Launch multiple programs simultaneously on your computer using a script that runs by clicking a shortcut.
Depending on the tasks you do in your work day, or the activities you may have on your PC, you may be using several different applications simultaneously. To avoid having to manually launch all the programs corresponding to your task at the moment, it is possible to create a script which will take care of doing it for you, and which will be executed by clicking on a simple shortcut.
You can thus, according to your needs, make sure that Windows 10 runs for example, Word, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Teams for your work, or even Steam, Discord and Twitch during your gaming sessions.
Here’s how to create a shortcut that launches multiple apps simultaneously on Windows 10.
1. Get the program path
Start by copying the path of the programs you want to run simultaneously. To do this, from the desktop, right click on the software icon and go to Properties.
If the program doesn’t have a shortcut on your desktop, search for its name in the Windows 10 search box, right-click on the program, and choose Open file location. You can then right click on the program icon to access its Properties.
Then copy the content displayed in the Target field, and paste the path to the file in Windows Notepad.
2. Create the script
At the very top of Notepad in which you have pasted the paths of the applications to open, insert a line and add the command @echo off. This will hide the window of the command prompt where the execution of the script is displayed.
In front of each application path, insert the command CD, place the cursor at the end of the path, and press Enter to jump to the line. The cd command allows the script to navigate to the directory containing the application to be executed.
Then add the command start followed by the name of the executable file of the application to launch, including extension. Repeat for each of the programs. To simultaneously launch Firefox, Chrome, and Word, the script should look like this:
@echo off
cd “C: Program Files Mozilla Firefox firefox.exe”
start firefox.exe
cd “C: Program Files (x86) Google Chrome Application chrome.exe”
start chrome.exe
cd “C: Program Files (x86) Microsoft Office root Office16 WINWORD.EXE”
start WINWORD.EXE
exit
At the end of your file, add the command exit which will exit the script after it is executed. The contents of your Notepad should look like this:
3. Save the script
When your script is ready, you can save it by clicking File then Save As. Change the default file type (.txt) to all files, and choose a name for your script by adding the .bat extension at the end and confirm by clicking Save.
4. Create the shortcut
Go to the Windows desktop, right click, in the context menu click on New then on Shortcut.
Click the Browse button, navigate to the directory where you saved your script and select it.
Then click on the Next button, give a name to your shortcut and validate it by clicking on Finish.
From now on, you will only have to double click on this shortcut file to simultaneously run all the programs necessary for your task.
You can also repeat the operation to generate several different shortcuts corresponding to your different scenarios for using your PC.