[windows] How can I run a windows batch file but hide the command window?

How can I run a windows batch file but hiding the command window? I dont want cmd.exe to be visible on screen when the file is being executed. Is this possible?

For any executable file, you can run your program using cmd with "c" parameter:

cmd /c "your program address"\"YourFileName".bat  

(->if it's a batch file!) As a final solution, I suggest that you create a .cmd file and put this command in it:

cmd /c "your program address"\"YourFileName".bat
exit

Now just run this .cmd file.

Use Bat To Exe Converter and compile the Bat file as an executable.

Steps:

1. Open Bat to Exe Converter
2. Select your Bat file
3. In the options select "Invisible Application"
4. Finish by pressing the compile button

Using C# it's very easy to start a batch command without having a window open. Have a look at the following code example:

        Process process = new Process();
        process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
        process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
        process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
        process.StartInfo.FileName = "doSomeBatch.bat";
        process.Start();

1,Download the bat to exe converter and install it 2,Run the bat to exe application 3,Download .pco images if you want to make good looking exe 4,specify the bat file location(c:\my.bat) 5,Specify the location for saving the exe(ex:c:/my.exe) 6,Select Version Information Tab 7,Choose the icon file (downloaded .pco image) 8,if you want fill the information like version,comapny name etc 9,change the tab to option 10,Select the invisible application(This will hide the command prompt while running the application) 11,Choose 32 bit(if you select 64 bit exe will work only in 32 bit OS) 12,Compile 13,Copy the exe to the location where bat file executed properly 14,Run the exe

You could write a windows service that does nothing but execute your batch file. Since services run in their own desktop session, the command window won't be visible by the user.

Native C++ codified version of Oleg's answer -- this is copy/pasted from a project I work on under the Boost Software License.

BOOL noError;
STARTUPINFO startupInfo;
PROCESS_INFORMATION processInformation;
ZeroMemory(&startupInfo, sizeof(startupInfo));
startupInfo.cb = sizeof(startupInfo);
startupInfo.dwFlags = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
startupInfo.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
noError = CreateProcess(
    NULL,                                           //lpApplicationName
    //Okay the const_cast is bad -- this code was written a while ago.
    //should probably be &commandLine[0] instead. Oh, and commandLine is
    //a std::wstring
    const_cast<LPWSTR>(commandLine.c_str()),        //lpCommandLine
    NULL,                                           //lpProcessAttributes
    NULL,                                           //lpThreadAttributes
    FALSE,                                          //bInheritHandles
    CREATE_NO_WINDOW | CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT,  //dwCreationFlags
    //This is for passing in a custom environment block -- you can probably
    //just use NULL here.
    options.e ? environment : NULL,                 //lpEnvironment
    NULL,                                           //lpCurrentDirectory
    &startupInfo,                                   //lpStartupInfo
    &processInformation                             //lpProcessInformation
);

if(!noError)
{
    return GetLastError();
}

DWORD exitCode = 0;

if (options.w) //Wait
{
    WaitForSingleObject(processInformation.hProcess, INFINITE);
    if (GetExitCodeProcess(processInformation.hProcess, &exitCode) == 0)
    {
        exitCode = (DWORD)-1;
    }
}

CloseHandle( processInformation.hProcess );
CloseHandle( processInformation.hThread );

Create a shortcut to your bat file by using the right-click and selecting Create shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut you created and click on properties. Click on the Run drop-down box and select Minimized.

To self-hide already running script you'll need getCmdPid.bat and windowoMode.bat

@echo off

echo self minimizing
call getCmdPid.bat
call windowMode.bat -pid %errorlevel% -mode hidden

echo --other commands--
pause

Here I've compiled all ways that I know to start a hidden process with batch without external tools.With a ready to use scripts (some of them rich on options) , and all of them form command line.Where is possible also the PID is returned .Used tools are IEXPRESS,SCHTASKS,WScript.Shell,Win32_Process and JScript.Net - but all of them wrapped in a .bat files.

This little VBScript from technet does the trick:

Const HIDDEN_WINDOW = 12

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set objStartup = objWMIService.Get("Win32_ProcessStartup")

Set objConfig = objStartup.SpawnInstance_
objConfig.ShowWindow = HIDDEN_WINDOW
Set objProcess = GetObject("winmgmts:root\cimv2:Win32_Process")
errReturn = objProcess.Create("mybatch.bat", null, objConfig, intProcessID)

Edit mybatch.bat to your bat file name, save as a vbs, run it.

Doc says it's not tested in Win7, but I just tested it, it works fine. Won't show any window for whatever process you run