Start Multiple Programs With One Shortcut Windows XP

[iGuest 3]

Works great on Vista as well. Thanks!-reply by Jonathan

[iGuest 3]

only executables?Start Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

Thanks a bunch great tutorial. But can this be done with other files? say I want to start an mp3 and an exe? thanks again.-busya

[iGuest 3]

Avoid displaying CMD windowStart Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

Here's a way to avoid opening a black command window:

@echo off

rem Ensure that PeerGuardian is running before P2P

cd "C:Program FilesPeerGuardian2"

start "PeerGuardian" /B "C:Program FilesPeerGuardian2pg2.Exe"

cd "C:Program FilesFrostWire"

start "FrostWire" /B "C:Program FilesFrostWireFrostWire.Exe"

exit"/B"

starts the app without creating a new DOS window. I specify the path in the start command just to make sure, but you could probably do without it.The stuff in quotes after "start" is what to display in the title bar. It seems to be necessary even if you specify /B to display no window. *shrug*FWIW there's a list of batch commands at

http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm and a link on that page for the start commands used above.-reply by mythras

[iGuest 3]

adding web page addresses and using across multiple screensStart Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

Hi there,

This tutorial is awesome, thank you very much for it!

I was wondering about taking it a step further: I want to open two instances of Firefox, each pointing to a specific web address, and I would like each to open on a different screen ( I have two hooked - each one giving me a different part of my windows screen ( in other words, both together give me the total of my windows screen ). Is it possible to add the Firefox addresses and to split the two instances across the screens?

Thanks alot again!!

-question by Azirithdorr

 

[Samael 0]

I don't know if many of you know this, but I found it out a couple of years ago on my first computer. After making the shortcut to the desktop for the *.bat file, if you right click it, there will be a shortcut tab, and on that tab is an entry box called "Shortcut key:" Just click in the field and press a combo of keys. Something like Alt + CTRL + Shift + R for example.Keep in mind it doesn't have to have all those keys, and can be customized to how you want to open it. So like for the firefox *.bat you may want CTRL + ALT + F.Pres those buttons at the same time and you will see it pop up in the field. Click apply and ok, now whenever you hit that combo, it will automatically run that file. Just thought you might like to know that if you didn't already know it. Hope you find it useful ( ^ . ^ );;

[Gravity17 0]

I did nothing like this on my own, I went in Vb and made individual buttons to start up a program, like its 1 program with all the buttons to the things i want and could put a check mark to make them all start-up but nice idea, way better then mine and i was wondering if i could right click on my desktop and Hit New->Shortcut and make multiple targets, do you think that would work?

[harrison858 0]

Thanks for the tutorial! I have worked with .bat files before in some cases but I never knew it could be used to open multiple programs and things like that. This will be very useful for me because i usually have to open up like 5 programs each time I log onto the computer, and this will save a lot of time for me. .bat files can be tricky for me to use though.

[iGuest 3]

hi.

what if I want the 2nd program to start right after the 1st finishes executing?

is there a delay or wait command?

thanks

[iGuest 3]

Terminating previous programStart Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

@suberatu

To terminate a program, use the taskkill command. It is available on Windows XP Pro natively, and can be specified to kill a program just by the name (aka, taskkill /I'm Firefox.Exe would kill firefox). Hope that helps!

[iGuest 3]

when I tried to to show the path of an .Exe file there was an error message lyk..."Windows cannot find the path"make sure u type the name correctly"...I tried to run the file using command prompt and it worked...I tried it several time typing d same path that I gave in d command prompt screen but still it shows d same error message...Plzzz help

-question by iboy

[iGuest 3]

multiple web sites, one clickStart Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

I am trying to create a shortcut that will open multiple internet sites with one double click. I have successfully created shortcuts for all of my internet sites that I use day to day for my job. I am trying to create a script in word using the " START "" "C:Program FilesInternet Exploreriexplore.Exe" " format and then saving as a *.Bat file. I would like this to shortcut to open all of the links that I have saved on my desktop with just one shortcut or even if I could have a format that would input the url into the command. I don't know, I have looked all over for this type of forum and cannot find one with a good example. Please help!

-question by Brian

 

[iGuest 3]

using a batch file to turn off tasks running under msconfigStart Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

I have a batch file that starts up msconfig. I am looking for a way within the batch file to disable all non microsoft programs. I know I can just hit the disable all button but I was hoping to have the batch file do it. Is there any way to do this?

 

Thanks

David

 

[iGuest 3]

There's a tidier way to do that... Instead of

cd "C:Program FilesProgram"

start File.Exe

you can just have

"C:Program FilesProgramFile.Exe"

This is incredibly simple.

-reply by Benjamin

[iGuest 3]

By not using "Start" command, execution of the second (or the next) program will not continue unless the first one is completed, meaning you need to close to first program in order for the second to run.

Typing "start/?" in the command prompt displays the format and parameters.

In this example I used the Start ["Title"] [Command]  format.

example:

---------------

Start "First" "C:Program Filesapp one.Exe"

Start "Second" "D:My Gamesapp two.Exe"

Start "3rd" "C:Documents and SettingsMeMy Documentsdocument one.Doc"

Start "4th" "D:My PDFebook one.Pdf"

 --------------

As you can see spaces are included and "cd", "D:" and "C:" command are not needed.

Documents such as ".Doc" and ".Pdf" can also be open using the default program.

Double quotes (") are needed in order for us to include spaces and we include the title "First" simply because the command Start "C:Program Filesapp one.Exe"will just open a command prompt with a tile "C:Program Filesapp one.Exe".

[iGuest 3]

How to close programsStart Multiple Programs With One Shortcut

In Windows XP, there is something called taskkill

You can use taskkill and the name of the process to kill it. The name of the process can be obtained from going to the Task Manager and then to Processes.

An example, Internerd Explorer is called iexplore.Exe, so to close it, the command would be taskkill /F / I'm iexplore.Exe

The /F and /I'm are as follows:

/F forces the termination of the process

/I'm specifies the image name

More help on how to use taskkill can be found by clicking on "Start", then on "Run..." and typing "cmd" (without the quotation marks) and hitting 'Enter". In the window that pops up, type taskkill /? for help.

This could be combined with the procedure on how to open programs if you need to terminate a process immediately.

-reply by Another user