KB5002653 issue with the Kernel Function GetCommandLineW

Interrupting in this thread with a comments not based on VBA.

We have had the same issue as described in this thread and have implemented the standard functionality with GetCommandLine. We are running Excel 2016 32-bit.

GetCommandLine was broken by a Windows/Office update. The string it returned was simply cut off and incomplete causing the program to fail with an error. I cannot find KB5002653 in the Update History on the server any longer, so maybe it has included in a more recent update. I don't know.

Nevertheless, what worked for us in two instances now was to unistall Excel 2016 32-bit from the server and reinstall it again.

Somehow this restores the way GetCommandLine works, even with the Windows/Office updates, and the solution is now running again. How and why, I do not know however.

LionelG,

This bug still exists, so I think I have a rough workaround.

In the main routine, there is an If block for Excel 2016, then there is a workaround function that gets the length of the command line and adds enough length to it to read the longest switches. After that the missing quote is added where it was truncated.

Workaround function:

'TODO: Trim extra length, rather than relying on CommandLineToArgvW
Private Function GetOffice2016CommandLine(ByVal pointer_vba As LongPtr) As String
  
  Const BytesPerCharacter As Long = 2&
  Const ExtendCommandLineCharacters As Long = 16& 'Extend by maximum switch length only - could cause rare crashes
  
  Dim bBuffer() As Byte
  Dim lTruncatedStringLength As Long
  Dim lStringLength As Long
  Dim lBufferLength As Long
  Dim tString As String
  
  If pointer_vba <> 0& Then
    lTruncatedStringLength = lstrlen(pointer_vba)
    lStringLength = lTruncatedStringLength + ExtendCommandLineCharacters
    
    If lStringLength > 0& Then
      lBufferLength = lStringLength * BytesPerCharacter
      ReDim bBuffer(0& To (lBufferLength - 1&)) As Byte
      APICommandLine.CopyMemory bBuffer(0&), ByVal pointer_vba, lBufferLength
      
      tString = bBuffer
      
      'add missing final quote
      Mid$(tString, lTruncatedStringLength + 1&, 1&) = Chr(34) 'quote
      
      GetOffice2016CommandLine = tString
    End If
  End If
    
End Function

In main function:

  'get a pointer to the current process' command line
  lCommandLinePointer = APICommandLine.GetCommandLine()
    
  If Val(Application.Version) = 16# Then
    If Val(Application.Build) >= 5474# Then 'KB5002653
      If Val(Application.Build) < 10000# Then '?Patched in Office 365, 2019, 2021, 2024 etc.
        tCommandLine = APICommandLine.PointerToString(lCommandLinePointer)
        
        'a switch is not found
        If InStr(1&, tCommandLine, " /", vbBinaryCompare) = 0& Then
          'get an extended copy of the truncated command line
          tCommandLine = APICommandLine.GetOffice2016CommandLine(lCommandLinePointer)
          'get a pointer to the Unicode command line string copy
          lCommandLinePointer = StrPtr(tCommandLine)
        End If
        
      End If
    End If
  End If
  
  'get a pointer to the command line arguments
  lCommandLineArgumentsPointer = APICommandLine.CommandLineToArgv(lCommandLinePointer, lCommandLineArgumentsCount)

Thanks NikolinoDE

Nice try 😉, the extra quotes was not the big deal.

The big problem is the missing part "/parameter"
I don't think there is a workaround for that, except uninstall the KB.

It's more to inform potential unlucky users working on the old excel 2016 like me, I hope M$ plans a "Patch for the patch" 😅.

There is other known issue with this KB.

The issue you are experiencing with the GetCommandLineW function being affected by the installation of KB5002653 indicates a change in how command-line arguments are being parsed or returned by Windows after this update. This can cause the result of the function to be truncated or formatted differently, impacting VBA macros that rely on this function for processing command-line arguments.

Potential Solutions

Modify VBA Code.

Example of modification:

Function CleanCmdLine(cmdLine As String) As String
    ' Remove leading and trailing quotes if present
    If Left(cmdLine, 1) = """" And Right(cmdLine, 1) = """" Then
        cmdLine = Mid(cmdLine, 2, Len(cmdLine) - 2)
    End If
    CleanCmdLine = cmdLine
End Function

Consider using different APIs or approaches that might be less affected by the update. For instance, using Command$ in VBA directly may yield different results:

Sub GetCommandUsingVBA()
    MsgBox "Command line parameters: " & Command$
End Sub

Here is an attempt at a customized version of your code that handles the potential problems with extra quotes or format changes in the command line string returned by GetCommandLineW.

Declare Function GetCommandLine Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetCommandLineW" () As Long
Declare Function lstrlenW Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString As Long) As Long
Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (MyDest As Any, MySource As Any, ByVal MySize As Long)

Function ReadCmdLine() As String

    Dim pCmdLine As Long     ' Pointer to the string
    Dim Buffer() As Byte
    Dim StrLen As Long
    Dim RawCmdLine As String

    ' Get the pointer to the command line string
    pCmdLine = GetCommandLine

    StrLen = lstrlenW(pCmdLine) * 2
    If StrLen Then
        ReDim Buffer(0 To (StrLen - 1)) As Byte
        CopyMemory Buffer(0), ByVal pCmdLine, StrLen
        RawCmdLine = Buffer
    End If

    ' Clean up potential extra quotes and formatting issues
    RawCmdLine = CleanCmdLine(RawCmdLine)

    ReadCmdLine = RawCmdLine

End Function

Function CleanCmdLine(cmdLine As String) As String
    ' Remove leading and trailing quotes if present
    If Left(cmdLine, 1) = """" And Right(cmdLine, 1) = """" Then
        cmdLine = Mid(cmdLine, 2, Len(cmdLine) - 2)
    End If

    ' Further trim or adjust as necessary to handle known formatting issues
    cmdLine = Replace(cmdLine, """", "") ' Remove internal quotes if needed

    CleanCmdLine = cmdLine
End Function

The text and steps were edited with the help of AI.

My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

Hope this will help you.

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