Run a program with high or realtime priority (yes, I've read the other threads)

Question

I'm trying to get:

start "" /high "c:\software\mysoftware.exe"

or

start "" /realtime "c:\software\mysoftware.exe"

To work on Windows 10. Which I of course can't, as determined through threads like: start /realtime with a .bat file but the process is still not realtime

In it however, the user is trying to get a program to start with high priority, on Windows start. Whereas I, would like to start it arbitrarily. There, the thread was solved by using Task Scheduler.

So my question is, if a similar alternative or workaround can be used, to run software arbitrarily, with a higher priority than normal…

Now I know there are a lot of threads on this out there, but most of them either don't fit the use case or just don't work. Like the one here: Start process in high priority

I tried:

start "Frozen Throne" /high "C:\Users\Valeri\Saved Games\Warcraft III\Frozen Throne.exe"

As in the first answer, and it just didn't work…

I'm curious about the solution in: Run a file with HIGH priority

But can anyone give some feedback on how I would apply something like that, to my scenario? Any feedback on solving this absolute blunder from Windows, would be greatly appreciated...

EDIT 1: One of the users suggested I use start /b /High "c:\software\mysoftware.exe", which I did in the past, to no avail, and tried again just now. What happens is that the application doesn't launch at all and I just get this, inside of CMD:

EDIT 2: I tested start "" /high notepad, as mentioned in @harrymc's post, and the Notepad did indeed, open up with high priority, however, this and all other attempts, do not seem to work at all for C:\Users\Valeri\Saved Games\Warcraft III\Frozen Throne.exe, which I want to open as either realtime or high

FINAL EDIT & SOLUTION: So as it turns out, I haven't been too attentive after all, as launching C:\Users\Valeri\Saved Games\Warcraft III\Frozen Throne.exe, automatically opens up war3.exe instead...

Applying start "" /b /High "C:\Users\Valeri\Saved Games\Warcraft III\war3.exe" as recommended by @DavidPostill or

Start-Process "C:\Users\Valeri\Saved Games\Warcraft III\Frozen Throne.exe"
Get-WmiObject Win32_process -filter 'name = "Frozen Throne.exe"' | foreach-object { $_.SetPriority(256) }

, as recommended by @Steffen S., to the right .exe, that may open after the initial .exe in some cases, solves this issue... thanks for all the help!

Answer 1

You should be able to change the process prioriy after starting the application with PowerShell. Be aware that 'Realtime' requires the PowerShell command to be run with adminstration rights. If you don't priority will be set to "High" instead.

Get-WmiObject Win32_process -filter 'name = "Frozen Throne.exe"' | foreach-object { $_.SetPriority(32768) }

So a complete ps1-file could look like:

Start-Process "C:\Users\Valeri\Saved Games\Warcraft III\Frozen Throne.exe"
Get-WmiObject Win32_process -filter 'name = "Frozen Throne.exe"' | foreach-object { $_.SetPriority(256) }

Reference: SetPriority method

Answer 2

The standard method works fine for me, so I wonder what are the differences between your setup and mine.

I have started CMD as Administrator and ran the following, in addition to starting notepad normally:

The results are as predicted by the documentation:

Some product or other restriction might be blocking the correct functioning of the start command on your computer. Try testing while booting in Safe mode, to disable all non-Microsoft programs and drivers.

It could also be some property of your program that is preventing this, or perhaps your antivirus or another security software.

Answer 3

After testing and testing and testing, the simplest solution for all kinds of processes including games (the 'start' method didn't work) is to use 'process hacker' and save the priority once changed... Simple and effective !