Run external software from Matlab using system() with admin rights

Hi,

I am trying to run a software from my Matlab script with admin rights. Once lunched, it doesn't have admin rights, and I can't communicate with it using .NET commands. I set the external software to run automatically in admin mode, which is done when I double click on it (works with the .NET commands), but not when started from Matlab.

LTPath = 'C:\...\lt.exe';
proc=System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(LTPath);

I have windows 10 64 bit, I am administrator. I use Matlab 2017b.

Thanks !

[Janos Keresztes]

dear Jan, thank you for your answer. Unfortunately, I got the following error. I also tried using proc=System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(LTPath, uname, password, domain); but got the error: No method 'Start' with matching signature found for class 'System.Diagnostics.Process'.

Error in WS3 (line 12) proc=System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(LTPath, uname, password, domain);

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

but got the error: No method 'Start' with matching signature found for class 'System.Diagnostics.Process'.

That's because the 3rd argument to Start is a System.Security.SecureString, not a plain string. You could construct that SecureString with:

password = 'secret';
securestring = System.Security.SecureString;
for c = password
   securestring.AppendChar(c);
end
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(LTPath, user, securestring, domain)

Whether or not that'll help you launching the process with admin privileges, I have no idea.

Answer 2

[Jan]

You can try this: Create a file "LT_AsAdmin.vbs":

Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^)
UAC.ShellExecute "C:\...\lt.exe", "ELEV", "", "runas", 1

Then start this VBS script by system.

UNTESTED! I can not run it by myself currently.

[Guillaume]

Note that you can create the Shell.Application object directly in matlab. No Need to create a vbs script:

uac = actxserver('Shell.Application');
uac.ShellExecute(LTPath, 'ELEV', '', 'runas', 1);

Note: as is typical of microsoft scripting documentation, the doc for ShellExecute is seriously lacking, so I've no idea if the arguments above are valid. I've just copied them from Jan's answer.

[Frederik Desaulniers]

The code provided by Guillaume almost works, but you need to use double quotes in the arguments for uac.ShellExecute(). Corrected code:

uac = actxserver('Shell.Application');
uac.ShellExecute(LTPath, "ELEV", "", "runas", 1);

[Pavel Kliuiev]

Any ideas how to modify the code to have two input arguments that are strings?

[Jan]

@Pavel Kliuiev: The input arguments are part of the command to be called. Did you try to include it in the string LTPath?

[Pavel Kliuiev]

Thanks Jan! Would you mind providing a code snippet? I tried LTPath = "path/to/file.exe arg1 arg2"; uac.ShellExecute(LTPath, "ELEV", "", "runas", 1); for example, and it did not work. arg1 and arg2 are strings.

[Jan]

I have no chance to guess, what "did not work" means. Please explain the details.

Do you really want to provide the strings "arg1" and "arg2" as inputs? They are not variables, but literally "arg1". Maybe you mean:

arg1 = "all";
arg2 = "Match";
LTPath = "path/to/file.exe " + arg1 + " " + arg2

LTPath = "path/to/file.exe all Match"