Can not launch SnippingTool (elevation is required)

Expected Behavior

Launch SnippingTool.exe

Actual Behavior

Error log below

(PYWINA~1) f:\PCKLIB_Python\WinAutomation>python main.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\PIAODA~1\Envs\PYWINA~1\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\application.py", line 1047, in start
    start_info)                         # STARTUPINFO structure.
pywintypes.error: (2, 'CreateProcess', 'The system cannot find the file specified.')

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "main.py", line 8, in <module>
    app = Application(backend="uia").start('C:\WINDOWS\system32\SnippingTool.exe')
  File "C:\Users\PIAODA~1\Envs\PYWINA~1\lib\site-packages\pywinauto\application.py", line 1052, in start
    raise AppStartError(message)
pywinauto.application.AppStartError: Could not create the process "C:\WINDOWS\system32\SnippingTool.exe"
Error returned by CreateProcess: (2, 'CreateProcess', 'The system cannot find the file specified.')

Short Example of Code to Demonstrate the Problem

I note that I tried both uia and win32 for backend of Application.

from pywinauto import Desktop, Application
app = Application(backend="uia").start('C:\WINDOWS\system32\SnippingTool.exe')

Specifications

• Pywinauto version: 0.6.8
• Python version and bitness: Python 3.7.3 (v3.7.3:ef4ec6ed12, Mar 25 2019, 21:26:53) [MSC v.1916 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
• Platform and OS: Windows 10 64bit

[vasily-v-ryabov]

Hi @myd7349 thanks! This is exactly the root cause. We figured it out some time ago, but I forgot to mention it here because of low priority. And thanks for the references! Really appreciate it.

[myd7349]

The reason: You Win10 is 64-bit, and your Python app might be 32-bit. When you typied C:\WINDOWS\system32\SnippingTool.exe, the file system redirector will redirects it to C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\SnippingTool.exe.

To resolve this issue, we may use either of the these ways:

1. Run the python script with a 64-bit Python;
2. Disable file system redirector;

References:

• File System Redirector
• Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection
• Launch SnippingTool.exe from c++ program