pcalua command line options.

[npocmaka_]

pcalua is part of "Program Compatibility Assistant" and as I understand its work - it checks pcalua.pdb in order to apply shims , start the program and then release it. To check/edit the compatibility db you need the compatibility administrator which on MS page leads to a dead link and I don't know if it can be downloaded anymore.

Still pcalua can be used to start an executable or get a dll in a way that eventually suppress some of the windows security restrictions. Pcalua command line switches are not officially documented but here they are:

-a - path the executable to be started. Or a dll to be loaded.
-d - directory where the executable will be started. If skipped current directory will be used.
-c - command line parameters for the executable. Better to be the last switch because it applies everything to end of the line as a parameters.

If only -c is used the file explorer will be open. It will apply compatibility modes even if the compatibility assistant service is stopped (at least according to my tests).

Example:

Code: Select all

pcalua -a msg.exe -d "%windir%" -c * /self /w test-message