exe file not found while compiled with pyinstaller

I want to execute an exe file from a python file that is compiled using pyinstaller

I’m using the following code:

import subprocess, os, sys

def resource_path(relative_path):
    """ Get absolute path to resource, works for dev and for PyInstaller """
    try:
        # PyInstaller creates a temp folder and stores path in _MEIPASS
        base_path = sys._MEIPASS
    except Exception:
        base_path = os.path.abspath(".")

    return os.path.join(base_path, relative_path)

new_path = resource_path("executable.exe")
    
print new_path
subprocess.Popen(new_path)

And I compile it using:

pyinstaller --add-binary executable.exe;exe -F incluse.py

Which creates incluse.exe and If I execute it I get the following error:

C:UsersMyUsernameAppDataLocalTemp_MEI13~1executable.exe
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "incluse.py", line 16, in <module>
  File "subprocess.py", line 394, in __init__
  File "subprocess.py", line 644, in _execute_child
WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified
[21812] Failed to execute script incluse

What I want it to do is execute the executable.exe that I included, which should come up with a message box.

Answer

You can bundle another binary into your exe with pyinstaller using the --add-binary option.

In your Python script you can then call the exe embedded within your exe by using subprocess.Popen(exe_path). You can use sys._MEIPASS to access the temporary location that the exe will be found at in order to build the path to the exe.

Example

putty_launcher.py

import os
import sys
import subprocess

if getattr(sys, 'frozen', False):
        base_path = sys._MEIPASS
else:
        base_path = ""

exe_path = os.path.join(base_path, 'binariesputty.exe')

subprocess.Popen(exe_path)

Folder Structure

root
├── binaries
│   └── putty.exe
├── putty_launcher.py

In the root folder, execute:

pyinstaller --add-binary "binariesputty.exe;binaries" --onefile putty_launcher.py

This will then build an exe from the putty_launcher.py script which can successfully call the version of putty.exe that is embedded within the exe.