Windows Tip: Create A Batch File To Open Multiple Programs At Once
Ever have the need to open more than one program or application at the same time?
Say it's the beginning of the month and time to pay those dreaded bills. You know you need Excel, Windows calculator and Firefox or Internet Explorer open. Instead of opening them up one by one, you can easily create a batch file that will open all three programs at once.
And while your at it, why not have Excel open the spreadsheet file you use for tracking your budget and the browser open to your Bank's home page. Here's how to do it…
First let's take a look at a batch file I created that will just open Excel, Calculator and Firefox:
NOTE: Examples and file paths are from Windows Vista. XP paths will probably be different for some programs as well as for MS Office (Office 2007 is used in the example).
start /d C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe
start /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" firefox.exe
start /d "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12" EXCEL.EXE
Pretty simple.
The above command, start tells Windows to open a separate window to run the specified program.
The /d switch tells start command the path of the program. For starting Excel and Firefox, notice that the paths are in quotes, which is needed when there is a space in the file path.
Now it's great that all three programs open, but since it's time to pay your bills, you need to have Excel open that budget spreadsheet and Firefox open to your Bank home page so you can log on and access you checking account.
Here's how the commands look in the batch file to do this:
start /d C:\Windows\System32\ calc.exe
start /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" firefox.exe https://www.bankofamerica.com
start /d C:\finance\spreadsheets budget.xls
To open Bank Of America home page with Firefox, just add the URL to end of the command as shown above using https://www.bankofamerica.com.
To open the Excel spreadsheet, budget.xls you don't need to first open Excel. budget.xls can be opened directly using the start command, as long as the extension or file type is associated to the program.
If you need Firefox to open more than one URL, say to Google, just add the URL like this (make sure you use a space in between URL's):
start /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" firefox.exe https://www.bankofamerica.com www.google.com
Now you're probably saying "that's great, but how do I create a batch file?".
That's the easy part.
- Just open up Notepad or your favorite text editor.
- Copy the commands from above and modify them to use which ever program or Office files you want open. Make sure when you copy file and folder paths that have spaces, to use quotes.
- Then save the file with any name and a .bat extension (make sure it's not saved using .txt as the file type extension)
Now when you want to open up multiple programs or applications, just double click on the batch file and you're ready to pay the bills
.
Now, if I can only figure out how to get the calculator to open with a million dollars from my checking account….
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Comments on Windows Tip: Create A Batch File To Open Multiple Programs At Once
This is a cool tip. Every morning I open 6 applications and this has really saved me time. I am really enjoying this site.
I have one question.
I can't get the code below to start Excel and open a specific work book??
start /d "I:\Service\Service Systems\Customer Software DB\Software Sales and Billing DB 2007-2008.xls"
@Stephen Gilmartin
Thanks for the kind words.
Try using the command with out the /d option…
start "I:\Service\Service Systems\Customer Software DB\Software Sales and Billing DB 2007-2008.xls"
Let me know if that fixes it.
Hey dude very cool but only one thing tho, how to i open application type files or is that just something ill have to do myself
nvm i just realized that if i leave out the .exe or .app
nvm i just realized that if i leave out the .exe or .app it works*
Is There Any Way To Do This When The Files Have A Different Name Each Time? Namely, Override Vista's New Feature That Won't Allow Multiple Files Types To Be Opened At The Same Time Because The Same Program Cannot Open Them All? (Sorry For Crazy Caps… Researching On My Cell Phone)
@Susan
Give some examples of what you want open, and I'll see if it can be done.
Last, First 12345.dss -> Opens in ExpressScribe
Last, First 12345.tif -> Opens in MS Office Document Imaging
Last, First 12345.doc -> Opens in MS Word 03
=) Thanks for the help!!
good site, very nice tips, I am openning 8 applications in single shot everyday, it is saving lot of time.
Thanks,
Hey nice site working on my experiance with Batch files,
Here's my question:
I want to open 2 files in 1 program at the same time
Example:
A movie with my subtitles how to do this?
