How is it possible to run a PowerShell script without displaying a window or any other sign to the user?
In other words, the script should run quietly in the background without any sign to the user.
Extra credit for an answer that does not use third party components :)
You can either run it like this (but this shows a window for a while):
PowerShell.exe -WindowStyle hidden { your script.. }
Or you use a helper file I created to avoid the window called PsRun.exe that does exactly that. You can download the source and exe file from Run scheduled tasks with WinForm GUI in PowerShell. I use it for scheduled tasks.
Edited: as Marco noted this -WindowStyle parameter is available only for V2 and above.
I was having this same issue. I found out if you go to the Task in Task Scheduler that is running the powershell.exe script, you can click "Run whether user is logged on or not" and that will never show the powershell window when the task runs.
You can use the PowerShell Community Extensions and do this:
start-process PowerShell.exe -arg $pwd\foo.ps1 -WindowStyle Hidden
You can also do this with VBScript: http://blog.sapien.com/index.php/2006/12/26/more-fun-with-scheduled-powershell/
Schedule Hidden PowerShell Tasks (Internet Archive)
More fun with scheduled PowerShell (Internet Archive)
(Via this forum thread.)
The answer with -WindowStyle Hidden is great but the windows will still flash.
I've never seen a window flash when calling it via cmd /c start /min "".
Your machine or setup may differ but it works well for me.
1. Call a file
cmd /c start /min "" powershell -WindowStyle Hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Users\username\Desktop\test.ps1"
2. Call a file with arguments
cmd /c start /min "" powershell -WindowStyle Hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command ". 'C:\Users\username\Desktop\test me.ps1' -Arg1 'Hello' -Arg2 'World'"ps1'; -Arg1 'Hello' -Arg2 ' World'"
Powershell content for 2. Call a file with arguments is:
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, HelpMessage = 'The 1st test string parameter.')]
[String]$Arg1,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, HelpMessage = 'The 2nd test string parameter.')]
[String]$Arg2
)
Write-Host $Arg1
Write-Host $Arg2
3. Call a file with a function and arguments
cmd /c start /min "" powershell -WindowStyle Hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command ". 'C:\Users\username\Desktop\test me.ps1'; Get-Test -stringTest 'Hello World'"
Powershell content for 3. Call a file with a function and arguments is:
function Get-Test() {
[cmdletbinding()]
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, HelpMessage = 'The test string.')]
[String]$stringTest
)
Write-Host $stringTest
return
}
In case you need to run this in Task Scheduler then call %comspec% as the Program/Script and then code for calling the file above as the argument.
Note: All examples work when the PS1 file has spaces in its path.
Here's an approach that that doesn't require command line args or a separate launcher. It's not completely invisible because a window does show momentarily at startup. But it then quickly vanishes. Where that's OK, this is, I think, the easiest approach if you want to launch your script by double-clicking in explorer, or via a Start menu shortcut (including, of course the Startup submenu). And I like that it's part of the code of the script itself, not something external.
Put this at the front of your script:
$t = '[DllImport("user32.dll")] public static extern bool ShowWindow(int handle, int state);'
add-type -name win -member $t -namespace native
[native.win]::ShowWindow(([System.Diagnostics.Process]::GetCurrentProcess() | Get-Process).MainWindowHandle, 0)
Here's a one-liner:
mshta vbscript:Execute("CreateObject(""Wscript.Shell"").Run ""powershell -NoLogo -Command """"& 'C:\Example Path That Has Spaces\My Script.ps1'"""""", 0 : window.close")
Although it's possible for this to flash a window very briefly, that should be a rare occurrence.
ps1 hidden from the Task Scheduler and shortcut too
mshta vbscript:Execute("CreateObject(""WScript.Shell"").Run ""powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass & 'C:\PATH\NAME.ps1'"", 0:close")
I think that the best way to hide the console screen of the PowerShell when your are running a background scripts is this code ("Bluecakes" answer).
