How can I run a powershell script as a background task without displaying a window?

Question

I'm working on creating a script that will fire off performance counters and store them in a .csv file, rolling over when the file gets too big. Running the script from a powershell prompt or the ISE (I'm running v.2/win server 2008) works just fine, and the files are running correctly.

However, when I try to execute the command using the following cmd prompt line (even trying the /k switch on cmd), the command prompt closes immediately and the file is not getting run.

powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden {iis_test.ps1}

I've also tried the following, and although I see Powershell doesn't stop (I monitor it via task manager, looking for Powershell.exe to show up), I'm not seeing the file being created.

powershell.exe -noexit -windowstyle hidden {iis_test.ps1}

Nor am I seeing any errors being caught in any of the likely places (event viewer, the command prompt window itself).

Any ideas? Ultimately, my goal is to have a vb winforms thing call these script files, and naturally I thought figuring out the command prompt command would be helpful. Note that it is very important that this script be portable, and run on any Windows 2008 Server system (so I need to stay away from third party entities that would require further installation).

EDIT: I needed to use the -file argument to specify a file to run.

CB. · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-30 15:28:36Z

49

try this from a DOS/CMD shell:

powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden -file C:\iis_test.ps1

answered Apr 30, 2013 at 15:28

CB.

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5 Comments

Sajuuk Over a year ago

this still displays a window, although briefly upon starting

Ooker Over a year ago

hmm I use pwsh -windowstyle hidden C:\script.ps1 and it still works. Any idea?

Marco Eckstein Over a year ago

Important: "When the value of File is a file path, File must be the last parameter in the command"

user29138360 Jun 18 at 11:58

tried this pwsh.exe -windowstyle hidden -file C:\script.ps1 it pops up the window at first then minimizes it automatically, but not like in background.

Metafaniel Jun 26 at 16:23

This method will fail if the extension is other than .ps1. If the script is a .bat, this is the command: Start-Process "script.bat" -WindowStyle Hidden

nixda · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-17 08:18:00Z

12

Powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden -file C:\iis_test.ps1

But when you run this command, a CMD window will appear.
However, you can use VBscript instead

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.Run "CMD /C START /B " & objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%SystemRoot%") & "\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -file " & "YourScript.ps1", 0, False
Set objShell = Nothing

edited Feb 17, 2014 at 8:18

nixda

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answered Oct 24, 2013 at 5:30

user2914236

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1 Comment

user29138360 Jun 18 at 11:59

how to use thi VBscript? is is some kind of bat file?

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