Trendoday

Why a program doesn't work when run from a batch file, but works when clicked

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  • Points118
  • Comments68
–Rank now
#9Peak rank
2Days on list
–Score · 7d
Oct 30, 2026First seen

On Hacker News

Points
118
Comments
68
Submitted by
ibobev
Posted
Oct 26, 2026
Site
devblogs.microsoft.com

Story details from Hacker News ↗ · linked article on devblogs.microsoft.com.

Trending history

Why a program doesn't work when run from a batch file, but works when clicked was first seen on Hacker News · Front page on Oct 30, 2026. Since then it has appeared in 48 checks on 2 different days. Its best position was #9 of 30, reached on Oct 30, 18:22 UTC. It dropped off the list after Oct 31, 01:22 UTC.

Rank history

Position on Hacker News · Front page at every check (lower is better).

#1#11#20#30 10:2214:0717:5221:3701:22 Oct 30, 10:22 UTC · #26Oct 30, 10:37 UTC · #26Oct 30, 10:52 UTC · #26Oct 30, 11:07 UTC · #24Oct 30, 11:22 UTC · #24Oct 30, 11:37 UTC · #26Oct 30, 11:52 UTC · #25Oct 30, 12:07 UTC · #25Oct 30, 12:22 UTC · #24Oct 30, 12:37 UTC · #24Oct 30, 12:52 UTC · #24Oct 30, 13:07 UTC · #24Oct 30, 13:22 UTC · #23Oct 30, 13:37 UTC · #21Oct 30, 13:52 UTC · #20Oct 30, 14:07 UTC · #20Oct 30, 14:22 UTC · #20Oct 30, 14:37 UTC · #19Oct 30, 14:52 UTC · #19Oct 30, 15:07 UTC · #20Oct 30, 15:22 UTC · #19Oct 30, 15:37 UTC · #19Oct 30, 15:52 UTC · #16Oct 30, 16:07 UTC · #18Oct 30, 16:22 UTC · #17Oct 30, 16:37 UTC · #15Oct 30, 16:52 UTC · #17Oct 30, 17:07 UTC · #14Oct 30, 17:22 UTC · #14Oct 30, 17:37 UTC · #13Oct 30, 17:52 UTC · #10Oct 30, 18:07 UTC · #10Oct 30, 18:22 UTC · #9Oct 30, 18:37 UTC · #11Oct 30, 18:52 UTC · #11Oct 30, 19:07 UTC · #11Oct 30, 19:22 UTC · #11Oct 30, 19:37 UTC · #12Oct 30, 19:52 UTC · #13Oct 30, 20:07 UTC · #14Oct 30, 20:22 UTC · #13Oct 30, 21:52 UTC · #14Oct 30, 22:07 UTC · #15Oct 30, 23:37 UTC · #14Oct 30, 23:52 UTC · #14Oct 31, 00:52 UTC · #14Oct 31, 01:07 UTC · #14Oct 31, 01:22 UTC · #15

Last 14 days

Best rank per day (UTC).

Oct 26today

Metric history

Platform metric as reported by Hacker News.

04081122 10:2214:0717:5221:3701:22 Oct 30, 10:22 UTC · 23Oct 30, 10:37 UTC · 25Oct 30, 10:52 UTC · 26Oct 30, 11:07 UTC · 29Oct 30, 11:22 UTC · 31Oct 30, 11:37 UTC · 32Oct 30, 11:52 UTC · 35Oct 30, 12:07 UTC · 37Oct 30, 12:22 UTC · 38Oct 30, 12:37 UTC · 38Oct 30, 12:52 UTC · 40Oct 30, 13:07 UTC · 48Oct 30, 13:22 UTC · 52Oct 30, 13:37 UTC · 54Oct 30, 13:52 UTC · 56Oct 30, 14:07 UTC · 58Oct 30, 14:22 UTC · 60Oct 30, 14:37 UTC · 63Oct 30, 14:52 UTC · 64Oct 30, 15:07 UTC · 67Oct 30, 15:22 UTC · 73Oct 30, 15:37 UTC · 77Oct 30, 15:52 UTC · 79Oct 30, 16:07 UTC · 80Oct 30, 16:22 UTC · 82Oct 30, 16:37 UTC · 85Oct 30, 16:52 UTC · 87Oct 30, 17:07 UTC · 93Oct 30, 17:22 UTC · 94Oct 30, 17:37 UTC · 97Oct 30, 17:52 UTC · 99Oct 30, 18:07 UTC · 102Oct 30, 18:22 UTC · 103Oct 30, 18:37 UTC · 105Oct 30, 18:52 UTC · 105Oct 30, 19:07 UTC · 106Oct 30, 19:22 UTC · 108Oct 30, 19:37 UTC · 109Oct 30, 19:52 UTC · 110Oct 30, 20:07 UTC · 110Oct 30, 20:22 UTC · 111Oct 30, 21:52 UTC · 115Oct 30, 22:07 UTC · 115Oct 30, 23:37 UTC · 117Oct 30, 23:52 UTC · 118Oct 31, 00:52 UTC · 122Oct 31, 01:07 UTC · 122Oct 31, 01:22 UTC · 122

From the discussion

A few top-level comments from Hacker News, shortened. Read the full thread on Hacker News.

With drive letters, a neat functionality in DOS/Windows command prompts (don't ask me about Powershell) is that each letter can have its own "current directory". So if you have ffmpeg.exe in C:\Program Files\FFMpeg\bin, and you have some source files in D:\SourceVideos, and you want to process them in ffmpeg and…

How much are these customers paying for support to have Raymond Chen on first level support to debug their batch files?

> Explorer sets the current directory of the program to the directory containing the thing that you double-clicked I found the linked article to informative and confirming my suspicion: "The thing that you clicked" doesn't have to be the executable - it could also be a document with the executable registered as…

Questions

Is Why a program doesn't work when run from a batch file, but works when clicked trending on Hacker News right now?

Not at the moment. It was last on the list on Oct 31, 01:22 UTC, after 2 days of trending.

What is the highest rank Why a program doesn't work when run from a batch file, but works when clicked reached?

#9 on Hacker News · Front page, on Oct 30, 18:22 UTC. Trendoday checks this list every 15 minutes.

How long has Why a program doesn't work when run from a batch file, but works when clicked been trending?

It was first seen on Oct 30, 2026 and has been on the list on 2 days (48 checks) since.

How much discussion did it get on Hacker News?

118 points and 68 comments; submitted by ibobev on Oct 26, 2026.