Cygwin - run script silenty from "run command"

Question

I have script lets say:

C:\foo.bsh

I want to be able to run this command via the windows run command:

Start -> Run
Windows Key + R

and type something small like 'foo' and hitting return.

However, I do not want a cmd prompt to be visible. This script does some preprocessing for an IDE. I do not want the cmd prompt to be open for the lifetime of the IDE process.

I have tried:

1) Creating a bat file with the following contents:

c:\cygwin\bin\bash --login "C:\foo.bsh" (this fails because it keeps a cmd open)

2) Converting the above bat file to an exe using bat_2_exe_converter (does not make the cmd silent)

thoughts?

EDIT: The solution so far suggests something to type from an actual cygwin shell. I am trying to get a faster solution by having something short I can type in the Windows run command. Also, the nohup command; exit doesn't automatically kill the box - however I can manually kill it without killing the IDE process. The run command accepts shortcuts (.lnk's), bat's, exe's.

neves · Answer 1 · 2021-01-28T18:43:43.723

Try the run.exe command of cygwin. It is a big install, a complete unix environment for your Windows machine. Suppose you installed it at c:\cygwin\.

No mystery, just run c:\cygwin\bin\run.exe <your command here> and you will have your no dos window execution.

You can run it from any DOS window (run cmd.exe from the start menu). You don't need to run it from cygwin.

To make it easier, append C:\cygwin\bin to your %PATH% env var (My Computer → Properties → Advanced → Environment Variables) (Kudos to Felipe Alvarez comment).

Now you can just type

c:\cygwin\bin\run.exe "C:\foo.bsh"

You must create a link in your Start Menu with this command so will be able to run it with Win-R.

Here is the man page of the runcommand:

$ man run
RUN(1)                             run 1.3.0                            RUN(1)

NAME
       run - start programs with hidden console window

SYNOPSIS
       run [ -p path ] command [ -wait ] arguments

       runcommand [ -p path ] [ -wait ] arguments

DESCRIPTION
       Windows  programs  are  either  GUI  programs or console programs. When
       started console  programs  will  either  attach  to an existing console
       or  create a new one. GUI programs can  never attach to an exiting con‐
       sole. There is no way to attach to an existing console but hide  it  if
       started as GUI program.

       run  will  do this for you. It works  as intermediate and starts a pro‐
       gram but makes the console window hidden.

       With -p path you can add path to the PATH environment variable.

       Issuing -wait as first program  argument will make run wait for program
       completition, otherwise it returns immediately.

       The  second  variant  is  for   creating wrappers. If the executable is
       named runcommand (eg runemacs), run will try  to start the program  (eg
       emacs).

EXAMPLES
       run -p /usr/X11R6/bin xterm

       run emacs -wait
       runemacs -wait

       run make -wait

AUTHORS
       Charles S. Wilson

       Harold L Hunt II

       Jehan Bing

       Alexander Gottwald

Version 1.3.0                    November 2005                          RUN(1)

you can add C:\cygwin\bin to your %PATH% environment variable. — Felipe Alvarez, Jun 20 '13 at 03:11
No good: it still opens a terminal window and then closes it, stealing focus and making the taskbar flicker. — Glenn Maynard, May 24 '15 at 19:06
It works great. Good thing I already have and use Cygwin, otherwise I doubt I would install it just to get this command. — Gene Pavlovsky, Oct 02 '16 at 22:54
I didn't have the `run` command in my cygwin install, but I was able to use the `cygstart` command (which seems to emulate double-clicking on an icon, launching whatever you "clicked" on appropriately) to get the batch file to run in a cmd window. — user151841, Feb 08 '17 at 20:37
@Lime to get the output use ```bash``` command instead: ```C:\\cygwin64\\bin\\bash --login -c 'foo.bsh``` — HyperActive, Jan 27 '21 at 20:40

score 21 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

21

You can use either...

c:\cygwin\bin\bash -l /path/to/script_to_interpret.sh

...or...

c:\cygwin\bin\bash -l -c /path/to/executable_script.sh

Note: the -l flag tell bash to "act as if it had been directly invoked by login" and use Bash Startup Files. This is important in that it sets your $PATH and other things you rely on when you launch a cygwin terminal. If you don't include -l or --login you will get "command not found" when you try to call anything except of a bash builtin.

