claudetools/.claude/memory/feedback_scheduled_task_no_console_flash.md

name, description, metadata

name	description	metadata
feedback_scheduled_task_no_console_flash	Windows scheduled tasks must launch console apps windowless (wscript VBS for bash, pythonw + -Hidden for python) or they flash a console window on the desktop every run	type feedback

A Windows scheduled task whose action runs a console-subsystem program — bash.exe, py.exe, python.exe, cmd.exe — with LogonType=Interactive and Settings.Hidden=False draws a visible console window on the desktop every time it fires. On short repetition intervals (the EDR watcher fires every 10 min) this reads to the user as a command prompt "opening and closing" constantly. It is the single most reported harness annoyance and it keeps recurring because the installer scripts recreate the flashing task.

Why: wscript.exe is a GUI-subsystem host and pythonw.exe is the windowless Python host; neither allocates a console. bash.exe / py.exe / python.exe do.

How to apply: whenever you register (or find) a ClaudeTools scheduled task:

• bash target -> point the action at C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe with a one-line VBS wrapper that does CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Run "...bash.exe -lc ...", 0, False (window style 0 = hidden). Pattern files: gps-rmm-progress-hidden.vbs, edr-isolation-watch-hidden.vbs.
• python target -> use pythonw.exe (next to the active interpreter), never py.exe/python.exe.
• Always add -Hidden to New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet as belt-and-suspenders.
• Verify: Start-ScheduledTask, then confirm no visible bash/wscript/conhost MainWindow.

Fixed installers: register-edr-watcher.ps1, register-orphan-detector.ps1. The scheduled tasks themselves are per-machine (not in the repo) — re-run the fixed installer, or repoint the existing task's action, on every box that runs it. Related: feedback_session_recovery.