GCC / C how to hide console window?

Question

****C newbie alert**** How do I compile a C app so that it runs without showing a console window on Windows? I\'m using Windows XP and GCC 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3).

Answer 1

Retain the -mwindows flag and use this:

#include <windows.h>
#include <process.h>
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{
    execl("c:\\winnt\\system32\\notepad.exe", 0);
    // or: execlp("notepad.exe", 0);
}

Note: you need the full path for the execl() call but not the execlp() one.

Edit: a brief explanation of why this works - using system() starts a shell (like cmd.exe) to exec the command which produces a console window. Using execl doesn't.