How to launch multiple Internet Explorer windows tabs from batch file

Question

I would like a batch file to launch two separate programs then have the command line window close  Actually  to clarify  I am launching Internet Explorer with two different URLs   So far I have something like this   start    iexplore exe   url1  start    iexplore exe   url2    What I get is one instance of Internet Explorer with only the second URL loaded  Seems the second is replacing the second  I seem to remember a syntax where I would load a new command line window and pass the command to execute on load  but can t find the reference   As a second part of the question  what is a good reference URL to keep for the times you need to write a quick batch file   Edit  I have marked an answer  because it does work  I now have two windows open  one for each URL   thanks   The funny thing is that without the  d approach using my original syntax I get different results based on whether I have a pre-existing Internet Explorer instance open     If I do I get two new tabs added for my two URLs  sweet     If not I get only one final tab for the second URL I passed in

User · Answer

Thanks Marcelo  This worked for me  I wanted to open a new IE Window and open two tabs in that so I modified the code   start iexplore exe website PING 1 1 1 1 -n 1 -w 2000  gt NUL  START  d iexplore exe website

User · Answer

The top answer is almost correct  but you also need to add an ampersand at the end of each line  For example write the batch file    start  d    iexplore exe   www google com   amp   start  d    iexplore exe   www yahoo com   amp  start  d    iexplore exe   www blackholesurfer com   amp    The ampersand allows the prompt to return to the shell and launch another tab   This is a windows solution only  but the ampersand has the same effect in linux shell

User · Answer

Try this so you allow enough time for the first process to start   else it will spawn 2 processes because the first one is not still running when you run the second one    This can happen if your computer is too fast     echo off start  d iexplore exe http   google com PING 1 1 1 1 -n 1 -w 2000  gt NUL START  d iexplore exe blablabla   replace blablabla with another address

User · Answer

Of course it is an old post but just for people how will find it through search engine   Another solution is to run it like this for IE9 and later  iexplore exe  -noframemerging http   google com iexplore exe  -noframemerging http   gmail com   -noframemerging means run IE independently  For example it you want to run 2 browser and login as different username it will not work if you just run 2 IE  but with -noframemerging it will work  -noframemerging works for IE9 and later  for early versions like IE8 it is -nomerge  usually I create 1 but file like this run ie bat   c  Program Files  x86  Internet Explorer iexplore exe  -noframemerging  1   and I create another bat file like this run 2 ie bat  start run ie bat http   google com start run ie bat http   yahoo com

