Hide, Show, Minimize, Maximize, etc window from Powershell.

Set-WindowState.ps1

function Set-WindowState {
    <#
    .SYNOPSIS
    Set the state of a window.

    .DESCRIPTION
    Set the state of a window using the `ShowWindowAsync` function from `user32.dll`.

    .PARAMETER InputObject
    The process object(s) to set the state of. Can be piped from `Get-Process`.

    .PARAMETER State
    The state to set the window to. Default is 'SHOW'.

    .PARAMETER SuppressErrors
    Suppress errors when the main window handle is '0'.

    .PARAMETER SetForegroundWindow
    Set the window to the foreground

    .PARAMETER ThresholdHours
    The number of hours to keep the window handle in memory. Default is 24.

    .EXAMPLE
    Get-Process notepad | Set-WindowState -State HIDE -SuppressErrors

    .EXAMPLE
    Get-Process notepad | Set-WindowState -State SHOW -SuppressErrors

    .LINK
    https://gist.github.com/lalibi/3762289efc5805f8cfcf

    .NOTES
    Original idea from https://gist.github.com/Nora-Ballard/11240204
    #>

    [CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName = 'InputObject')]
    param(
        [Parameter(Position = 0, Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
        [Object[]] $InputObject,

        [Parameter(Position = 1)]
        [ValidateSet(
            'FORCEMINIMIZE', 'HIDE', 'MAXIMIZE', 'MINIMIZE', 'RESTORE',
            'SHOW', 'SHOWDEFAULT', 'SHOWMAXIMIZED', 'SHOWMINIMIZED',
            'SHOWMINNOACTIVE', 'SHOWNA', 'SHOWNOACTIVATE', 'SHOWNORMAL'
        )]
        [string] $State = 'SHOW',
        [switch] $SuppressErrors = $false,
        [switch] $SetForegroundWindow = $false,
        [int] $ThresholdHours = 24
    )

    Begin {
        $WindowStates = @{
            'FORCEMINIMIZE'      = 11
            'HIDE'               = 0
            'MAXIMIZE'           = 3
            'MINIMIZE'           = 6
            'RESTORE'            = 9
            'SHOW'               = 5
            'SHOWDEFAULT'        = 10
            'SHOWMAXIMIZED'      = 3
            'SHOWMINIMIZED'      = 2
            'SHOWMINNOACTIVE'    = 7
            'SHOWNA'             = 8
            'SHOWNOACTIVATE'     = 4
            'SHOWNORMAL'         = 1
        }

        $Win32ShowWindowAsync = Add-Type -MemberDefinition @'
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool ShowWindowAsync(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern bool SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);
'@ -Name "Win32ShowWindowAsync" -Namespace Win32Functions -PassThru

        $handlesFilePath = "$env:APPDATA\WindowHandles.json"

        $global:MainWindowHandles = @{}

        if (Test-Path $handlesFilePath) {
            $json = Get-Content $handlesFilePath -Raw
            $data = $json | ConvertFrom-Json
            $currentTime = Get-Date

            foreach ($key in $data.PSObject.Properties.Name) {
                $handleData = $data.$key

                if ($handleData -and $handleData.Timestamp) {
                    try {
                        $timestamp = [datetime] $handleData.Timestamp
                        if ($currentTime - $timestamp -lt (New-TimeSpan -Hours $ThresholdHours)) {
                            $global:MainWindowHandles[[int] $key] = $handleData
                        }
                    } catch {
                        Write-Verbose "Skipping invalid timestamp for handle $key"
                    }
                } else {
                    Write-Verbose "Skipping entry for handle $key due to missing data"
                }
            }
        }
    }

    Process {
        foreach ($process in $InputObject) {
            $handle = $process.MainWindowHandle

            if ($handle -eq 0 -and $global:MainWindowHandles.ContainsKey($process.Id)) {
                $handle = [int] $global:MainWindowHandles[$process.Id].Handle
            }

            if ($handle -eq 0) {
                if (-not $SuppressErrors) {
                    Write-Error "Main Window handle is '0'"
                } else {
                    Write-Verbose ("Skipping '{0}' with id '{1}', because Main Window handle is '0'" -f $process.ProcessName, $process.Id)
                }

                continue
            }

            Write-Verbose ("Processing '{0}' with id '{1}' and handle '{2}'" -f $process.ProcessName, $process.Id, $handle)

            $global:MainWindowHandles[$process.Id] = @{
                Handle = $handle.ToString()
                Timestamp = (Get-Date).ToString("o")
            }

            $Win32ShowWindowAsync::ShowWindowAsync($handle, $WindowStates[$State]) | Out-Null

            if ($SetForegroundWindow) {
                $Win32ShowWindowAsync::SetForegroundWindow($handle) | Out-Null
            }

            Write-Verbose ("» Set Window State '{1}' on '{0}'" -f $handle, $State)
        }
    }

