What's New in Hstart

Below is the list of the latest news and blog posts on Hidden Start. You can subscribe to the NTWind News by email or RSS to stay up-to-date with our products and services.


Hidden Start v5.1 - Several Fixes in Hstart GUI Tool

Changelog for Hidden Start v5.1 (June 28, 2023):

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 28-Jun-23 16:47


Hidden Start v5.0 - Auto Dark Mode for Windows 10/11

Hstart GUI Tool is updated with Auto Dark mode in Windows 11 style:

Hstart GUI Tool - Regedit

Multiple commands:

Hstart GUI Tool - Complex Command Lines

Changelog for Hidden Start v5.0 (April 25, 2023):

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 25-Apr-23 09:14


Hidden Start v4.9 - Set Environment Variables

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.9 (April 6, 2020):

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 06-Apr-20 17:34


Hidden Start v4.8 - Run Apps Minimized or Maximized

Now you can start apps minimized or maximized with Hidden Start using /MIN and /MAX command line switches. It works with /SHELL and /NOUAC switches too.

Hstart - Run Regedit.exe Maximized

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.8 (October 28, 2019):

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 28-Oct-19 13:30


Hidden Start v4.7 - Manage Startup Items

Hstart GUI Tool allows you to create autostart entries in Windows Registry. The updated version of Hstart adds "Manage Startup Items" command under the Tools menu to quickly edit or remove existing autostart entries and contains several stability improvements.

Hstart GUI Tool

Updated Help message:

Hidden Start - Help

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.7 (September 14, 2019):

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 14-Sep-19 07:34


Hidden Start v4.6 - Improved GUI Tool

Hidden Start (or Hstart) is a lightweight command line utility which allows you to hide console window and UAC elevation prompt, run multiple commands synchronously and much more.

Hstart GUI Tool

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.6 (February 4, 2019):

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 04-Feb-19 11:23


Hidden Start v4.3 - Install/Uninstall and more

New version of Hidden Start was released today. Now it comes with a handy setup program, provides an improved GUI tool, supports Windows 10 and more.

Hstart Setup

Hstart GUI Tool:

Hstart Setup

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.3:

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 12-Feb-17 20:53


Hidden Start v4.1 - Support For Long Commands

New version of Hidden Start was released today. Now Hstart can process long command lines with more that 2,048 characters - there is no limit.

Hstart GUI Tool

Changelog for Hidden Start v4.1:

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 30-Nov-11 21:03


Hidden Start v4.0 – Run Apps without UAC Prompt

The new major version of Hidden Start was released this week. The most noticeable update is Hstart GUI Tool – HstartUI.exe which is a part of the distribution package now.

Hstart GUI Tool

Hstart GUI Tool would help you to build complex command lines and test them immediately. It can quickly create a shortcut on the desktop or an autostart entry in the Windows registry.

Run Applications without UAC Prompt

The second big improvement is /NOUAC switch that allows you to run applications or batch files with administrative privileges without any UAC prompts. Here is a simple example:

hstart.exe /NOUAC regedit.exe

Of course, it can be used with other options:

hstart.exe /NOUAC /NOCONSOLE "D:\Batch Files\Riquires_Admin_Rights.bat"

The following command opens Local Group Policy Editor:

hstart.exe /NOUAC /SHELL gpedit.msc

And here is how to open Windows Hosts file for editing:

hstart.exe /NOUAC "notepad.exe "%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts""

Environment Variables

As you can see from the previous example, Hstart now expands environment variables in the executed command lines. This may help you to make more system independent commands:

hstart.exe /NOCONSOLE /WAIT /D="%TEMP%"
     "cmd.exe /c "D:\test.bat > test-output.txt""
     ""%ProgramFiles%\EmEditor\emeditor.exe" test-output.txt"

Other Improvements

The new Hstart uses a more efficient parsing algorithm to process complex command lines. The entire program code has been rewritten to make Hstart faster and bug free.

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 25-Aug-11 11:21


Hidden Start v3.2 - Delay Before Executing Command

The new version of Hidden Start allows you to set the startup delay (in seconds) before executing a batch file, command or sequence of commands.

Hidden Start v3.2

You could use it as follows:

hstart.exe /DELAY=5 /NOCONSOLE "D:\Batch Files\test.bat"

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Posted by Alexander Avdonin on 07-Jul-10 15:01



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