Question

I want to start a simple program when windows start but I don’t want to show the console output window associated with that program. Just to test, the program can be as simple as:

    int main (int argc, char** argv)
    {
        while (1)
        {
             printf ("hello world...\n");
             Sleep (10000);
        }
    return 0;
    }

compiling it as: cl foo.c

I know how to start the program when windows is starting (putting in startup folder, creating registry etc), but I don’t know how to hide the console output window that comes when the program is started.

While searching for this, I found that I can use start /B foo.exe. Is there any other method for doing this? some thing like "&" we use on unix.

My actual program is big and is written in C, so I can not use some other alternatives i found for c# (like WinMain) and java (like explained here).

Answer 1

WinMain is not a C# entry point. C# uses a method of a static class; it is called Main by default, but can be configured to any static-class method.

In Windows, non-console C programs should define a WinMain. You can then link them using the linker’s /subsystem:windows command-line option, invokable either directly or from CL.