RunExit

RUNEXIT.EXE is a simple 16-bit Windows utility intended to run a single application and immediately exit Windows after that application quits.

It is ideal for use with emulation systems like DOSBox, where you may want to be able to launch a Windows game (or application) and have it automatically start and then exit once the program has finished.

This has been tested with DOSBox 0.74 and DOSBox-X 2024.03.01 using their native DOS implementations, with Windows 3.1.

Origins

This is a fork of version 1.1 of the application (26th May 2013), written by Steven Henk Don.

https://www.shdon.com/software/tools

https://www.shdon.com/files/runexit.zip

This tag contains the original source code of version 1.1 along with a build of the release. The original source is redistributed with the permission of Steven, and subsequent changes within this fork of the code are released under the MIT License.

Changes from original version

• The trailing \ is removed from the application directory path
  When parsing the application path to determine what the working directory should be set to, the original version would include the trailing \ within the path and pass that through to ShellExecute.
  eg. C:\MPS\GPM\GPM.EXE would set the working directory as C:\MPS\GPM\
  This version sets the working directory without the trailing \:
  C:\MPS\GPM\GPM.EXE now sets the working directory as C:\MPS\GPM

• Exit Windows will keep retrying for ~10 seconds
  Depending on the application being launched, sometimes the exit from Windows after the application had finished would intermittently (but consistently) fail.
  This version of the application will keep trying to exit Windows for ~10 seconds after the application has finished. If it still cannot exit Windows then it will prompt the user that it has failed.

• ShellExecute error codes are now displayed
  If ShellExecute fails to run the application, then a message box is displayed along with the error code. A list of error codes are here.

Usage

Download RUNEXIT.EXE from the releases page and copy it to your system; these examples will assume that you save it to C:\RUNEXIT\RUNEXIT.EXE and that win is in your PATH.

Basic Usage

win C:\runexit\runexit.exe [path to application] [optional application parameters]

Example 1

Run application C:\MPS\GPM\GPM.EXE with no additional parameters.

win C:\runexit\runexit.exe c:\mps\gpm\gpm.exe

Example 2

Run application C:\GAMES\MYGAME\GAME.EXE with parameter /cheatmode

win C:\runexit\runexit.exe c:\games\mygame\game.exe /cheatmode

Example 3

DOSBox AUTOEXEC to run application C:\MPS\GPM\GPM.EXE with no additional parameters.
On running DOSBox this would load Windows and run the application. Once the application is closed Windows will then exit, and DOSBox will close.

mount C "data/drive_c"
PATH C:\WINDOWS;
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
C:
win C:\runexit\runexit.exe c:\mps\gpm\gpm.exe
exit

Building from Source

1. Use a Windows 3.1 system
2. Install Borland Delphi 1.00
3. Open project RUNEXIT.DPR with the Delphi application
   or
   Build from the command line C:\delphi\bin\dcc.exe c:\runexit\runexit.dpr

Technical Quick Reference

Windows API ShellExecute

ShellExecute (0, nil, @fileName [1], @params [1], @pathName [1], SW_SHOWNORMAL);

Parameter	Description
0	Handle to the parent window. 0 for no parent
nil	The operation to perform A null value will use the default of open.
fileName	Application name eg. GPM.EXE
params	Application parameters eg. /cheatmode
pathName	Application path eg. C:\MPS\GPM
SW_SHOWNORMAL	State the application window is set to to

Error Codes

Value	Meaning
0	System was out of memory, executable file was corrupt, or relocations were invalid.
2	File was not found.
3	Path was not found.
5	Attempt was made to dynamically link to a task, or there was a sharing or network-protection error.
6	Library required separate data segments for each task.
8	There was insufficient memory to start the application.
10	Windows version was incorrect.
11	Executable file was invalid. Either it was not a Windows application or there was an error in the .EXE image.
12	Application was designed for a different operating system.
13	Application was designed for MS-DOS 4.0.
14	Type of executable file was unknown.
15	Attempt was made to load a real-mode application (developed for an earlier version of Windows).
16	Attempt was made to load a second instance of an executable file containing multiple data segments that were not marked read-only.
19	Attempt was made to load a compressed executable file. The file must be decompressed before it can be loaded.
20	Dynamic-link library (DLL) file was invalid. One of the DLLs required to run this application was corrupt.
21	Application requires Microsoft Windows 32-bit extensions.
31	No association for the specified file type or if there is no association for the specified action within the file type.

API references from the Borland Windows API Windows 3.1 Reference Guide Volume 3 1992