Running an executable as a custom action without showing a console window by using CAQuietExec

As you may know, it's possible to execute a Windows batch script as a custom action. Then again, if you're able to not use a batch script, preferring a more robust mechanism such as a C# custom action, then that's better. However, sometimes you just can't avoid it. In those cases, one annoyance is that a console window will be displayed while the batch script is running. In this recipe, we'll see how to hide it from the user.

Getting ready

To prepare for this recipe, perform the following steps:

1. Create a new setup project and call it QuietCustomActionInstaller.

2. We will create a batch script that prints a sequence of numbers to the console for a few seconds, long enough to be noticeable. Open a text editor such as notepad and enter the following code:

   @ECHO OFF
   FOR /L %%i IN (1,1,10000) DO ECHO %%i

3. Save this file as BatchScript.cmd and put it in the same folder as your setup project.

4. Reference it in your...