Open a website in background

Question

in our environment we have the requirement to open a website in background. The user should not notice anything.

I've tried it via the following Powershell command, but it isn't working:

Start-Process -WindowStyle Hidden "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" "www.google.com"

Operating system is Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB. Is there any other solution?

Thanks in advance!

There is no error. The Internet Explorer gets started with google.com, but not in the background. — Patrick Grebe, Dec 20 '17 at 14:42

autosvet · Answer 1 · 2017-12-20T14:47:21.657

2

Use Minimized for the win stile:

Start-Process -WindowStyle Minimized "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" "www.google.com"

What is the point to open web site as background process. That is very bad architecture.

edited Dec 20 '17 at 14:47

answered Dec 20 '17 at 14:46

autosvet

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`-WindowStyle Hidden`? – stuartd Dec 20 '17 at 14:47
We have a custom sharepoint site which generates a qr code from list data and sends this to a dymo label writer printer. We pass some data via the URL to the js code which is embedded in the sp site. This should happen in the background. – Patrick Grebe Dec 20 '17 at 14:48

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 20 '17 at 15:19

This opens a window minimized:

$browserurl = 'https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47908413/open-a-website-in-background'
$p = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::new()
$P.StartInfo.Arguments = [string]::Format("{0}{1}", "-nomerge ", $browserurl)
$P.StartInfo.WindowStyle = [System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle]::Minimized
$P.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = $true
$P.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = $true
$P.StartInfo.FileName = "iexplore.exe"
$P.Start()

I got this code from this C# post.. It has another link to working with IE's Com objects. Opening a Hidden Internet Explorer Window without it getting Focus?

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 23 '18 at 10:22

Realised it via Google Chrome Portable and the following AutoIT-Script:

#include <Constants.au3>

_Start_Minimized_Chrome()

Func _Start_Minimized_Chrome()

Local $chrome = ShellExecute("C:\chrome\GoogleChromePortable.exe", '"https://website.com"')

WinWait("[CLASS:Firefox_WidgetWin_1]", "")
Local $WinList = WinList()
For $i = 1 To $WinList[0][0]
    If $WinList[$i][0] <> "" And StringInStr($WinList[$i][0], " - Mozilla Firefox", 1) Then WinSetState($WinList[$i][1], "", @SW_HIDE)
    Next
EndFunc   ;==>_Start_Minimized_Chrome

Open a website in background

3 Answers3