start up exe file at background

[degoudenkooi]

Hi,
I wrote an exe file to start a video.
So, if I start the exe file, the video starts playing.
All clear for now :-)

The situation:
a video is playing.
a software in background is triggered and starts the exe file
the exe file starts another video (so the video changes from video 1 to video 2)

Problem:
when the exe file is started, a small black box pops up for 2 secs.
It's the exe file that is opened, and when the new video starts, disappears again

Question:
is there any way I can mak this black box run in background, so it doesn't pops up 2 secs in front of the playing video?

[DaveLembke]

You might be able to specify the coordinates that the pop up box pops up in to hide it off to the side. About 15 years ago I had a kiosk project and wanted to hide stuff and was able to tell specific windows that pop up to be just about off the screen with the very far left edge pretty much unnoticeable to far right lower corner of display. I will see if I can find the solution I used for X,Y window placement of popup.

Trying to hide a pop up window completely I was met with complications where for security reasons Windows didnt like stuff happening that normally had a popup suppressed to not pop up. So offsetting the location way almost completely off screen was the solution.

This article here touches on placement and sizing using registry method. There are other ways if registry editing isnt an option. https://superuser.com/questions/676675/how-to-reset-the-window-position-of-an-application


Note: This is an example of being able to offset notepad. You would need to offset your exe by name or registry etc. Additionally this is treading on thin ice with what we can help with here because someone could use this ability to plant an exe on someones system that does something nasty that they are unable to suppress it from view and they want to hide it from eyes of someone they are spying on etc, and so I have to end this here with just this suggestion, but making it work you will be pretty much on your own as for I cant give away a cookbook method of step by step instructions where you yourself seem to have a kiosk like application but someone else visiting this if I had step by step instructions might see it as a nifty way to hide their malicious program from someone that they have access to their computer with and want to annoy or steal info from etc, and aren't skilled enough to programmatically hide it as a service.

For Notepad, this is how you should proceed. In the registry, go to the following folder:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad

then modify the following values

iWindowPosX 
iWindowPosY 
iWindowPosDX 
iWindowPosDY 

X and Y are the coordinates of the window's top left corner. DX and DY are the width and height of the window.

[degoudenkooi]

Wow, great idea.
The coordinates I have to use probably relate to the dimensions of the screen I use?
I can alter the register, so if you could help me out on those coordinates, that would be great!

[DaveLembke]

Screen resolution will make for X,Y coordinates that work for that resolution. I suggest finding a method that works and then try with one set of values and see what happens and if its not enough go with greater or lesser values for X,Y until you have it placed where you want it.

As per my note in my initial post where this could be used maliciously, I unfortunately cant give step by step instructions, but you have a good safe direction to go in for your need to hide it off to the side for your video player/kiosk.

Everything we help out with here at Computer Hope we need to ensure that we aren't aiding people in making malicious problems etc. So I am able to point a direction to go in, but unable to give step by step instructions because I can see all sorts of people using a cookbook method for malicious intent. This direction will work, and will take some work to achieve, and I used this method 15 years ago for a kiosk that I built, but I cant go into specifics beyond what i have already shared unfortunately. 

The only way to really achieve hiding something is to program it as a service which can all happen behind the scenes, but that too i cant share info on because it can be used improperly, but someone who knows how to program at that level wouldnt need help from others and are likely already out there making those services, but we have to make sure that stuff like that doesnt get into the wrong hands etc. So I cant go into how to convert a launcher to a service etc.

[degoudenkooi]

Haha, okay, thanks.
I'm asking for own use.
As you say, someone whith wrong intentions probably knows a little more about this than me.
I'll just 'try and error' then.

[DaveLembke]

Best of luck and it can be done and this is the easiest way to go with hiding it. 

[degoudenkooi]

Hi,
it isn't working.
But actually, I open an exe file, it's not a notepad file (it was, but is changed to exe)

Maybe there is a way to let this pop-up in the background?

[DaveLembke]

If its a foreground/background issue then that can be handled a different way setting window focus to be video to remain in foreground. But this requires a service or looped macro that makes the video window stay in foreground. But once again I cant go into details because this can be used maliciously to hide windows. There is info out there on how to achieve this, but cant go into details.


Curious if just using a different video player will get rid of the pop up, however if its a shell window from a batch file thats running that wont solve that. Are you able to share a screenshot of the pop up etc? There may be ways to help without crossing the line into sharing what cant be shared here for information.

[degoudenkooi]

see attachment!

black window should be behind the video playing ...

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

[DaveLembke]

Interesting... in that the windows aren't even overlapping each other correctly. You have a partial command shell window forward and partial video going on. Is this what you have had going on all along or is the broken up overlap a problem you had from the very beginning?

Window overlays that are broken like this could be something to do with video card or video driver or if shared memory for the video possibly a RAM issue, or the player itself having an issue in partial rendering. I would have expected to see the normal foreground window and background window with a proper overlap vs the window being partially rendered.

Looks like M2.exe calls to play the video is this a Batch compiled as an EXE. Curious what you have that M2.exe is doing if able to share the code here?

[Hackoo]

Hi 
As i can see from your screenshot this is a batch file convetred to exe ?
Try to launch your video from a vbscript file instead !
Edit :
Can you share the code of this batch file to understand more your aim and we try if it's possible to write it as vbscript instead of batch file to get rid from the black box screen ?

[degoudenkooi]

the code is quite easy:

C:\M2.wmv

it is indeed a batch file converted to an exe file
so when the software opens the exe file, the exe files opens the wmv file
(the sofware used can only open an sound file or exe file, not a video file)

To tell you the full story:
the software used is paxton software. This is acces control security software.
I use this in an escape room. One of the triggers (players enter a code on a code panel) makes paxton trigger an exe file, instead of opening a magnetic lock for example.
Now, the escapers can see briefly the back box, wich makes it a little bit amateuristic...

[Hackoo]

And what's happen if you change your batch file like that :

Code: [Select]

Start "Play This File" "C:\M2.wmv" & exitfor more info about the Start command, just type on your command line prompt

Code: [Select]

Start /?

[BC_Programmer]

Code: [Select]

makes paxton trigger an exe file
if there is a way to specify arguments, you can have it trigger the media player directly with the video file as the first argument.

[degoudenkooi]

I don't think it's possible, but I can verify.
How would the code look like?

Code: [Select]

makes paxton trigger an exe file
if there is a way to specify arguments, you can have it trigger the media player directly with the video file as the first argument.