Thanks mam, just getting into learning batch commands.
There is one command i am looking for. I want to open a foder from a gui wat. Every time i try and open a folder it just selects it from in the cmd area.
If any1 knows how to oppen a folder from batch files. please send me an email. Thank you
Hey paul its real easy all you have to do is
c:\windows\explorer.exe "folder location"
Using your example, I tried a test to get IE open the CNN news page along with a couple other files. Since I don't have Firefox on my computer, I substituted the IE pathway. However, when I tried it, I get an error saying cannot find "Files/Internet" even though I put the entire path in quotes.
start /d “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer” IEXPLORE.EXE http://www.cnn.com
Error: Windows cannot find 'Files/Internet'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.
Okay, I discovered the problem, quite by accident. I copied and pasted your command line, changed the firefox info to the IE info and this time it worked. I tried the altered line alongside my original line and continued to get the error when it got to mine, although both lines appeared identical.
However, looking at my file in Notepad, I noticed a slight difference. Although I had typed both in Notepad in plain text, the quote marks on my file had curls on them, whereas yours were straight quote marks. I thought to myself, "No, that can't be it, but I changed out my quotes with yours, and TA-DA! It worked.
Since Notepad does not work with font types, I'm wondering how they turned out different. Whatever it was… it works.
Thanks for the tips! I have my batch file working perfectly with one website and four program files that open up together.
Is there a way to switch between opened applications with commands.
Anyone please help..
is there any way for giving command
i want to open my broadband connection at a specific time like 2 am daily automatically
the shortcut of connecting to Internet is in "network connections" i want to know that how to make a batch file for doing this
now i want to press the "connect button " so tell me how to do that
Anyone plz help me .
im not sure exactly how but there is a command thats executed whenever the internal (bios i think) time reaches the inputted time
thanks for this i open tons of firefox pages everytime i come home just put it in the startup directory
i had a small problem with a word file but i just put it straight into c:/ lol bad idea i know but it worked
thanks!!!
thnx for those comments i learned a lot from those comments..now i can open a folder with batch files..wating for a more complex commands list in tnis site..
Thanks for easy comments; I though creating batch files is a big difficult thing but by following those steps its very smooth ……….thanks a lot.
Hi,
I just want to know using a batch file how to open web page which prompts for username and password, say example gmail.
Please let me know the cmd/code that is used in a batch file to open web pages that needs username and password
Thanks in advance,
Sree.
@Stephen Gilmartin
I wonder if you should be using something like this:
start /d "I:\Service\Service Systems\Customer Software DB\Software Sales and Billing DB" 2007-2008.xls
Note that I contained the folder, and then located the .xls file outside the brackets. Does this work for you?
Hi,
I want to open 3 command prompts those will be pointing to
cmd1 should point to 'C:\Tomcat'
cmd2 should point to 'C:\Tomcat\lib'
cmd3 should point to 'D:\Test'
Also i need to open 2 file locations(2 different windows)
1) C:\Program Files
2) D:\Lab
How can i do these all in a single bat file? I need to open the above listed windows in a single click
I want to insert a time delay after launching every application so that all applications open 1 by 1 and they dont have to fight for CPU time and slowdown the hard disk reading.
After Googling i came through this command:
"TYPE NUL | choice /c:delay /td,10 >NUL"
But it's not working or i am unable to use it,
Can anybody told me how to insert time delay in this batch file.
Thanx in Advance…
I found the solution to insert time delay in a batch file
What I am doing is that I am using ping operation to insert time delay
"ping -n 6 127.0.0.1"
The above command I am using in my batch file to insert 5 mins time delay between 2 application.
@Mat
Here you go. Create a new batch file and copy/paste.
REM Open First Command Prompt
start cmd /k cd \Tomcat
REM Open Second Command Prompt
start cmd /k cd \Tomcat\lib
REM Open Third Command Prompt
start cmd /k cmd /k /D D:\Test
REM Open First Folder
start %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe c:\"Program Files"
REM Open Second Folder
start %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe d:\Lab
Exit
@ Immi
Nice work around ; -)
Hi, im trying to install a program with the batch. but my question some programs works just fine with the batch but some is still asking me to click where the program should be installed, license aggrement and so on.. what can i do in my batch to skip all those steps and install silently??
