Create folder without using cmd.exe in windows

Question

EDIT: I have proprietary application which supports only executing windows commands and executables (only from Windows folder) with paramaters and I need to create folder using that but I don't want to see cmd window blink. This app doesn't support any dll imports or code customization.

Is there a way how to create folder in windows without command prompt? When I run

cmd /C mkdir "C:\Path\To\Dir" 

it causes blink of quick showing and hiding cmd window (I want to avoid that). When I run

rundll.exe shell32.dll,SHCreateDirectory "C:\Path\To\Dir" 

or

rundll.exe kernel32.dll,CreateDirectoryA "C:\Path\To\Dir" 

Command passes just fine, but doestn't create my directory I wanted to create. Would be good to have such command also for creating direcotry with full non existing path.

EDIT2: I found a bit nasty, but working workaround for this problem: I found out that I can create text files using that proprietary app. So first I've created file: run.vbs Then I wrote few lines in it:

If WScript.Arguments.Count >= 1 Then
    ReDim arr(WScript.Arguments.Count-1)
    For i = 0 To WScript.Arguments.Count-1
        Arg = WScript.Arguments(i)
        If InStr(Arg, " ") > 0 Then Arg = """" & Arg & """"
      arr(i) = Arg
    Next
    RunCmd = Join(arr)
    CreateObject("Wscript.Shell").Run RunCmd, 0, True
End If

then run

wscript run.vbs cmd /C mkdir "C:\Temp\TmP"

And vuola!

Answer 1

If you can't control how your process is created you are basically at the mersey of the implementers of that code. The winapi CreateProcess does run *.bat and/or *.cmd files but via %ComSpec% /c, which is normally cmd.exe /c. But then, .bat files are no .good here exactly because cmd runs them, which opens a console

Here are a few options that might or might not work in your case:

Option 1 (idea from @HarryJohnston)

Use the following powershell command

powershell -WindowStyle Minimized -NoLogo -NoProfile -NonInteractive -Command mkdir c:\your\path\tocreate > %temp%\scratch.txt

Option 2

Have the script interpreter run the following file:

Dim oFSO
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

' Create a new folder
oFSO.CreateFolder WScript.Arguments.Item(0)

which you start with the following command:

wscript mkdirsil.vbs "c:\path\to\create" //NoLogo

//Nologo Prevent logo display: No banner will be shown at execution time

Option 3

Compile the following C# Winforms program that keeps its main window hidden. You need to deploy the executable and I don't know if that is feasible.

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO;

namespace SilentMkDir
{
    public class Program:Form
    {
        public Program(string dir)
        {
            this.SuspendLayout();
            this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(0, 0);
            this.ControlBox = false;
            this.MaximizeBox = false;
            this.MinimizeBox = false;
            this.ShowIcon = false;
            this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
            this.StartPosition = System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition.Manual;
            this.Text = "MakeDir";
            this.WindowState = System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState.Minimized;
            this.Load += (s, e) =>
            {
                try
                {
                    Directory.CreateDirectory(dir);
                }
                catch (Exception all)
                {
                    MessageBox.Show(all.Message);
                }
                this.Close();
            };
            this.ResumeLayout(false);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] path)
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new Program(path[0]));
        }
    }
}

This commandline should produce an*.exe for you, asuming above code is in mksil.cs

csc mksil.cs /r:System.IO.dll /r:System.Windows.dll

Or you could create something similar in C/C++.

Option 4 (idea @eryksun)

With Python installed you could do

pyw -c "import os; os.mkdir(r'C:\Path\To\Dir')"

since pyw.exe is a GUI app

You are basically looking for an exe that is a Windows GUi application instead of a Console application. The following batch command scans the system folder for such executables (put it on one line) but none were found. (notice this needs to run from the commandline, from a script file use %%a instead of %a. dumpbin comes with the VC++ compiler

for %a in (%SystemRoot%\System32\*.exe) do 
      @(dumpbin /headers %a | 
        find "subsystem (Windows GUI)" > nul && 
        echo %~nxa)

Option Not Possible

Initially I hoped start could work but @HarryJohnston pointed out that it is an internal command of cmd and not an exe.

start /B /min cmd /c mkdir

Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.

but with the /B (no new window) and /MIN (minimized) you might get away with it.