I add this code in the beginning of all my PowerShell scripts that I need to run in background.
# .Net methods for hiding/showing the console in the background
Add-Type -Name Window -Namespace Console -MemberDefinition '
[DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 nCmdShow);
'
function Hide-Console
{
$consolePtr = [Console.Window]::GetConsoleWindow()
#0 hide
[Console.Window]::ShowWindow($consolePtr, 0)
}
Hide-Console
If this answer was help you, please vote to "Bluecakes" in his answer in this post.
I was having this problem when running from c#, on Windows 7, the "Interactive Services Detection" service was popping up when running a hidden powershell window as the SYSTEM account.
Using the "CreateNoWindow" parameter prevented the ISD service popping up it's warning.
process.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("powershell.exe",
String.Format(#" -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -encodedCommand ""{0}""",encodedCommand))
{
WorkingDirectory = executablePath,
UseShellExecute = false,
CreateNoWindow = true
};
Here's a fun demo of controlling the various states of the console, including minimize and hidden.
Add-Type -Name ConsoleUtils -Namespace WPIA -MemberDefinition #'
[DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 nCmdShow);
'#
$ConsoleMode = #{
HIDDEN = 0;
NORMAL = 1;
MINIMIZED = 2;
MAXIMIZED = 3;
SHOW = 5
RESTORE = 9
}
$hWnd = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::GetConsoleWindow()
$a = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::ShowWindow($hWnd, $ConsoleMode.MAXIMIZED)
"maximized $a"
Start-Sleep 2
$a = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::ShowWindow($hWnd, $ConsoleMode.NORMAL)
"normal $a"
Start-Sleep 2
$a = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::ShowWindow($hWnd, $ConsoleMode.MINIMIZED)
"minimized $a"
Start-Sleep 2
$a = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::ShowWindow($hWnd, $ConsoleMode.RESTORE)
"restore $a"
Start-Sleep 2
$a = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::ShowWindow($hWnd, $ConsoleMode.HIDDEN)
"hidden $a"
Start-Sleep 2
$a = [WPIA.ConsoleUtils]::ShowWindow($hWnd, $ConsoleMode.SHOW)
"show $a"
When you scheduled task, just select "Run whether user is logged on or not" under the "General" tab.
Alternate way is to let the task run as another user.
Create a shortcut that calls the PowerShell script and set the Run option to Minimized. This will prevent a window from flashing although you will still get a momentary blip of the script running on the Task Bar.
For easy command line usage, there is a simple wrapper app:
https://github.com/stax76/run-hidden
Example command line:
run-hidden powershell -command calc.exe
I got really tired of going through answers only to find it did not work as expected.
Solution
Make a vbs script to run a hidden batch file which launches the powershell script. Seems silly to make 3 files for this task but atleast the total size is less than 2KB and it runs perfect from tasker or manually (you dont see anything).
scriptName.vbs
Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WinScriptHost.Run Chr(34) & "C:\Users\leathan\Documents\scriptName.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WinScriptHost = Nothing
scriptName.bat
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass C:\Users\leathan\Documents\scriptName.ps1
scriptName.ps1
Your magical code here.
I have created a small tool passing the call to any console tool you want to start windowless through to the original file:
https://github.com/Vittel/RunHiddenConsole
After compiling just rename the executable to "<targetExecutableName>w.exe" (append a "w"), and put it next to the original executable.
You can then call e.G. powershellw.exe with the usual parameters and it wont pop up a window.
If someone has an idea how to check whether the created process is waiting for input, ill be happy to include your solution :)
Wait until Powershell is executed and get the result in vbs
This is an improved version of the Omegastripes code Hide command prompt window when using Exec()
Splits the confused responses from cmd.exe into an array instead of putting everything into a hard-to-parse string.
In addition, if an error occurs during the execution of cmd.exe, a message about its occurrence will become known in vbs.