The difference between the 2 is like the difference between doing...

bash script_to_interpret.sh

...and...

./executable_script.sh

...in *nix. The former interprets the script using bash. The latter executes the script (only if it has chmod +x executable_script.sh) and interprets it according to its "shebang" line. The latter method is also what you want to do if your executable is not a script at all, like a *nix binary compiled from source.)

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

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answered Jun 20 '13 at 03:06

Felipe Alvarez

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Thank you very much for your answer! The thing is that when I execute my script, I get the following errors: `C:/cygwin64/home/ale/kmeans2: line 148: awk: command not found` `C:/cygwin64/home/ale/kmeans2: line 149: dirname: command not found` `C:/cygwin64/home/ale/kmeans2: line 150: basename: command not found` `C:/cygwin64/home/ale/kmeans2: line 306: mkdir: command not found`. Do you have any idea what could be wrong? – Alejandro Lozdziejski Jul 21 '15 at 14:05
1

Make a new post. You won't get help from asking questions in a comment. Also post your script. – Felipe Alvarez Jul 22 '15 at 21:47
@AlejandroLozdziejski the `$PATH` within that bash is going to be missing `/bin/`, etc – Leif Gruenwoldt Apr 07 '16 at 20:33
@AlejandroLozdziejski try `c:\cygwin\bin\bash -l -c /path/to/script`, that works for me – graywolf Apr 29 '16 at 13:04
the `-l -c` solution almost works perfectly for me, except I also need to pass parameters to the bash script, but it is not recognizing them for some reason... – still_dreaming_1 Jan 15 '18 at 22:31
Actually if I just use `-l` without the `-c` it accepts the parameters, so that works for me. – still_dreaming_1 Jan 15 '18 at 22:53

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 15 '11 at 23:09

11

It has been bugging me for a while I couldn't find the solution for this, but I finally got the right mix together.

You can simply do the following if you have cygwin on your PATH:
run bash test.js

If cygwin is not on your path, you can do this:
c:\cygwin\bin\run.exe -p /bin bash test.js

If you are looking for more control over the created window (maximize, etc) it looks like you can use cygstart also.

Sources:
- neves answer above (though that wasn't enough by itself for me personally to figure it out)
- http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2008-09/msg00156.html

answered Apr 15 '11 at 23:09

studgeek

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If I recall correctly, `cygstart` lets Windows open the command/link/etc., e.g. you can `cygstart file://C:/` and it will open Windows Explorer pointing to `C:/`, while `run` doesn't have this ability. On the other side, if you didn't set up your Windows environment to open .sh files with bash (using `assoc`, `ftype`), `cygstart` probably can't open them, while `run` probably can (I didn't test it). – Gene Pavlovsky Oct 02 '16 at 22:58

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 23 '09 at 13:20

As the terminal can't close while your script is still running, try the command:

"nohup C:\foo.bsh; exit"

This way your script will be backgrounded and detached from the terminal, and it should exit quickly so the terminal goes away. I think that the window may still 'flash' with this approach, but the results should be better than what you're getting.

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 02 '14 at 10:10

I'm running Cygwin64 and the xwin server link points to:

C:\cygwin64\bin\run.exe /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c /usr/bin/startxwin.exe

This creates an icon AND a notification on the taskbar. I don't like that. The icon is rather useless, the notification has all your menu options from .XWinrc.

So... I wrote a .vbs script to silently run this command and make the icon go away:

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.Run("C:\cygwin64\bin\run.exe /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c /usr/bin/startxwin.exe"), 0

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 23 '09 at 13:27

2

Another imperfect possibility is to run the script via a shortcut and set the shortcut's Run option to "minimized".

answered Mar 23 '09 at 13:27

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 31 '16 at 14:05

0

Go to the directory where you have installed cygwin(on my machine it is c:/cygwin64/bin) Once there simply type "bash.exe"

answered Aug 31 '16 at 14:05

Serge_k

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Cygwin - run script silenty from "run command"

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