Automating application start by using scripts on XP

Question

When I come to work, I spent several boring minutes running my applications. I start IDE, mail client, web browser, bug tracking system, Total Commander, ProcessExplorer and DebugView. Most of those tools I use for everyday work. It takes long time to start them all.

Therefore, I have created a BAT file, and put calling all those apps inside. When I turn on my work PC, I simply can run this BAT and have time for making morning coffee. Nevertheless, I realized that using BAT second application starts only after the first one has been closed. Since I want all applications to start, is it any possibility I can do it with BAT file? I do not want to use startup mechanism from Windows XP…

Answer 1

Have you tried using the start command.

When you run a 32-bit graphical user interface (GUI) application, cmd does not wait for the application to quit before returning to the command prompt. This new behavior does not occur if you run the application from a command script.

There is a useful guide to the start command here.

Answer 2

You can use the start command to spawn an application without waiting.

start app1.exe
start app2.exe

Answer 3

You can use vbscript as follows :

Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
ObjShell.Exec("FullPath")
ObjShell.Exec("FullPath1")
ObjShell.Exec("FullPath2")
....

Answer 4

Another possibility is to grab AutoHotkey and then make a script to set up various shortcuts to start those apps (say Ctrl+Alt+V for visual studio, Ctrl+Alt+D for delphi, etc...) then you can just hit those key combos on startup to start the programs you want.

Answer 5

Create a batch script, and make entries of all the required applications that you want to open in it in the below format:

start "" /b PATH %ARGUMENT

For example:

start "" /b "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" %http://www.ibnlive.com
start "" /b "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE"

You can run this batch script to open the applications once you login.