Run a .bat file in a scheduled task without a window
Solution 1:
You could run it silently using a Windows Script file instead. The Run Method allows you running a script in invisible mode. Create a .vbs file like this one
Dim WinScriptHost
Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WinScriptHost.Run Chr(34) & "C:\Scheduled Jobs\mybat.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WinScriptHost = Nothing
and schedule it. The second argument in this example sets the window style. 0 means "hide the window."
Complete syntax of the Run method:
object.Run(strCommand, [intWindowStyle], [bWaitOnReturn])
Arguments:
- object: WshShell object.
- strCommand: String value indicating the command line you want to run. You must include any parameters you want to pass to the executable file.
- intWindowStyle: Optional. Integer value indicating the appearance of the program's window. Note that not all programs make use of this information.
- bWaitOnReturn: Optional. Boolean value indicating whether the script should wait for the program to finish executing before continuing to the next statement in your script. If set to true, script execution halts until the program finishes, and Run returns any error code returned by the program. If set to false (the default), the Run method returns immediately after starting the program, automatically returning 0 (not to be interpreted as an error code).
Solution 2:
Are you running this as a scheduled task? If so set it to run as a different user account then it won't be visible to the logged on user. If the script needs no network access to items that need windows auth (like file shares or printers), you can run it as "nt authority\system" and leave the password blank. On Windows 7, just set the user to SYSTEM, and press OK.
(You probably have to use a real user though if you're using robocopy...)
JR
Solution 3:
Simply configure the Scheduled Task as "Run whether user is logged on or not".
Solution 4:
You could also try CHP (Create hidden process), does exactly what you'd think...
CHP.EXE mybat.bat
Runs with no command window. Perfect! Made by the same people as CMDOW, but this is more appropriate.
Solution 5:
CMDOW is an awsome tool that allows you to do many, many things to windows from the command line.
One of the simplest things to do is hide the current window (usually as a first line in the bat file) with:
cmdow @ /hid
or start a new hidden process with
cmdow /run /hid mybat.bat