Start Chrome Minimized? - google-chrome

Question

rundll32 shell32.dll,ShellExec_RunDLL "C:\...\shortcut.lnk"
rundll32 shell32.dll,ShellExec_RunDLL "C:\...\shortcut2.lnk"
That's what I've got so far running inside a batch. It starts Chrome just fine, but I want it to start minimized as I only want a page to autorun and then Chrome be closed later automatically. I don't ever want the window to be anything other than minimized.
So far I've tried /min in every location of this command that I could and none have worked. The only position where it does anything is before the directory and it seems to run the Chrome process and then kills it immediately after. Putting --no-startup-window as a parameter in the shortcut also reacts the same way.
I've tried a few other things as well like setting the shortcuts to "minimized" in the window mode, but nothing has worked so far. I could really use some help with this as I'm pretty much stuck. The solution could either be a command for a batch executable or something having to do with the actual shortcut file.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd hate to have to manually minimize these two windows every day.
Here are the two shortcuts and batch file if you want to mess with them.
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B_KZqubEguX6N04xOVZfWVVlQUE

Answer 1

If you just need to run Chrome from a bat file with non full screen mode you can try to use these parameters:
--window-position=0,0 --window-size=1,1

Answer 2

While thinking about a solution within a batch file and coming to the conclusion that there isn't a better solution, than also described above, I've written this quick and dirty piece of code and compiled it in case that you don't have a compiler:
(You will find it also as a snippet on Gist)
Module Module1
Sub Main(ByVal Args() As String)
Try
If Args.Length = 2 Then
Dim fileName As String = Args(1)
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(fileName) Then
If System.IO.File.Exists(fileName) Then
Dim startInfo As New ProcessStartInfo(fileName)
Select Case Args(0).ToLower()
Case "hide"
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
Case "minimize"
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized
Case Else
Console.WriteLine(Args(0) & " is unknown. Showing Window.")
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal
End Select
Process.Start(startInfo)
Else
Throw New System.IO.FileNotFoundException("The file specified was not found. (""" & fileName & """)")
End If
Else
Throw New System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException("No file specified.")
End If
Else
Throw New System.Exception("Invalid count of arguments")
End If
Catch ex As Exception 'Optional: Catch ex As System.IO.FileNotFoundException
Console.Error.WriteLine("ERROR" & vbCrLf & ex.Message)
End
End Try
End Sub
End Module
Download the compiled file: RunProcess.exe.
For those who aren't familiar with vb.net or don't want to read this bad formatted thing:
You can use it the following way:
RunProcess minimize "C:\Program Files\[...]\chrome.exe"
RunProcess hide "C:\Program Files\[...]\chrome.exe"
RunProcess show "C:\Program Files\[...]\chrome.exe"
At this point it doesn't check execute paths:
RunProcess minimize "cmd.exe" wont work. You would have to use RunProcess minimize "%systemroot%\System32\cmd.exe"
EDIT:
Also have a look at this: Start-Process -WindowStyle Hidden "chrome.exe" "www.google.com"

Answer 3

If you do not want them to stay open for very long you could do like this
start "C:\Portable Apps\Program Files\Google Chrome\GoogleChromePortable.exe" <somelink1>
start "C:\Portable Apps\Program Files\Google Chrome\GoogleChromePortable.exe" <somelink2>
Taskkill /F /IM GoogleChromePortable.exe
or
Taskkill /F /IM chrome.exe