Option Explicit
Sub RunCScriptHidden()
strSignature = Left(CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib").Guid, 38)
GetObject("new:{C08AFD90-F2A1-11D1-8455-00A0C91F3880}").putProperty strSignature, Me
objShell.Run ("""" & Replace(LCase(WScript.FullName), "wscript", "cscript") & """ //nologo """ & WScript.ScriptFullName & """ ""/signature:" & strSignature & """"), 0, True
End Sub
Sub WshShellExecCmd()
For Each objWnd In CreateObject("Shell.Application").Windows
If IsObject(objWnd.getProperty(WScript.Arguments.Named("signature"))) Then Exit For
Next
Set objParent = objWnd.getProperty(WScript.Arguments.Named("signature"))
objWnd.Quit
'objParent.strRes = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Exec(objParent.strCmd).StdOut.ReadAll() 'simple solution
Set exec = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Exec(objParent.strCmd)
While exec.Status = WshRunning
WScript.Sleep 20
Wend
Dim err
If exec.ExitCode = WshFailed Then
err = exec.StdErr.ReadAll
Else
output = Split(exec.StdOut.ReadAll,Chr(10))
End If
If err="" Then
objParent.strRes = output(UBound(output)-1) 'array of results, you can: output(0) Join(output) - Usually needed is the last
Else
objParent.wowError = err
End If
WScript.Quit
End Sub
Const WshRunning = 0,WshFailed = 1:Dim i,name,objShell
Dim strCmd, strRes, objWnd, objParent, strSignature, wowError, output, exec
Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell"):wowError=False
strCmd = "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass Write-Host Hello-World."
If WScript.Arguments.Named.Exists("signature") Then WshShellExecCmd
RunCScriptHidden
If wowError=False Then
objShell.popup(strRes)
Else
objShell.popup("Error=" & wowError)
End If
powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden -noexit -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File <path_to_file>
then set the run: Minimized
should work as expected without added code for hidden window flash
just slightly more delayed execution.
Here is a working solution in windows 10 that does not include any third-party components. It works by wrapping the PowerShell script into VBScript.
Step 1: we need to change some windows features to allow VBScript to run PowerShell and to open .ps1 files with PowerShell by default.
-go to run and type "regedit". Click on ok and then allow it to run.
-paste this path "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell" and press enter.
-now open the entry on the right and change the value to 0.
-open PowerShell as an administrator and type "Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned", press enter and confirm the change with "y" and then enter.
Step 2: Now we can start wrapping our script.
-save your Powershell script as a .ps1 file.
-create a new text document and paste this script.
Dim objShell,objFSO,objFile
Set objShell=CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'enter the path for your PowerShell Script
strPath="c:\your script path\script.ps1"
'verify file exists
If objFSO.FileExists(strPath) Then
'return short path name
set objFile=objFSO.GetFile(strPath)
strCMD="powershell -nologo -command " & Chr(34) & "&{" &_
objFile.ShortPath & "}" & Chr(34)
'Uncomment next line for debugging
'WScript.Echo strCMD
'use 0 to hide window
objShell.Run strCMD,0
Else
'Display error message
WScript.Echo "Failed to find " & strPath
WScript.Quit
End If
-now change the file path to the location of your .ps1 script and save the text document.
-Now right-click on the file and go to rename. Then change the filename extension to .vbs and press enter and then click ok.
DONE! If you now open the .vbs you should see no console window while your script is running in the background.
