on start up i have a bat file run routine things for me
however, the black console pops up and stays open until everything is finished....
anyway to hide it and run it in background ? so it shouldn't appear minimized or system tray.
You can use a VBS script to achieve this. Either write all your code as VBS, or call your batch file like this:
'launch.vbs
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "mybatch.bat", 0
WshShell = Null
Create a shortcut to the file. On the new shortcut: Right click -> Properties. Go to the Shortcut tab, and choose "Run: Minimized." (This is assuming you're on WinXP).
This link should help you as helped me. I used the second solution that uses a program named quiet.exe
To use, just call quiet.exe program params_if_has.
My use example: quiet.exe php script.php
You can't really do that but if you are using the scheduler to run the batch file you can select "don't interact with desktop" when creating the job.
I once had a little program which could hide windows based on their title. So my startup batch first set a unique title with title and then called the other program to hide the window with said title. Worked fine but involves a little programming.
If you don't want to go that way, then you should use the Task Scheduler as tr4656 noted.
Try renaming your file to .cmd instead of .bat.
Or, if you're executing a .exe try:
start "" "C:\Program Files\SomeProg\someprog.exe"
Note: When using "start" you have to be at a command prompt.
Related
How do I start/call a batch file from another, but with administrative privileges, so that it doesn't give me errors like the following?
Access is denied error code 5
Here is something like what I would like it to be.
echo PLEASE TYPE YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD IN THE FIELDS BELOW.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
set /p u=Username:
echo.
set /p p=Password:
start next.bat %u% %p%
No matter which way you chose, You must accept run it with admin privilege, so the point is which way is shorter? You could Right Click > Run as administrator as jean-Michael said although I prefer james approach (using vbScript) but if you don't want to use another vbScript file and just want benefit of just click on batch file and accept run with admin privilege (Note you have one right click and left click less) I suggest you this:
create a shortcut from your batch file and right click on shortcut > Properties > Shortcut Tab > Advanced now check the Run as administrator check-box. every time you execute it from the shortcut you just have one click to accept run it with admin privilege.
Hope this help.
Sometimes third party utilities like AutoIt (see runas function) are not an option - but if you do have that option, check it out as that will let you do exactly what you're aiming to. You can then call the AutoIt script from your script and use its runas function.
Windows runas doesn't support providing a password unless you're happy with the /savecred option - which is fine if you're only running the task from a single computer. The first time it will ask you for a password, but after that it won't (though you still have to use /savecred option each time you use it). I've got a feeling using this could be a huge security hole. But since it seems this is for your own machine, in your batch use this:
runas /user:computername\username /savecred yourcommand.exe
Another way is to make a scheduled task that can be called by your script. You can make it using the GUI or from an elevated command line as described here.
You can then call it from your script like this:
SCHTASKS /Run /TN yourtaskname
Simply put the bat file into the Windows directory, and it will run as administrator. I tried this myself, and it worked:
C:\Windows\batch_file.bat
It should work like that.
Within the batch file itself there is no way to run as an administrator, however if you launch the batch file from within a .VBS file, you are able to specify a 'runas' parameter.
set shell=CreateObject("Shell.Application")
shell.ShellExecute "your_batch_file.bat",,"C:\path\to\thedirectory", "runas", 0
set shell=nothing
This will launch your batch file as an administrator, and you can enable or disable the shell display (this example hides it as i wanted my program to run in the background without being seen).
Right click -> Run as administrator.
I think microsoft made as much as they could to prevent batch script to get administrative privileges on their own.
#cmd, I posted an example (How can I test effective permissions of a user from a batch script?) to run another bat file with ShellExecute and elevated rights (only when it's needed).
Take a look if it's what you looking for and what you need. If not, let me know and we could adapt your script to make it work.
good luck
I actually joined just to answer this, the simplest way by far is to create a shortcut to the program you want to run, then set the shortcut to run as administrator and just call the shortcut from the batch file. This will run with the settings specified in the shortcut and you could place this shortcut in the same folder as your batch file or just call it from the start menu.
Example:
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Folder\Shortcut Name.lnk"
Ran into a problem today. I have a Windows Server 2003 with a bunch of .bat files that essentially start .vbs scripts. Every time an ECH is used in the script I get that annoying dialog box that contains content of an echo and requires to click ENTER all the time. How can I just disable the dialogs and keep ECHOs in the command prompt window only?
Force it to run under cscript instead of wscript
If you are running the script manually, just put cscript in front of it.
Otherwise, this might give you an approach:
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/vbstech_engine_force.php
Redirect the output somewhere else, i.e.
scriptname.vbs > textfile.txt
I've created a simple batch file that kicks off my *.msi installer within our company, creating a log file of the process, then displays the log file after the installer has completed.
installAndLog.bat:
msiexec.exe /i "\\FileServer2\setup.msi" /l*v "C:\setupLog.txt"
"C:\setupLog.txt"
It works, but there are two (2) glitches that annoy me:
The black console box shows in the background the whole time the installer is running and the log file is being displayed. Q1: How do I hide that?
and
The console box will not close until the log file is no longer being viewed (i.e. notepad.exe is closed). Q2: Can I call the text file in a new process and simply exit?
I was a DOS lover back in the day, but that was too many years ago.
I don't think you can hide the console window when running a batch file. However you can use vbscript instead which will by default not create a console window.
