I have the same error. I'm trying to start a new php process to run a php script in the background. This is what i'm doing:

$WshShell = new COM("WScript.Shell");
$oExec = $WshShell->Run('C:\php\php.exe startEngine.php'); 

the script runs ok when i start it from a command window.
but it gives me this error when i try to run it from a php page:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'com_exception' with message '<b>Source:</b> Unknown<br/><b>Description:</b> Unknown' in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\M3PHP\Engine\EngineService.php:60 Stack trace: #0 c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\M3PHP\Engine\EngineService.php(60): com->Run('C:\php\php.exe ...') #1 {main} thrown in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\M3PHP\Engine\EngineService.php on line 60
PHP Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'com_exception' with message 'Source: Unknown
Description: Unknown' in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\M3PHP\Engine\EngineService.php:60 Stack trace: #0 c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\M3PHP\Engine\EngineService.php(60): com->Run('C:\php\php.exe ...') #1 {main} thrown in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\M3PHP\Engine\EngineService.php on line 60

Has there any progress, or workaround with this problem ?

I've just tried it with Apache/2.2.4 (Win32) PHP/5.2.3 on a Windows 2003R2 server. The same was orrucing with PHP v5.2.2.

Jim.....

I tried on Windows Vista SP1, PHP 5.2.1 and getting the same error.

Are there any news about this?

i get same error .

the error code is 

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'com_exception' with message '<b>Source:</b> Unknown<br/><b>Description:</b> Unknown' in D:\xampp\htdocs\snap\snap.php:4 Stack trace: #0 D:\xampp\htdocs\snap\snap.php(4): unknown() #1 {main} thrown in D:\xampp\htdocs\snap\snap.php on line 4


my source code is from demo of 

http://cn.php.net/manual/en/function.imagegrabwindow.php

<?php
$browser = new COM("InternetExplorer.Application");
$handle = $browser->HWND;
$browser->Visible = true;
$browser->Navigate("http://www.libgd.org");

/* Still working? */
while ($browser->Busy) {
    com_message_pump(4000);
}
$im = imagegrabwindow($handle, 0);
$browser->Quit();
imagepng($im, "iesnap.png");
imagedestroy($im);
?>

Hello guys,
I've had similar problems trying to start application in the background, but 
always getting the Source: Unknown error.

For me the cause was, that backslashes weren't escaped, so please double check 
your code.

First, a com_exception with the message "Source: Unknown
Description: Unknown" is thrown when a dispatch exception occurs,
but the automation server does neither provide a source nor a
description.  That means this is a rather generic error message,
which does not tell anything about the root cause.  Likely, the
different commenters here have different issues.

Regarding the OP: Microsoft Virtual Server had its last release in
2007, so I assume this issue is obsolete.  Am I wrong?

> the script runs ok when i start it from a command window.
> but it gives me this error when i try to run it from a php page:

This hints at some environmental issues (maybe insufficient
permissions).

Regarding the imagegrabwindow() example from the docs: while I
don't get any error or exception, I get a completely black image.
A quick look at the implementation of imagegrabwindow() shows that
the error handling should be improved.

And I think the error handling of this particular com_exception
should also be improved, but that is tracked in bug #51904.

No feedback was provided. The bug is being suspended because
we assume that you are no longer experiencing the problem.
If this is not the case and you are able to provide the
information that was requested earlier, please do so and
change the status of the bug back to "Re-Opened". Thank you.