Windows shellcode not working in C

Question

I have been trying to run a raw piece of shellcode collected on the net within a C wrapper to try it but it never works...

I know the shellcode below is all right because it does work in the context of what the article is all about (making it run within a VirtualAlloc with EXEC rights), see: http://0xdabbad00.com/2012/12/07/dep-data-execution-prevention-explanation/

But then when i just leave it on the stack and try to run it, with DEP turned off (and /NX off as well from Visual Studio to be certain...), on Windows 7, all i get is an exception and no window popup...

    /****  DOESNT WORK ****/

        #include "pch.h"
        #include <windows.h>
        char shellcode[] = {
                0x66, 0x81, 0xE4, 0xFC, 0xFF, 0x31, 0xF6, 0x56, 0x64, 0x8B, 0x76, 0x30, 0x8B, 0x76, 0x0C, 0x8B,
                0x76, 0x1C, 0x8B, 0x6E, 0x08, 0x8B, 0x36, 0x8B, 0x5D, 0x3C, 0x8B, 0x5C, 0x1D, 0x78, 0x01, 0xEB,
                0x8B, 0x4B, 0x18, 0x67, 0xE3, 0xEC, 0x8B, 0x7B, 0x20, 0x01, 0xEF, 0x8B, 0x7C, 0x8F, 0xFC, 0x01,
                0xEF, 0x31, 0xC0, 0x99, 0x32, 0x17, 0x66, 0xC1, 0xCA, 0x01, 0xAE, 0x75, 0xF7, 0x66, 0x81, 0xFA,
                0x2A, 0xB6, 0x74, 0x09, 0x66, 0x81, 0xFA, 0xAA, 0x1A, 0xE0, 0xDB, 0x75, 0xC5, 0x8B, 0x53, 0x24,
                0x01, 0xEA, 0x0F, 0xB7, 0x14, 0x4A, 0x8B, 0x7B, 0x1C, 0x01, 0xEF, 0x03, 0x2C, 0x97, 0x85, 0xF6,
                0x74, 0x15, 0x68, 0x33, 0x32, 0x20, 0x20, 0x68, 0x75, 0x73, 0x65, 0x72, 0x54, 0xFF, 0xD5, 0x95,
                0x31, 0xF6, 0xE9, 0xA0, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x56, 0x68, 0x72, 0x6C, 0x64, 0x21, 0x68, 0x6F, 0x20,
                0x77, 0x6F, 0x68, 0x48, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x6C, 0x54, 0x87, 0x04, 0x24, 0x50, 0x50, 0x56, 0xFF, 0xD5,
                0xCC
        };
        int main(int argc, char **argv) {

            int *ret;
            ret = (int *)&ret + 2;
            (*ret) = (int)shellcode;
        }



/**** WORKS **** /

//see http://0xdabbad00.com/2012/12/07/dep-data-execution-prevention-explanation/

#include <windows.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    char shellcode[] = { //identical to above
        0x66, 0x81, 0xE4, 0xFC, 0xFF, 0x31, 0xF6, 0x56, 0x64, 0x8B, 0x76, 0x30, 0x8B, 0x76, 0x0C, 0x8B,
        0x76, 0x1C, 0x8B, 0x6E, 0x08, 0x8B, 0x36, 0x8B, 0x5D, 0x3C, 0x8B, 0x5C, 0x1D, 0x78, 0x01, 0xEB,
        0x8B, 0x4B, 0x18, 0x67, 0xE3, 0xEC, 0x8B, 0x7B, 0x20, 0x01, 0xEF, 0x8B, 0x7C, 0x8F, 0xFC, 0x01,
        0xEF, 0x31, 0xC0, 0x99, 0x32, 0x17, 0x66, 0xC1, 0xCA, 0x01, 0xAE, 0x75, 0xF7, 0x66, 0x81, 0xFA,
        0x2A, 0xB6, 0x74, 0x09, 0x66, 0x81, 0xFA, 0xAA, 0x1A, 0xE0, 0xDB, 0x75, 0xC5, 0x8B, 0x53, 0x24,
        0x01, 0xEA, 0x0F, 0xB7, 0x14, 0x4A, 0x8B, 0x7B, 0x1C, 0x01, 0xEF, 0x03, 0x2C, 0x97, 0x85, 0xF6,
        0x74, 0x15, 0x68, 0x33, 0x32, 0x20, 0x20, 0x68, 0x75, 0x73, 0x65, 0x72, 0x54, 0xFF, 0xD5, 0x95,
        0x31, 0xF6, 0xE9, 0xA0, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x56, 0x68, 0x72, 0x6C, 0x64, 0x21, 0x68, 0x6F, 0x20,
        0x77, 0x6F, 0x68, 0x48, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x6C, 0x54, 0x87, 0x04, 0x24, 0x50, 0x50, 0x56, 0xFF, 0xD5,
        0xCC
    };

    void *exec = VirtualAlloc(0, sizeof shellcode, MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE);
    memcpy(exec, shellcode, sizeof shellcode);
    ((void(*)())exec)();
}