User · Answer

You can use either of these two scripts to open the URLs in separate tabs in a  single  new IE window  You can call either of these scripts from within your batch script  or at the command prompt    JavaScript Create a file with a name like   urls js      var navOpenInNewWindow   0x1  var navOpenInNewTab   0x800  var navOpenInBackgroundTab   0x1000   var intLoop   0  var intArrUBound   0  var navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab  var arrstrUrl   new Array 3   var objIE       intArrUBound   arrstrUrl length       arrstrUrl 0     http   bing com        arrstrUrl 1     http   google com        arrstrUrl 2     http   msn com        arrstrUrl 3     http   yahoo com         objIE   new ActiveXObject  InternetExplorer Application        objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl 0         for  intLoop 1 intLoop lt  intArrUBound intLoop               objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl intLoop   navFlags               objIE Visible   true      objIE   null     VB Script Create a file with a name like   urls vbs      Option Explicit  Const navOpenInNewWindow    amp h1 Const navOpenInNewTab    amp h800 Const navOpenInBackgroundTab    amp h1000  Dim intLoop         intLoop   0 Dim intArrUBound    intArrUBound   0 Dim navFlags        navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab  Dim arrstrUrl 3  Dim objIE      intArrUBound   UBound arrstrUrl       arrstrUrl 0     http   bing com       arrstrUrl 1     http   google com       arrstrUrl 2     http   msn com       arrstrUrl 3     http   yahoo com        set objIE   CreateObject  InternetExplorer Application       objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl 0       For intLoop   1 to intArrUBound          objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl intLoop   navFlags      Next      objIE Visible   True     set objIE   Nothing    Once you decide on  JavaScript  or  VB Script   you have a few choices   If your URLs are static     1  You could write the  JS VBS  script file  above  and then just call it from a batch script     From within the batch script  or command prompt   call the  JS VBS  script like this   cscript   nologo urls vbs cscript   nologo urls js    If the URLs change infrequently   2  You could have the batch script write the  JS VBS  script on the fly and then call it      If the URLs could be different each time   3  Use the  JS VBS  scripts  below  and pass the URLs of the pages to open as command line arguments     JavaScript Create a file with a name like   urls js      var navOpenInNewWindow   0x1  var navOpenInNewTab   0x800  var navOpenInBackgroundTab   0x1000   var intLoop   0  var navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab  var objIE  var intArgsLength   WScript Arguments Length       if  intArgsLength    0             WScript Echo  Missing parameters            WScript Quit 1               objIE   new ActiveXObject  InternetExplorer Application        objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments 0         for  intLoop 1 intLoop lt intArgsLength intLoop               objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments intLoop   navFlags               objIE Visible   true      objIE   null     VB Script Create a file with a name like   urls vbs    Option Explicit  Const navOpenInNewWindow    amp h1 Const navOpenInNewTab    amp h800 Const navOpenInBackgroundTab    amp h1000  Dim intLoop Dim navFlags        navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab Dim objIE      If WScript Arguments Count   0 Then          WScript Echo  Missing parameters          WScript Quit 1       End If      set objIE   CreateObject  InternetExplorer Application       objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments 0       For intLoop   1 to  WScript Arguments Count-1           objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments intLoop   navFlags      Next      objIE Visible   True     set objIE   Nothing    If the script is called without any parameters  these will return  errorlevel  1  otherwise they will return  errorlevel  0  No checking is done regarding the  validity  or  availability  of any of the URLs    From within the batch script  or command prompt   call the  JS VBS  script like this   cscript   nologo urls js  http   bing com    http   google com    http   msn com    http   yahoo com   cscript   nologo urls vbs  http   bing com    http   google com    http   msn com    http   yahoo com     OR even   cscript   nologo urls js  bing com   google com   msn com   yahoo com  cscript   nologo urls vbs  bing com   google com   msn com   yahoo com     If for some reason  you wanted to run these with  wscript  instead  remember to use  start  w  so the exit codes   errorlevel   will be returned to your batch script   start  w    wscript   nologo urls js  url1   url2      start  w    wscript   nologo urls vbs  url1   url2         Edit  21-Sep-2016  There has been a comment that my solution is too complicated  I disagree  You pick the JavaScript solution  or the VB Script solution  not both   and each is only about 10 lines of actual code  less if you eliminate the error checking reporting   plus a few lines to initialize constants and variables     Once you have decided  JS or VB   you write that script one time  and then you call that script from batch  passing the URLs  anytime you want to use it  like     cscript   nologo urls vbs  bing com   google com   msn com   yahoo com    The reason I wrote this answer  is because all the other answers  which work for some people  will fail to work for others  depending on      The current Internet Explorer settings for  open popups in a new tab    open in current new window tab   etc    Assuming you already have those setting set how you like them for general browsing  most people would find it undesirable to have change those settings back and forth in order to make the script work  Their behavior is  can be  inconsistent depending on whether or not there was an IE window already open before the  new  links were opened  If there was an IE window  perhaps with many open tabs  already open  then all the new tabs would be added there as well  This might not be desired     The solution I provided doesn t have these issues and should behave the same  regardless of any IE Settings or any existing IE Windows   Please let me know if I m wrong about this and I ll try to address it