c="powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass (New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell).popup('Hello World.',0,'ОК',64)"
s=Left(CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib").Guid,38)
GetObject("new:{C08AFD90-F2A1-11D1-8455-00A0C91F3880}").putProperty s,Me
WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Run c,0,false
Out of all the solutions I've tried, this is by far the best and easiest to set up. Download hiddenw.exe from here - https://github.com/SeidChr/RunHiddenConsole/releases
Let's say you want to run Powershell v5 consoleless. Simply rename hiddenw.exe to powershellw.exe. If you want to do this for cmd, then rename to cmdw.exe. If you want to do it for Powershell v7 (pwsh), then rename to pwshw.exe. You can create multiple copies of hiddenw.exe and just rename to the actual process with the letter w at the end. Then, simply add the process to your system environmental PATH, so you can call it from anywhere. Or just copy to C:\Windows. Then, just call it, like this:
powershellw .\example.ps1
I found compiling to exe was the easiest way to achieve this. Theres a number of ways to compile a script, but you can try ISE Steroids
Open "Windows PowerShell ISE", install and run ISESteroids:
Install-Module -Name "ISESteroids" -Scope CurrentUser -Repository PSGallery -Force
Start-Steroids
Then go to Tools->Turn code into EXE, select 'Hide Console Window', and then create the application.
You can run this directly from task scheduler without the need for wrappers or 3rd party apps.
What I do is transform the .ps1 file into an invisible .exe file using an awesome app called Ps1 To Exe which you can download here : https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/ps1_to_exe.html
Maybe this helps (although I hope after 12 years you have found a suitable solution... 🙂)
In other words, the script should run quietly in the background without any sign to the user.
Extra credit for an answer that does not use third party components :)
I found a way to do this by compiling a PowerShell script to a Windows executable. Third party modules are required to build the executable but not to run it. My end goal was to compile a one line PowerShell script that ejects a DVD on my system:
(New-Object -com "WMPlayer.OCX.7").cdromcollection.item(0).eject()
My target system is running Windows 7. The specific WMF update needed varies based on Windows version:
Download and install the WMF 5.1 package
The required PowerShell modules should be applicable to any Windows version. Here are the exact commands I used to install the necessary modules and compile the exe. You'll need to tweak the drive, directory and filename details for your system:
mkdir i:\tmp\wmf
cd i:\tmp\wmf
pkunzip ..\Win7AndW2K8R2-KB3191566-x64.zip
c:\windows\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
.\Install-WMF5.1.ps1
<click> "Restart Now"
c:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell -version 3.0
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force
Install-Module -Name ps2exe -RequiredVersion 1.0.5
ps2exe i:\utils\scripts\ejectDVD.ps1 -noConsole
I currently have a .cmd file that runs the following two commands on startup
PowerShell -Command "Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted" >> "%TEMP%\StartupLog.txt" 2>&1
PowerShell C:\Users\elias\Desktop\Script123.ps1 >> "%TEMP%\StartupLog.txt" 2>&1
But when this runs on startup it shows the command prompt. I'm wondering if there's anyway to run this without showing the command prompt.
Thank You
Invoking a .cmd file directly invariably opens a console window, so you need to invoke it via a wrapper executable that hides it:
This answer of mine contains a VBScript script that does just that; assuming you've saved it as runHidden.vbs in the current dir and that you want to invoke some-batch-file.cmd from the current dir:
wscript .\runHidden.vbs cmd "/c .\some-batch-file.cmd"
Try powershell -command "& { $x = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application; $x.minimizeall() }" in the beginning of the code.
This command can minimize all windows.
I hope this can be helpful, if you have any other questions, please comment below.
Create a wrapper with VBScript:
Option Explicit
Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "cmd /c blah.cmd", 0, False
Then change the startup item to
wscript.exe wrapper.vbs
Currently, I have a Batch Script which has several functions, one among them is to invoke a PowerShell script. The PS_script basically reads & filters mails from outlook and stores certain data into an excel file.
Certain functions in the BS needs admin rights to run successfully. Whenever the PS_Script is invoked with BS with elevated access it gives error.
new-object : Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {...} failed due to following error: 8008005 Server execution failed {......
Is there anyway to invoke PS_script from BS without elevated access even if the BS is run with admin rights ?
Currently, i use following command in my BS to invoke the PS_script Test.PS1 :
Powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File C:\Users\%UserName%\Desktop\Test.PS1
If you are sure your problem comes from admin rights you can try to run your powershell script with the username your are executing the script from (or any other user that has the rigths you need)
RunAs /u:domain/username "Powershell.exe -File C:\Users\%UserName%\Desktop\Test.PS1"
Seems that runas doesn't accept the password. But there are other utilites to do that:
Unable to supply password to runas from commandline
Here's what I've got so far.