@Robert
It depends on the program setup installation. Some allow you to use a switch (such as setup.exe /s). You may want to check with the vendor of the program or look for a readme file that details how to do this.
Thank you so much.. you are right.. not all the packages are the same… got it.. Thanks alot
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. I have a doubt. I used the command
REM Open First Command Prompt
start cmd /k cd \Tomcat
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. I have a doubt. I used the command
REM Open First Command Prompt
start cmd /k cd /D D:\Seprelease\buildwar
and this opened a command prompt pointing to the exact location. after this if i want to execute a command
D:\jdk1.5.0_01\bin\jar.exe -cvf ace.ear *
that is it should be D:\Seprelease\buildwar> D:\jdk1.5.0_01\bin\jar.exe -cvf ace.ear * in the command prompt before i hit enter. How do we make this job automated using batch. your help is most welcome
Hi,
I just want to create a batch to delete unnecessary files in the system like:
cookies
HIstory
prefetch
qurantine folder of the antivirus
temp
%temp%
recent documents files
temporay internet files
which make my system to much slow.
Even take a lot of time to delete them.
Please help me out????
how would i open the run app (this thing)http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/naruto-chan-/untitledhygjhkj.jpg
@naruto-chan
Oh, you mean how do you open the Windows start run box from the command line…
Try this (it's the 32bit version) – c:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll #61
it didnt work
im using windows XP
can you give me the entire thing to typed out with the
start /d "(location)" (file name)
@naruto-chan
That was for XP. If it didn't work for you, then it's not going to work with any other command in front of it.
the problem im getting is that is is opening this [IMG]http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/naruto-chan-/rutioit87iufniuw7q38.jpg[/IMG]
Can you please help me to create batch file for opening few application in some time interval and website with id and password directly after running a batch file.
Please need your help guys would be appreciate if some one descirbe with sample example
Thanks hips in advance cheers…
@Stephen Gilmartin
Try this (3 separated commands):
I:
"I:\Service\Service Systems\Customer Software DB\Software Sales and Billing DB"
"2007-2008.xls"
It worked for me (I'm using XP).
Good luck!
Can you please help me to create batch file to system restore in windows xp and windows 2000 proff.
Thanks, this helped me.. I was trying to open a program just by typing ["C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\SbieCtrl.exe"]- which opened the program but left the cmd prompt window open. using [start "C:\Program Files\Sandboxie\" SbieCtrl.exe] fixed it.
Great tip! The only thing I should notice is some words on delayed execution. If you want to start one program after another one have closed, use "&" operator between them (without commas). And if you create batch files quite often, I advice you to try Dr.Batcher (http://www.drbatcher.com). This tool is really handy but not freeware
hey guys can anyone help me with the following: i want a batch file that first closes explorer.exe and then runs it again with administrative rights (im on windows vista and it needs to be administrative)
or if you know the command to close a file/application (like "start" runs it) that would be great too
Dear Sir;
I want to create a batch file which run below command.
I have Lsclient.exe shoud run from D:\projects folder.
D:\projects\Lsclient.exe TEST5.
Test5 is my sql server.
How to create a batch file that run above command. Plase do needfull.
With Regards
bhupendra jesalpura
network admin
How do you open youtube through a batch file?
ALT+TAB: Switch between open programs
Is there a untraceable message code? If so, what is it?
Thank you so much for this simple trick.
Hi Guys,
Can you please help to delete some specific file from below directory path using batch command
D:\cdata\appdata\spPC\auxxxx\lp0001\server
# Delete all files in this directory that start with wtotsetdr*.*
DO NOT DELETE THE wTOTSETBK.* FILES!!
If the files have been deleted but it hasn't resolved the problem, then delete all files in the same directory starting with ts*.*
Please help me out????
I really appreciateyr help.
Akon