Why is ShellExecuteEx not returning the process handle?

Question

I am trying to open an image with the following function:

HANDLE openFile(char *path){ // path = "C:\Users\Foo Bar\Code\Test\test.jpg"
    CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED | COINIT_DISABLE_OLE1DDE);

    SHELLEXECUTEINFOW info;
    memset(&info, 0, sizeof(info));
    info.cbSize = sizeof(info);
    info.fMask = SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS | SEE_MASK_NOASYNC ;
    info.hwnd = NULL;
    info.lpVerb = L"open";
    info.lpFile = utf8_toWchar(path);
    info.lpParameters = NULL;
    info.lpDirectory = NULL;
    info.nShow = SW_SHOW;
    info.hInstApp = NULL;

    if (!ShellExecuteExW(&info)){
        System_printLastErrorString(); //never gets here
    }
    //free((void*)info.lpFile);
    CoUninitialize();

    return info.hProcess; //this is always NULL
}

The problem is that info.hProcess is always NULL despite the fact that the default image editing program is not open and is opened a bit later.

How do I fix this?

Side Note: I dont know if this is relevant, but the calling program is a Qt Application.

Answer 1

I ended up calling CreateProcess myself to the result of AssocQueryString . This gave me the handle I needed.