@ken Yes the web server is a Windows box, (XP Pro, SP2). The batch file is on the same box yes and in the same directory as the php script. PHP is running, I am able to create "Hello World" and see phpinfo(). I just can't get this function to work and it's the one function this system requires. @businessman332211 I read a user comment that gave this as a suggestion for Windows [code] exec('c:\\WINNT\\system32\\cmd.exe /c START c:\\test.bat'); [/code] Now I'm am wondering if PHP is waiting for some process to complete, because the above seems to be doing something, the page is still "opening page". One user commented using a delphi script but I am lost with that. Here's their snippet [code] Delphi-snippet: WinExec(PChar(<CMD>),SW_SHOW); // replace <CMD> with the program path. [/code]