShellExecute = true;

Solution:

1. Set UseShellExecute = true.
2. Use .NET Framework to develop projects.

Code testing in.Net6:

   private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        
        // Define an instance of processstartinfo
        ProcessStartInfo startinfo = new ProcessStartInfo("explore.exe");
        startinfo.FileName = @"C:\test\test.txt";
        startinfo.UseShellExecute = true;
       

        // start the process
      
        try
        {
            Process.Start(startinfo);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
            return;
        }
    }

Test Results:

UseShellExecute defaults to false:

   private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        
        // Define an instance of processstartinfo
        ProcessStartInfo startinfo = new ProcessStartInfo("explore.exe");
        startinfo.FileName = @"C:\test\test.txt";
       
       

        // start the process
      
        try
        {
            Process.Start(startinfo);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
            return;
        }
    }

Test Results: