ExecuteCommand-Pipe

A simple tool to run arbitrary commands with paths (of files or directories) passed from various context menus in Windows Explorer. Paths can be passed to the commands either as arguments or through stdin/stdout (pipe). Implemented with COM (Component Object Model) technology to avoid limitations for path length or number of files.

Usage

(If you use Windows 11 and don't want to press Shift or click "Show More Options" everytime) Revert to old context menu

Run this command in cmd.exe or Win+R dialog and restart explorer.exe.

reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32 /f /ve"

Register as a class

Simply double-click to run ExecuteCommandXXXX.exe with no arguments, and it properly registers itself in the registry.

• Each released executable ExecuteCommandXXXX.exe has CLSID {FFA07888-75BD-471A-B325-59274E73XXXX}.
  • Since the CLSID must be determined in compile time and we have no method to pass arguments from outside the CLSID, we need a separate executable file for each command.
• When run without admin right, it registers itself in HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{FFA07888-75BD-471A-B325-59274E73XXXX}.
  • The full path of the executable is stored in the default value of HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{FFA07888-75BD-471A-B325-59274E73XXXX}\LocalServer32.
• When run with admin right, it asks if it should use HKLM instead of HKCU.
  • But user-specific HKCU will be safer than system-wide HKLM.
  • If you use HKLM, you should not place the executable file inside C:\Users\username.
• You can also register it manually.
• Note that HKCR is the result of merging HKCU\Software\Classes and HKLM\Software\Classes together.
  • You can edit things in HKCR, but you should be aware which of HKCU or HKLM they come from.
• If you move the executable file, you should update the path in the registry.

Modify the argument

Once the CLSID is registered, you can append any argument to the executable path in [HKCU or HKLM]\Software\Classes\CLSID\{FFA07888-75BD-471A-B325-59274E73XXXX}\LocalServer32, according to your purpose (see examples below).

After the modification, rename the "LocalServer32" to any other name and then return it back (this seems the easiest way to reset some cache and apply the change).

Available Options for ExecuteCommandXXXX.exe

• Basic usage: ExecuteCommandXXXX.exe [mode] [prefix] commandline
  • [mode] is either a, ah, p, or ph.
    • a and ah are "argument-mode", where stdin/stdout is not used.
      • Typically this mode is easier to setup, but note that Windows has 32767 character command line length limit.
    • p and ph are "pipe-mode", where files are passed through pipe.
      • "\n" (LF, 0x0A) is appended to each path (including the last one).
    • If ah or ph is specified, the console window is hidden when the commandline is executed.
  • [prefix] can be any string without whitespaces. Symbols are recommended (e.g. # or $$).
    • Note that [prefix] must be specified even if it's actually not used (typically, in pipe-mode).
  • In commandline, some replacements are done:
    • If a [prefix] is followed by f, they will be replaced by the (whitespace-separated) list of double-quoted paths of the all files and directories passed.
    • If a [prefix] is followed by v, they will be replaced by the verb name (i.e. registry key name).
• For directory background (HKCR\Directory\Background\shell), the background directory path is used instead of the passed file paths.
• (for debugging) If no argument is specified, it shows some information in a messagebox and exit.

Examples

• For a single directory
  • Open Git Bash
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # cmd /c ""C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\cygpath" -f - | "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\xargs" -d '\n' -I {} "C:\Program Files\Git\git-bash.exe" -c "cd \"{}\";exec bash""
  • Open Git Bash in Windows' default terminal
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # cmd /c ""C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\cygpath" -f - | "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\xargs.exe" -d '\n' -I {} cmd /c start "" "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\env.exe" MSYSTEM=MINGW64 "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\bash.exe" --login -i -c "cd \"{}\";exec bash""
    • You need // in order for Git Bash's executables to pass / to Windows executables. You won't need it if you use Cygwin's xargs instead.
  • Open Cygwin bash
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # cmd /c ""C:\cygwin64\bin\cygpath" -f - | "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\xargs" -d '\n' -I {} "C:\cygwin64\bin\mintty.exe" -e "C:\cygwin64\bin\bash.exe" --login -i -c "cd \"{}\";exec bash""
    • Here you can use cygwin's xargs instead.
  • Open Cygwin Bash in Windows' default terminal
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # cmd /c ""C:\cygwin64\bin\cygpath" -f - | "C:\cygwin64\bin\xargs.exe" -d '\n' -I {} cmd /c start "" C:\cygwin64\bin\bash.exe --login -i -c "cd \"{}\";exec bash""
  • Open VS Code
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe a # "C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" #f
• For multiple files or directories
  • pass files as a string argument, opening interactive window
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe a # "C:\path\to\script.bat" #f
      • Here, script.bat may contain interactive commands (like pause)
      • (If you use pipe-mode to do this, you need some other command to keep alive the desired program after EOF.)
        • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # "C:\cygwin64\bin\xargs.exe" -d '\n' -- cmd /c start "" cmd /c "C:\path\to\script.bat"
  • pass to mpv's stdin
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe p # C:\path\to\mpv\mpv.exe --player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui --playlist=-
  • write paths to file
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # busybox sh -c "cat > $HOME/out.txt"
  • run a GUI application for each file (don't run this for too many files!) (use cygwin's xargs in recent Windows 11; refer to #3)
    • C:\path\to\ExecuteCommand4000.exe ph # "C:\cygwin64\bin\xargs.exe" -d '\n' -n1 -P0 "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Windows NT/Accessories/wordpad.exe"
    • Ordinary "Default" registry value may be sufficient in this case.

Invoke the class by DelegateExecute

If properly registered as a class, it can be invoked by writing the CLSID (including {}) to the DelegateExecute value of command keys for respective context menus. At least the following registry keys work. Tested in Windows 11.

• HKCR\SystemFileAssociations\.xxx\shell or HKCR\SystemFileAssociations\XXXXXXX\shell (right-click)
• HKCR\*\shell (right-click, for all files)
• HKCR\Directory\shell (right-click, for directories)
• HKCR\Directory\Background\shell (right-clicking blank area in directories)
  • We don't need this for most cases, because a single path can be easily handled by ordinary "Default" registry value. NoWorkingDirectory can be used to avoid errors with directories of long (>258) paths.
• HKCR\XXXXXXX\shell, specified by HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xxx\UserChoice (right-click or as default apps (double-click or return key))
  • Since the values of UserChoice cannot be directly changed (even by administrators), you should use a dummy file to associate .xxx with and then change value in HKCR\XXXXXXX\shell.

Example .reg files

• for .txt

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\SystemFileAssociations\.txt\shell\mycommand]
  @="mycommand_name"
  "Icon"="C:\\WINDOWS\\notepad.exe"
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\SystemFileAssociations\.txt\shell\mycommand\command]
  "DelegateExecute"="{FFA07888-75BD-471A-B325-59274E734000}"
  
  

• for directory background

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\VSCode]
  @="MyVSCode"
  "Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe"
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\VSCode\command]
  "DelegateExecute"="{FFA07888-75BD-471A-B325-59274E734000}"
  
  

Building

Use Visual Studio or MSBuild.exe. build.sh generates multiple exe files with different UUIDs.

License

• MIT (inherited from the original Microsoft sample)
• public domain for my revision