Take the below and put it in a file with a .vbs extension:
Dim wshShell
Set wshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
wshShell.Run "msiexec.exe /i ""\\FileServer2\setup.msi"" /l*v ""C:\setupLog.txt""", 1, true
wshShell.Run "C:\setupLog.txt"
All the double double quotes are there because the entire command must be surrounded by "'s and doubling them escapes them. The the documentation for WshShell.Run for more info.
Q1 - AFAIK you can't really hide the console window.
Q2 - Use the start command. This will launch the specified program (notepad) outside of the shell. It will also prevent the shell from waiting until the application closes to continue processing the batch script.
You might be better off changing the batch script to launch the MSI installer using the start command and having the installer launch notepad to view the log file once installation is complete.
If you really want to get these batch windows away, you'll have to switch over to something else. One simple alternative could be one of the scripting languages supported by the windows scripting host.
Or you try HTA (HTML applications) see here and here.
Run the dos script as a different user by scheduled task or as a service.
I'm trying to "hide" some of my Perl program from the end user to make things easier on them. I'm doing what I can to keep them out of the command prompt. The program itself has a GUI designed in Perl/Tk, so they don't have to worry about the command prompt.
Could I write out a quick batch file that goes along the lines of:
START perl 'C:\[some path here]\myscript.pl'
with START to start a program, the Perl interpretor as my program, and the path/name of my Perl script as the parameter?
Would I have to specify where to find perl or would Windows just know because perl is in the computer's PATH variable?
I have a totally evil VBS script and batch file to deal with this kind of thing with Strawberry Perl Portable. The VBS script runs the batch file without spawning a cmd window. The batch file works out where it is, where perl.exe is relative to it, and runs the perl script. In this case it's to run a Catalyst server, but can be used for anything else too.
Here's the vbs (shudder):
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & fso.GetParentFolderName(wscript.ScriptFullName) & "\perlshell.bat"& Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing
And here's the batch script (only slightly less shudder):
echo off
set bindir=%~dp0
set perlpath=%bindir%perl\bin
set buildpath=%bindir%\bin
set PATH=%PATH%;%perlpath%;%buildpath%
"%perlpath%\wperl.exe" "%bindir%MyPhp\script\myphp_server.pl" -p 35900
you don't need "start" for this. either add perl.exe from your path or specify the full path to the perl interpreter.
so ... put this in your batch file:
c:\program files\perl.exe "c:\whatever\myscript.perl"
-don
If the idea is to keep them away from the command line, why use a batch file at all? Why not just make a shortcut? (You could use Win32::Shortcut if you don't want to make one by hand.)
There's an easier way. For windows:
Go to the desktop -> right click -> create a shortcut
make your target look like (i.e. the path to the perl.exe file) something like the following - I'll show you what mine looks like
C:\Strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe
In my case I have Strawberry Perl installed
right click desktop shortcut -> click properties
In the target input box, alter it to look something like mine:
C:\Strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe D:\Developer\CustomTools\login.pl
where login.pl is the absolute path to my perl script
from there you should have a shortcut created to allow execution of a perl script.
In case you might be interested:
in the properties popup you can also assign this invocation of the perl script to a keyboard button press and assign it a shortcut key to launch anytime ^_^
For me, I chose to do:
ctrl+alt+i
to stand for login - to invoke the login.pl script I wrote. be aware of default system keyboard combinations
If you have any questions, let me know!
Thanks for you time!
After installing the new server, I am facing an issue.
I have lot of .vbs files, all need to run in wscript, reason, I use all those command like WScript.Echo "hello"
I want to be able to see the output when I double click the VBScript file.
But when I right click on the vbs file, I see console, I want to change the default to Windows host, globally!
How can I do that?
You can change the default scripting host to wscript.exe like so:
wscript.exe //H:wscript
If you wish to set cscript as the default host, that works in the same way:
wscript.exe //H:cscript
You can execute cscript.exe with the same arguments for the same result.
You can switch the default script engine with:
wscript //H:Wscript
Good luck!
I was able to solve it by using the following steps:
selecting the VBScript file that I want to open,
right click to select default program for this,
browse to C:/windows/windows32/wscript.exe, and select this.
In command prompt (as administrator):
To set windows script host as default script host enter:
wscript.exe //H:WScript
To set command line based script host as default script host enter:
cscript.exe //H:cscript
Check the Windows Explorer settings for the filetype *.vbs (something like tools->options->file types etc.) and change the "open with" setting to cscript.
Edit: I now advise caution with the recommendations I give below. After continuing to toggle and test my settings, I find I am unable to re-establish cscript as my default script host. (Note that I also retried the procedures given by other answers to this question.)
In addition, I tried using Process Monitor (a.k.a., "ProcMon") to find the reason for my difficulties, but unfortunately have not been unsuccessful.
Finally, I also considered going back to an earlier Windows 7 restore point, but this was complicated by the fact that I just yesterday changed my domain password. So, for now, I'm going to have to put my investigation to rest as other tasks are pressing.
On last thought...I have also considered the possibility that there are network policy security settings that are thwarting my efforts.
Original Answer: Enter the following line in a Windows batch file:
ftype VBSFile="%%SystemRoot%%\System32\WScript.exe" "%%1" %%*
Then, run a Command Prompt as an Administrator and run the batch file.
I believe the above will make the change for all users on the system. To make the change for only the logged in user, do the following (on Windows 7):
Control Panel => Programs => Default Programs => Associate a file type or protocol with a program
Then, in the Name column, scroll down to .vbs and click Change program... in the upper right. Then choose one of the Recommended Programs. If you do not see Microsoft ® Windows Based Script Host, browse to the following file:
C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe
The guy above who right-clicked to choose the default program was right, however the path should be: C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe