title: Launch .bat files from a custom URL handler without showing the console window
body: <p>I registered a custom URL handler in Windows, in order to be able to launch a local program from an URL. Following the MSND documentation, I inserted the following values in the Registry:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestLaunch]
  @="URL:TestLaunch Protocol"
  "URL Protocol"=""
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestLaunch\DefaultIcon]
  @="\"c:\\temp\\test.bat\""
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestLaunch\shell]
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestLaunch\shell\open]
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestLaunch\shell\open\command]
  @="\"c:\\temp\\test.bat\" %1"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This works, but when I click a <code>TestLaunch:</code> link and the batch file starts I can see the console windows appearing. Since the role of the batch file is just parsing the argument url and launching another application, I would like the console non to appear (or at least being minimized), even if it is just for a fraction of a second.</p>
  
  <p>The only thing that came to my mind is creating a link to the batch file (<code>test.bat.lnk</code>) and set it to start as minimized, but that won't work.
  Any other ideas ? I'm open to an alternative to batch files, but I'd like to stick to what Windows provides</p>