Opening multiple programs

[Guest]

I would like to have an macro on my desktop that I can click on and have
multiple programs open. I have created one and it works for some programs
but not for others. Right now, I have a shortcut and in the "target" field
is written, "C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start outlook& start winword".
This results in the opening of "outlook" and "Word". However, if I try the
same "& start Bookshelf 2000," or bshelf2k.exe" the macro doesn't work.
Theoretically, I should be able to ask the macro to open any program, but it
won't. BTW, the full path to get to the "Bookshelf" exe file is, "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Reference\Bookshelf 2000\bshelf2k.exe" This is pretty basic,
and yet I've spent a long time trying to figure out why I can add more
programs to this macro and now I'm hoping someone with better skills than me
can help. Thanks very much.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I would like to have an macro on my desktop that I can click on and have
multiple programs open. I have created one and it works for some programs
but not for others. Right now, I have a shortcut and in the "target" field
is written, "C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start outlook& start winword".
This results in the opening of "outlook" and "Word". However, if I try the
same "& start Bookshelf 2000," or bshelf2k.exe" the macro doesn't work.
Theoretically, I should be able to ask the macro to open any program, but it
won't. BTW, the full path to get to the "Bookshelf" exe file is, "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Reference\Bookshelf 2000\bshelf2k.exe" This is pretty basic,
and yet I've spent a long time trying to figure out why I can add more
programs to this macro and now I'm hoping someone with better skills than me
can help. Thanks very much.

Put your application details into a batch file, then create a desktop
shortcut to invoke this batch file. It could look like so:

@echo off
start /b "Word" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\winword.exe"
start /b "Excel" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\excel.exe"
start /b "Bookshelf" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Reference\Bookshelf
2000\bshelf2k.exe"

Save the file as c:\Windows\macros.bat (for example).

This gives you far better flexibility than cramming the program names
into a desktop shortcut.

 

[David Candy]

Should have read help on the Start command as your syntax is wrong.

cmd /c start "" Outlook&start "" winword&"C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Reference\Microsoft Bookshelf Basics.lnk"

So actually using Start for the third is a waste of time as the shell does nothing to it, but this is where your incorrect syntax applies.

cmd /c start "" Outlook&start "" winword&Start "" "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Reference\Microsoft Bookshelf Basics.lnk"