Why would calling a program twice in the Target field fix problems?

[Cerulean]

There is this older in-house developed program some users use which generates random file path errors from time to time. If they set the program to run in Windows XP SP3 compatibility, the errors are no more.

Evidently, we've also found that if we have a shortcut that has "X:\executable.exe X:\executable.exe" in the Target field and OS compatibility is not configured this also resolves the problem.

Could someone explain why executing "X:\executable.exe X:\executable.exe" would solve this? What does this mean? How is this handled by Windows??

 

[michalrz]

That is not calling a program twice. That is passing an argument to the executable.

 

[B00nie]

That is not calling a program twice. That is passing an argument to the executable.

I was thinking the same but it's not clear why that program would accept a path as an argument. Perhaps it bypasses some windows file virtualization that way? I know that the virtualization plays havoc with many older softwares.

 

[michalrz]

I was thinking the same but it's not clear why that program would accept a path as an argument. Perhaps it bypasses some windows file virtualization that way? I know that the virtualization plays havoc with many older softwares.

Yup, we don't really know why it helps to add that second bit, what the program does (if it even cares about arguments) and if the argument needs to be a path for the program to work.

I think it does cause some sort of breakout from the typical routine like you said but we know nothing really.