User · Answer

You can use either of these two scripts to open the URLs in separate tabs in a  single  new IE window  You can call either of these scripts from within your batch script  or at the command prompt    JavaScript Create a file with a name like   urls js      var navOpenInNewWindow   0x1  var navOpenInNewTab   0x800  var navOpenInBackgroundTab   0x1000   var intLoop   0  var intArrUBound   0  var navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab  var arrstrUrl   new Array 3   var objIE       intArrUBound   arrstrUrl length       arrstrUrl 0     http   bing com        arrstrUrl 1     http   google com        arrstrUrl 2     http   msn com        arrstrUrl 3     http   yahoo com         objIE   new ActiveXObject  InternetExplorer Application        objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl 0         for  intLoop 1 intLoop lt  intArrUBound intLoop               objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl intLoop   navFlags               objIE Visible   true      objIE   null     VB Script Create a file with a name like   urls vbs      Option Explicit  Const navOpenInNewWindow    amp h1 Const navOpenInNewTab    amp h800 Const navOpenInBackgroundTab    amp h1000  Dim intLoop         intLoop   0 Dim intArrUBound    intArrUBound   0 Dim navFlags        navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab  Dim arrstrUrl 3  Dim objIE      intArrUBound   UBound arrstrUrl       arrstrUrl 0     http   bing com       arrstrUrl 1     http   google com       arrstrUrl 2     http   msn com       arrstrUrl 3     http   yahoo com        set objIE   CreateObject  InternetExplorer Application       objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl 0       For intLoop   1 to intArrUBound          objIE Navigate2 arrstrUrl intLoop   navFlags      Next      objIE Visible   True     set objIE   Nothing    Once you decide on  JavaScript  or  VB Script   you have a few choices   If your URLs are static     1  You could write the  JS VBS  script file  above  and then just call it from a batch script     From within the batch script  or command prompt   call the  JS VBS  script like this   cscript   nologo urls vbs cscript   nologo urls js    If the URLs change infrequently   2  You could have the batch script write the  JS VBS  script on the fly and then call it      If the URLs could be different each time   3  Use the  JS VBS  scripts  below  and pass the URLs of the pages to open as command line arguments     JavaScript Create a file with a name like   urls js      var navOpenInNewWindow   0x1  var navOpenInNewTab   0x800  var navOpenInBackgroundTab   0x1000   var intLoop   0  var navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab  var objIE  var intArgsLength   WScript Arguments Length       if  intArgsLength    0             WScript Echo  Missing parameters            WScript Quit 1               objIE   new ActiveXObject  InternetExplorer Application        objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments 0         for  intLoop 1 intLoop lt intArgsLength intLoop               objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments intLoop   navFlags               objIE Visible   true      objIE   null     VB Script Create a file with a name like   urls vbs    Option Explicit  Const navOpenInNewWindow    amp h1 Const navOpenInNewTab    amp h800 Const navOpenInBackgroundTab    amp h1000  Dim intLoop Dim navFlags        navFlags   navOpenInBackgroundTab Dim objIE      If WScript Arguments Count   0 Then          WScript Echo  Missing parameters          WScript Quit 1       End If      set objIE   CreateObject  InternetExplorer Application       objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments 0       For intLoop   1 to  WScript Arguments Count-1           objIE Navigate2 WScript Arguments intLoop   navFlags      Next      objIE Visible   True     set objIE   Nothing    If the script is called without any parameters  these will return  errorlevel  1  otherwise they will return  errorlevel  0  No checking is done regarding the  validity  or  availability  of any of the URLs    From within the batch script  or command prompt   call the  JS VBS  script like this   cscript   nologo urls js  http   bing com    http   google com    http   msn com    http   yahoo com   cscript   nologo urls vbs  http   bing com    http   google com    http   msn com    http   yahoo com     OR even   cscript   nologo urls js  bing com   google com   msn com   yahoo com  cscript   nologo urls vbs  bing com   google com   msn com   yahoo com     If for some reason  you wanted to run these with  wscript  instead  remember to use  start  w  so the exit codes   errorlevel   will be returned to your batch script   start  w    wscript   nologo urls js  url1   url2      start  w    wscript   nologo urls vbs  url1   url2         Edit  21-Sep-2016  There has been a comment that my solution is too complicated  I disagree  You pick the JavaScript solution  or the VB Script solution  not both   and each is only about 10 lines of actual code  less if you eliminate the error checking reporting   plus a few lines to initialize constants and variables     Once you have decided  JS or VB   you write that script one time  and then you call that script from batch  passing the URLs  anytime you want to use it  like     cscript   nologo urls vbs  bing com   google com   msn com   yahoo com    The reason I wrote this answer  is because all the other answers  which work for some people  will fail to work for others  depending on      The current Internet Explorer settings for  open popups in a new tab    open in current new window tab   etc    Assuming you already have those setting set how you like them for general browsing  most people would find it undesirable to have change those settings back and forth in order to make the script work  Their behavior is  can be  inconsistent depending on whether or not there was an IE window already open before the  new  links were opened  If there was an IE window  perhaps with many open tabs  already open  then all the new tabs would be added there as well  This might not be desired     The solution I provided doesn t have these issues and should behave the same  regardless of any IE Settings or any existing IE Windows   Please let me know if I m wrong about this and I ll try to address it

