Running a process in pythonw with Popen without a console

Question

I have a program with a GUI that runs an external program through a Popen call:

p = subprocess.Popen("<commands>" , stdout=subprocess.PIPE , stderr=subprocess.PIPE , cwd=os.getcwd())
p.communicate()

But a console pops up, regardless of what I do (I've also tried passing it NUL for the file handle). Is there any way to do that without getting the binary I call to free its console?

Are these commands that would normally be run in a console? Are you trying to run another GUI program that does not have a console? — Noctis Skytower, Nov 28 '09 at 21:56

score 35 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 28 '19 at 12:21

From here:

import subprocess

def launchWithoutConsole(command, args):
    """Launches 'command' windowless and waits until finished"""
    startupinfo = subprocess.STARTUPINFO()
    startupinfo.dwFlags |= subprocess.STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
    return subprocess.Popen([command] + args, startupinfo=startupinfo).wait()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # test with "pythonw.exe"
    launchWithoutConsole("d:\\bin\\gzip.exe", ["-d", "myfile.gz"])

Note that sometimes suppressing the console makes subprocess calls fail with "Error 6: invalid handle". A quick fix is to redirect stdin, as explained here: Python running as Windows Service: OSError: [WinError 6] The handle is invalid

Nice. Because it isn't obvious, let me point out that `startupinfo.wShowWindow = subprocess.SW_HIDE` is _implied_ (`SW_HIDE` (`0`) is the default value). — mklement0, Mar 12 '22 at 19:32

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 26 '17 at 13:36

3

just do subprocess.Popen([command], shell=True)

edited Sep 26 '17 at 13:36

vy32

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answered Apr 15 '17 at 11:55

Liam

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What `pyw` file? He needs to run an external application. – David Ferenczy Rogožan Sep 07 '17 at 15:41
This works like a charm. You don't need a `.pyw` file. – vy32 Sep 26 '17 at 13:36
1

Surprisingly, it is underrated this answer, since worked for me +1. – Alfredo Maussa Apr 21 '22 at 13:24

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 03 '17 at 16:56

1

This works nicely in the win32api. The other solutions were not working for me.

import win32api
chrome = "\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe\""
args = "https://stackoverflow.com"

win32api.WinExec(chrome + " " + args)

answered Jul 03 '17 at 16:56

Devon Dieffenbach

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score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 26 '18 at 20:06

0

According to Python 2.7 documentation and Python 3.7 documentation, you can influence how Popen creates the process by setting creationflags. In particular, the CREATE_NO_WINDOW flag would be useful to you.

variable = subprocess.Popen(
   "CMD COMMAND", 
   stdout = subprocess.PIPE, creationflags = subprocess.CREATE_NO_WINDOW
)

edited Nov 26 '18 at 20:06

Woody1193

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answered Nov 26 '18 at 17:36

ErnestoQ

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Can you explain *why* this solves the problem? Thanks! – brasofilo Nov 26 '18 at 17:38
No such a flag in Python 2.7 – Dan Niero Nov 12 '19 at 13:47
this line "from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, CREATE_NO_WINDOW" will save you from all the prefix additions in the above example. (just in case you want your code a bit more compact.) – Alexander Stohr Jun 01 '21 at 20:06

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 28 '09 at 23:27

-1

You might be able to just do subprocess.Popen([command], shell=False).

That's what I use anyways. Saves you all the nonsense of setting flags and whatnot. Once named as a .pyw or run with pythonw it shouldn't open a console.

answered Nov 28 '09 at 23:27

ThantiK

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shell=False is already the default, so I don't see what this is going to fix: https://docs.python.org/2/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.Popen – totaam Mar 26 '16 at 04:52
3

`shell = False` will not change anything, the solution is to use `shell = True` with a `.pyw` file. – notTypecast Oct 13 '16 at 21:34

Running a process in pythonw with Popen without a console

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