    End {
        $data = [ordered] @{}

        foreach ($key in $global:MainWindowHandles.Keys) {
            if ($global:MainWindowHandles[$key].Handle -ne 0) {
                $data["$key"] = $global:MainWindowHandles[$key]
            }
        }

        $json = $data | ConvertTo-Json

        Set-Content -Path $handlesFilePath -Value $json
    }
}

I'm having an issue with using your inputobject. It's telling me that its null when I run this from a piped "Get-Process"

Question: Once you "HIDE" a window, its MainWindowHandle becomes 0, ... so how do you make it visible again?
Start-Process 'notepad.exe' # Start notepad.
$hwndBefore = (Get-Process -Name 'notepad').MainWindowHandle # Get main window handle.
Set-WindowStyle -MainWindowHandle $hwndBefore -Style HIDE # Hide it.
$hwndAfter = (Get-Process -Name 'notepad').MainWindowHandle # Handle now = 0
Set-WindowStyle -MainWindowHandle $hwndAfter -Style SHOW # No effect

@ed1chandler

Modify the code so that BEFORE you minimize it, you store info about the process (PID or ProcessName). That way you can reference it.

Thanks, Dude, working like a charm on Windows 8, I need the alt - tab simulation but I was able to solve my issue minimizing the unwanted app and bring to the front the desired app.

I can't seem to restore a minimized window. Can someone post an example code on how to achieve this?

After the window is minimized, if I do this:
$hwndAfter = (Get-Process -Name 'notepad').MainWindowHandle

I can get the mainwindowhandle just fine. So why Can't I just do this?
Set-WindowStyle -MainWindowHandle $hwndAfter -Style RESTORE

OR this:
Set-WindowStyle -MainWindowHandle $hwndAfter -Style SHOW

?

@chaoscreater RESTORE should work after you minimize a window. It doesn't work when you use HIDE, where MainWindowHandle becomes 0.

Updated the code so that it keeps the MainWindowHandle of the processes (for the current session) it handles. So now (in the same session) you can HIDE and then SHOW a window.

The implementation is not that elegant at the moment, it pollutes the global space with a variable (MainWindowHandle)

Updated the code so that it keeps the MainWindowHandle of the processes (for the current session) it handles. So now (in the same session) you can HIDE and then SHOW a window.

The implementation is not that elegant at the moment, it pollutes the global space with a variable (MainWindowHandle)

@lalibi

Hi, thanks for updating the script. I can't figure out how to use it, I'm getting the following error:

Cannot convert argument "hWnd", with value: "", for "ShowWindowAsync" to type "System.IntPtr": "Cannot convert null to type "System.IntPtr"."

Could you provide an example of how to restore a minimized window please?

Update:

Nevermind, I got it.

$inputobject = get-process -name 'notepad'
Set-WindowState -inputObject $inputobject -State RESTORE

Or like this:

Get-Process notepad | Set-WindowState -State Hide
Get-Process notepad | Set-WindowState -State Show

Keep getting error "Main Window handle is '0' " when trying to run this on spotify, works Fine on notepad though. Maybe something to do with how spotify seems to be made up of 3 processes in task manager.
Image attached to show what I mean.
https://i.ibb.co/71nqXhx/Capture69.jpg

It's good, but although it sets the correct window state on the correct handle, what is still missing in certain $States is a command to bring the window to the foreground, e.g. $Win32ShowWindowAsync::SetForegroundWindow($handle) | Out-Null

@Duoquadragesimal, yes it's because of the multiple processes, it should work though. You get an error for each process that doesn't have a main window. I added a -SuppressErrors flag, so you can call it like this:

Get-Process spotify | Set-WindowState -State Show -SuppressErrors
Get-Process spotify | Set-WindowState -State Hide -SuppressErrors

@Nagidal added a flag for that too -SetForegroundWindow

Get-Process someprocess| Set-WindowState -State Show -SetForegroundWindow 

Hmm. When I do this, the program gets hidden, but it does not show again
Get-Process program | Set-WindowState -State Hide -SuppressErrors
then
Get-Process program | Set-WindowState -State Show -SuppressErrors

Any idea?

Hmm. When I do this, the program gets hidden, but it does not show again Get-Process program | Set-WindowState -State Hide -SuppressErrors then Get-Process program | Set-WindowState -State Show -SuppressErrors

Any idea?

You need to execute those two commands in the same session. Otherwise it won't work, since a "hidden" application doesn't have a MainWindowHandle.

MainWindowHandles are now stored in a .json file, in "$env:APPDATA\WindowHandles.json", and restored them every time the script is run. At this point there is no automatic way to clear this file, only manually.

.json now includes a timestamp for each entry and invalidates them, if a threshold is reached (default is 24 hours).

Wow, two years later, you still added a feature. That's awesome!

And I just realized I didn't respond, sorry about that lol.