Description:
------------
Within windows CMD32, the following works (obviously you will need to have a Windows system with Internet Explorer installed).

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE"

Will load Internet Explorer.

In PHP run from the CLI ...

<?php
$sOutput = shell_exec('"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE"');
?>

Will load Internet Explorer and wait until it is closed.

If you want to pass the program a parameter then you would wrap the parameter with double quotes.

e.g.

From the command line ...

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" "http://www.google.com"

Will load Internet Explorer and place you at Google.

If you try the same sort of thing in PHP ...

<?php
$sOutput = shell_exec('"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" "http://www.google.com"');
?>

You get an error of ...

'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.



Reproduce code:
---------------
<?php
$sOutput = shell_exec('"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" "http://www.google.com"');
?>

Expected result:
----------------
Internet Explorer loads with the Google page being displayed.

Actual result:
--------------
'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.