How to actually start program minimized in Windows 10?

Steps i tried to make program (for example: Thunderbird) to load on startup, but minimized:

1. Placed shortcut under: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
2. In a shortcut properties i've checked "minimized"

Rebooted windows, it does start, but MAXIMIZED! Can't make it minimized, just like on MacOS i could set it hidden.

2 Answers

Your method does not seem to work correctly for me. You could make a scheduled task that runs at user logon with the following batch (.bat) file attached.

start /min "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla\Thunderbird.exe"

You would then disable the thunderbird program from running at startup through your appdata path.

Other Options for code:

Save this as a .ps1

@echo off
start thunderbird
$wshell = New-Object -ComObject wscript.shell;
$wshell.AppActivate('*Mozilla Thunderbird')
Sleep 2
$wshell.SendKeys('(%(" "(n)))')

**Make sure when thunderbird opens, the setup email box is not there (client has been configured) and you are not getting prompted for the default mail application.

It worked for me after I changed the syntax order: Start-Process -WindowStyle Minimized thunderbird. This seems to be a bug: the prescribed syntax order (see Get-Help Start-Process) differs from the one that actually works.