java.exe -version and pushd?

Question

I have noticed that when I run the following command

Pushd \\RemoteMachine\C$ && java.exe -version

I get the java version of the computer I am on. However when I run the pushd command with a search option like the command below I get the actual information found on that computer.

Pushd \\RemoteMachine\C$ && dir /s java.exe

Why is this the case? Is it possible to run java.exe -version on a remote PC and have it output that computers information on my screen?

Answer 1

When you run java.exe in your example, the shell only searches the current directory (i.e. \\RemoteMachine\C$) but not its subdirectories. (In other words, it's more like dir java.exe without the /s.)

Since there is no such file in the remote machine's C:\, the next step is to search the directories specified in your %PATH% environment variable (which normally only contains local directories).

To solve your problem, specify the full path to java.exe. You don't even need to use pushd:

C:\> "\\RemoteMachine\C$\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\java.exe" -version

Answer 2

PsExec by SysInternals does exactly what you need it to. Your example would be:

psexec \\RemoteMachine java.exe -version

Answer 3

Although PsExec would get the job done I am unable to use that.

I am able to perform the command java.exe -version on the remote machine by changing the directory once I used pushd.

Pushd \\RemoteComputer\C$
cd "Program Files\Java\jre6\bin"
Java.exe -version

Or all at once

Pushd \\RemoteComputer\C$ && cd "Program Files\Java\jre6\bin" && java.exe -version && popd