Getting a .HTA file to run through Software Delivery

Products

• Software Management Solution

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
 

When setting up a Software Delivery task to run a .HTA file using MSHTA.EXE, nothing appears on the screen and the process never ends.  Why is that?

Answer
Running a .HTA file through MSHTA.EXE requires a direct path to the file you are running.  If the command line is:

mshta.exe file.hta

 

Then the mshta process will start but nothing will appear on the screen.  The best way to call mshta to get the item to appear on the screen would be to set up Software Delivery with a alternate download path (such as C:\temp) and run the command as follows:

mshta.exe c:\temp\file.hta

This will cause the file to display properly.  The same results can be seen when attempting to run the file through a Command Prompt.