How to run a C console application with the console hidden

Question

Is there a way to hide the console window when executing a console application   I am currently using a Windows Forms application to start a console process  but I don t want the console window to be displayed while the task is running

User · Accepted Answer

If you are using the ProcessStartInfo class you can set the window style to hidden - in the case of console  not GUI  applications  you have to set CreateNoWindow to true   System Diagnostics ProcessStartInfo start         new System Diagnostics ProcessStartInfo    start FileName   dir      Myprocesstostart exe   start WindowStyle   System Diagnostics ProcessWindowStyle Hidden    Hides GUI start CreateNoWindow   true    Hides console

User · Answer

I know I m not answering exactly what you want  but I am wondering if you re asking the right question   Why don t you use either    windows service create a new thread and run your process on that   Those sound like better options if all you want is to run a process

User · Answer

Although as other answers here have said you can change the  Output type  to  Windows Application   please be aware that this will mean that you cannot use Console In as it will become a NullStreamReader   Console Out and Console Error seem to still work fine however

User · Answer

If you re interested in the output  you can use this function   private static string ExecCommand string filename  string arguments        Process process   new Process        ProcessStartInfo psi   new ProcessStartInfo filename       psi Arguments   arguments      psi CreateNoWindow   true      psi RedirectStandardOutput   true      psi RedirectStandardError   true      psi UseShellExecute   false      process StartInfo   psi       StringBuilder output   new StringBuilder        process OutputDataReceived     sender  e    gt    output AppendLine e Data          process ErrorDataReceived     sender  e    gt    output AppendLine e Data              run the process     process Start            start reading output to events     process BeginOutputReadLine        process BeginErrorReadLine            wait for process to exit     process WaitForExit         if  process ExitCode    0          throw new Exception  Command     psi FileName     returned exit code     process ExitCode        return output ToString        It runs the given command line program  waits for it to finish and returns the output as string

User · Answer

Simple answer is that  Go to your console app s properties project s properties  In the  Application  tab  just change the  Output type  to  Windows Application   That s all

User · Answer

If you re creating a program that doesn t require user input you could always just create it as a service  A service won t show any kind of UI

User · Answer

You can use the FreeConsole API to detach the console from the process     DllImport  kernel32 dll    static extern bool FreeConsole       of course this is applicable only if you have access to the console application s source code

User · Answer

I ve got a general solution to share   using System  using System Runtime InteropServices   namespace WhateverNamepaceYouAreUsing       class Magician                DllImport  kernel32 dll            static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow              DllImport  user32 dll            static extern bool ShowWindow IntPtr hWnd  int nCmdShow            const int HIDE   0          const int SHOW   5           public static void DisappearConsole                         ShowWindow GetConsoleWindow    HIDE                       Just include this class in your project  and call Magician DisappearConsole      A console will flash when you start the program by clicking on it  When executing from the command prompt  the command prompt disappears very shortly after execution   I do this for a Discord Bot that runs forever in the background of my computer as an invisible process  It was easier than getting TopShelf to work for me  A couple TopShelf tutorials failed me before I wrote this with some help from code I found elsewhere   P  I also tried simply changing the settings in Visual Studio   Project   Properties   Application to launch as a Windows Application instead of a Console Application  and something about my project prevented this from hiding my console - perhaps because DSharpPlus demands to launch a console on startup  I don t know  Whatever the reason  this class allows me to easily kill the console after it pops up   Hope this Magician helps somebody

User · Answer

Just write  ProcessStartInfo psi  new ProcessStartInfo  cmd exe            psi CreateNoWindow   true

User · Answer

If you wrote the console application you can make it hidden by default   Create a new console app then then change the  Output Type  type to  Windows Application   done in the project properties

User · Answer

Add this to your class to import the DLL file    DllImport  user32 dll     static extern bool ShowWindow IntPtr hWnd  int nCmdShow      DllImport  kernel32 dll     static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow     const int SW HIDE   0  const int SW SHOW   5    And then if you want to hide it use this command    var handle   GetConsoleWindow     ShowWindow handle  SW HIDE     And if you want to show the console   var handle   GetConsoleWindow    ShowWindow handle  SW SHOW

User · Answer

Based on Adam Markowitz s answer above  following worked for me   process   new Process    process StartInfo   new ProcessStartInfo  cmd exe     k       CmdFilePath          process StartInfo WindowStyle   System Diagnostics ProcessWindowStyle Hidden    process StartInfo UseShellExecute   false    process StartInfo CreateNoWindow   true  process Start

User · Answer

If you are using Process Class then you can write  yourprocess StartInfo UseShellExecute   false  yourprocess StartInfo CreateNoWindow   true    before yourprocess start    and process will be hidden

[c#] How to run a C# console application with the console hidden

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