User · Answer

There is a setting in the IE options that controls whether it should open new links in an existing window or in a new window   I m not sure if you can control it from the command line but maybe changing this option would be enough for you   In IE7 it looks like the option is  Reuse windows for launching shortcuts  when tabbed browsing is disabled

User · Answer

Of course it is an old post but just for people how will find it through search engine   Another solution is to run it like this for IE9 and later  iexplore exe  -noframemerging http   google com iexplore exe  -noframemerging http   gmail com   -noframemerging means run IE independently  For example it you want to run 2 browser and login as different username it will not work if you just run 2 IE  but with -noframemerging it will work  -noframemerging works for IE9 and later  for early versions like IE8 it is -nomerge  usually I create 1 but file like this run ie bat   c  Program Files  x86  Internet Explorer iexplore exe  -noframemerging  1   and I create another bat file like this run 2 ie bat  start run ie bat http   google com start run ie bat http   yahoo com

User · Answer

This worked for me   start  d IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com   But for some reason opened them up in Firefox instead     I tried this but it merely opened up sites in two different windows   start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com

User · Answer

Try this in your batch file    echo off start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com

User · Answer

There is a setting in the IE options that controls whether it should open new links in an existing window or in a new window   I m not sure if you can control it from the command line but maybe changing this option would be enough for you   In IE7 it looks like the option is  Reuse windows for launching shortcuts  when tabbed browsing is disabled

User · Answer

Try this in your batch file    echo off start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com

User · Answer

There is a setting in the IE options that controls whether it should open new links in an existing window or in a new window   I m not sure if you can control it from the command line but maybe changing this option would be enough for you   In IE7 it looks like the option is  Reuse windows for launching shortcuts  when tabbed browsing is disabled

User · Answer

Try this in your batch file    echo off start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com

User · Answer

There is a setting in the IE options that controls whether it should open new links in an existing window or in a new window   I m not sure if you can control it from the command line but maybe changing this option would be enough for you   In IE7 it looks like the option is  Reuse windows for launching shortcuts  when tabbed browsing is disabled

User · Answer

Thanks for the tip Rodger   For me it worked as below    echo off  start  d    IEXPLORE EXE www google com  start  d    IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com   With the settings in Internet Explorer 8    always open popups in a new tab a new tab in the current window   marcelo linhares hotmail com

User · Answer

Try this in your batch file    echo off start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com

User · Answer

This worked for me   start  d IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com   But for some reason opened them up in Firefox instead     I tried this but it merely opened up sites in two different windows   start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www google com start  d  C  Program Files Internet Explorer  IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com

User · Answer

Try this so you allow enough time for the first process to start   else it will spawn 2 processes because the first one is not still running when you run the second one    This can happen if your computer is too fast     echo off start  d iexplore exe http   google com PING 1 1 1 1 -n 1 -w 2000  gt NUL START  d iexplore exe blablabla   replace blablabla with another address

User · Answer

Thanks for the tip Rodger   For me it worked as below    echo off  start  d    IEXPLORE EXE www google com  start  d    IEXPLORE EXE www yahoo com   With the settings in Internet Explorer 8    always open popups in a new tab a new tab in the current window   marcelo linhares hotmail com

User · Answer

The top answer is almost correct  but you also need to add an ampersand at the end of each line  For example write the batch file    start  d    iexplore exe   www google com   amp   start  d    iexplore exe   www yahoo com   amp  start  d    iexplore exe   www blackholesurfer com   amp    The ampersand allows the prompt to return to the shell and launch another tab   This is a windows solution only  but the ampersand has the same effect in linux shell

User · Answer

Thanks Marcelo  This worked for me  I wanted to open a new IE Window and open two tabs in that so I modified the code   start iexplore exe website PING 1 1 1 1 -n 1 -w 2000  gt NUL  START  d iexplore exe website

[internet-explorer] How to launch multiple Internet Explorer windows/tabs from batch file?

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