#!perl
use strict;
use Win32::OLE;
use Win32::OLE::Variant;
my $exe='\\machine_b\path\exename.exe';
my $user="admin";
my $pass="admin";
my $server='machine_a';
my $c = connectServer( $server, $user, $pass );
if($c){
	my $pid = startProcess( $c, $exe );
	print "Pid: $pid\n";
	}
else{print "unable to connect to $server\n";}
###############
sub connectServer {
	my ( $server, $username, $password ) = @_;
	$server ||= '.';  # localhost
	my $locator = Win32::OLE->new("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator") || return 0;
	my $serverConn = $locator->ConnectServer($server, "root/cimv2", $username, $password) || return 0;
	return $serverConn;
	}
###############
sub startProcess {
    my ( $serverConn, $exe, $startupFolder ) = @_;
    my $startClass = $serverConn->Get("Win32_Process") || return "Could Not Connect";
    my $startConfig = $startClass->SpawnInstance_ ;
    my $pid = Variant(VT_I4|VT_BYREF, 0);
    my $retval = $startClass->Create( $exe, $startupFolder, undef, $pid );
    if ( 0 == $retval  ) {return $pid;}
    else {return "Could not start $exe errcode: " . decode_error($retval);}
}
################
sub decode_error {
	my %h = (
	    1    =>    "Not Supported",
	    2    =>    "Access Denied",
	    3    =>    "Dependent Services Running",
	    4    =>    "Invalid Service Control",
	    5    =>    "Service Cannot Accept Control",
	    6    =>    "Service Not Active",
	    7    =>    "Service Request Timeout",
	    8    =>    "Unknown Failure",
	    9    =>    "Path Not Found",
	    10    =>    "Service Already Running",
	    11    =>    "Service Database Locked",
	    12    =>    "Service Dependency Deleted",
	    13    =>    "Service Dependency Failure",
	    14    =>    "Service Disabled",
	    15    =>    "Service Logon Failure",
	    16    =>    "Service Marked For Deletion",
	    17    =>    "Service No Thread",
	    18    =>    "Status Circular Dependency",
	    19    =>    "Status Duplicate Name",
	    20    =>    "Status Invalid Name",
	    21    =>    "Status Invalid Parameter",
	    22    =>    "Status Invalid Service Account",
	    23    =>    "Status Service Exists",
	    24    =>    "Service Already Paused",
	);
	return $h{$_[0]} ? $h{$_[0]} : "Can't resolve error code $_[0]";
	}