Wscript.Shell's .ShellExecute method would let you prompt for UAC elevation. If you could break your admin-dependent functions into helper scripts and stick this BatchGotAdmin code at the top of each, that would let you run the rest in the context of a normal user; but it'd still require the user to click "Allow" for each helper script run.
On the opposing side of the coin, using Wscript.Shell's .Exec method to do:
runas /env /netonly /noprofile %userdomain%\%username% "command to run"
... results in bypassing the password and prompt, resulting in the command to be run unauthenticated. This is very interesting and unexpected behavior. Because the "Enter password" prompt is bypassed but the command runs in a separate console anyway, I think it runs as a normal user. However, I haven't found any worthwhile tests with which to confirm.
The problem I've run into with this is that runas called in this way seems to be non-blocking, so it's hard to deal with the output and timing. In case it helps, I'm including my scratch pad test broken code at the bottom of this answer.
Another alternative would be to create a Scheduled Task to run your PowerShell snippet un-elevated.
There's also Wscript.Shell's .Run method that would let you .SendKeys the password which would let you get around the UAC prompt, but it doesn't block either, and requires you to store a password in your script.
I'm afraid I've applied all my ingenuity to the problem but haven't found any solution which doesn't create another problem -- other than possibly the Scheduled Task solution.
Here's the incomplete WshShell.Exec solution referenced in item 2 above:
#if (#CodeSection==#Batch) #then
#echo off
setlocal
call :runAsNonAdmin "cmd /c dir"
goto :EOF
:runAsNonAdmin <command to run>
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
cscript /nologo /e:JScript "%~f0" "%userdomain%\%username%" "%~1"
endlocal & goto :EOF
#end // end batch / begin JScript chimera
var args = {
user: WSH.Arguments(0),
cmd: WSH.Arguments(1)
},
runas = 'runas /env /netonly /noprofile /user:' + args.user + ' "' + args.cmd + '>stdout 2>stderr"',
osh = WSH.CreateObject('wscript.shell'),
fso = WSH.CreateObject('scripting.filesystemobject'),
proc = osh.Exec(runas),
read = '', file, out = ['stdout','stderr'];
// note: proc.StdOut and proc.StdErr refer *only* to the runas command itself,
// not to the command spawned by it. The spawned command is essentially sandboxed.
while (!proc.Status || !proc.StdErr.AtEndOfStream || !proc.StdOut.AtEndOfStream) {
if (!proc.StdErr.AtEndOfStream) {
WSH.StdErr.WriteLine(proc.StdErr.ReadLine());
} else if (!proc.StdOut.AtEndOfStream) {
WSH.StdOut.Write(proc.StdOut.Read(1));
}
}
for (var i in out) {
if (fso.fileExists(out[i])) {
if (fso.GetFile(out[i]).Size) {
file = fso.OpenTextFile(out[i], 1);
WSH[out[i]].Write(file.ReadAll());
file.Close();
}
var del = osh.Exec('cmd /c del ' + out[i]);
while (!proc.Status) WSH.Sleep(10);
}
}
WSH.Echo(proc.ProcessID + ': status ' + proc.Status + '; exit ' + proc.ExitCode);
WSH.Quit(0);
// Inactive code. Since .exec skips authentication, the following code results in a broken pipe error.
while (!proc.Status || !proc.StdErr.AtEndOfStream || !proc.StdOut.AtEndOfStream) {
if (!proc.StdOut.AtEndOfStream) {
read += proc.StdOut.Read(1);
if (/Enter the password for .*?:/.test(read)) {
proc.StdIn.WriteLine(args.pass);
}
} else if (!proc.StdErr.AtEndOfStream) WSH.Echo(proc.StdErr.ReadLine());
else WSH.Sleep(10);
}