C# hide program at start

Question

I'm looking for some way to run my program with no windows, I read this :

string exePath = string.Format("{0}\\{1}", dir, "theUtility.exe");
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo( exePath );
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
startInfo.WorkingDirectory = dir;
System.Diagnostics.Process process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start( startInfo );
// Wait for it to die...
process.WaitForExit();

But I'm looking for another way , this code show windows and run another file , but I need start program without any windows.

thanks

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 30 '09 at 22:46

2

Set WindowStyle to ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;

example

 Process proc = new Process();
 proc.StartInfo.FileName = Path.Combine("cmd.exe","");

 proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
 proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;

 proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;

 proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
 proc.Start();

answered Jul 30 '09 at 22:46

Mez

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It seems to be the `proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;` property that prevents the process from displaying an initial window that is then subsequently hidden by the `proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;` property. You need both for the window to be totally hidden. – Chris B Jul 18 '13 at 11:01

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 13 '11 at 13:59

You could create a WinForms app and hide the MainForm by Minimizing it and not showing it in the taskbar on initialization.

Form.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
Form.ShowInTaskBar = false;

Then you could run whatever code you wanted within the message loop for MainForm w/out any UI. If at some point you wanted a user interface you could show main form or any other number of forms.

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
        this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
    }

    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnLoad(e);

        MessageBox.Show("Loaded");
    }
}

Or, you could possibily just launch your console program as a hidden window and use a pinvoke as described in the following post...

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbgeneral/thread/ffe733a5-6c30-4381-a41f-11fd4eff9133/

class Program
{
    const int Hide = 0;
    const int Show = 1;

    [DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
    private static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();

    [DllImport("User32.dll")]
    private static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int cmdShow);

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Press any key to hide me.");
        Console.ReadKey();
        IntPtr hWndConsole = GetConsoleWindow();

        if (hWndConsole != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            ShowWindow(hWndConsole, Hide);

            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);

            ShowWindow(hWndConsole, Show);
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

C# hide program at start

2 Answers2

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