Specify monitor when opening file. (.bat)

May 29, 2023 by Tarik Billa

Unless the application you’re launching has a command-line switch for it, there’s no easy way to specify on which monitor to display a window. As far as I’m aware, neither start nor notepad supports such a switch. The closest solution I’ve found is to move a window after it’s already open.

Edit: user32.dll SetWindowPos() invoked from PowerShell

Here’s a hybrid batch + PowerShell script to launch a program and move it to a specific monitor. Save it with a .bat extension.

<# : batch portion
@echo off & setlocal disabledelayedexpansion

set args=%*
call set args=%%args:%1 %2=%%
set "exe=%~2"
set "monitor=%~1"
set "scriptname=%~nx0"
powershell -noprofile "iex (${%~f0} | out-string)"
exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%

: end batch / begin powershell #>

function usage() {
    write-host -nonewline "Usage: "
    write-host -f white "$env:scriptname monitor# filename [arguments]`n"
    write-host -nonewline "* "
    write-host -f white -nonewline "monitor# "
    write-host "is a 1-indexed integer.  Monitor 1 = 1, monitor 2 = 2, etc."
    write-host -nonewline "* "
    write-host -f white -nonewline "filename "
    write-host "is an executable or a document or media file.`n"
    write-host -nonewline "$env:scriptname mimics "
    write-host -f white -nonewline "start"
    write-host ", searching for filename both in %PATH% and"
    write-host "in Windows' app paths (web browsers, media players, etc).`n"
    write-host "Examples:"
    write-host "To display YouTube in Firefox on your second monitor, do"
    write-host -f white "     $env:scriptname 2 firefox `"www.youtube.com`"`n"
    write-host "To play an mp3 file using the default player on monitor 1:"
    write-host -f white "     $env:scriptname 1 mp3file.mp3"
    exit 1
}

add-type user32_dll @'
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    public static extern void SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter,
        int x, int y, int cx, int cy, uint uFlags);
'@ -namespace System

add-type -as System.Windows.Forms
if ($env:monitor -gt [windows.forms.systeminformation]::MonitorCount) {
    [int]$monitor = [windows.forms.systeminformation]::MonitorCount
} else {
    [int]$monitor = $env:monitor
}
try {
    if ($env:args) {
        $p = start $env:exe $env:args -passthru
    } else {
        $p = start $env:exe -passthru
    }
}
catch { usage }

$shell = new-object -COM Wscript.Shell
while (-not $shell.AppActivate($p.Id) -and ++$i -lt 100) { sleep -m 50 }

try {
    $x = [Windows.Forms.Screen]::AllScreens[--$monitor].Bounds.X
    $hwnd = (Get-Process -id $p.Id)[0].MainWindowHandle
    [user32_dll]::SetWindowPos($hwnd, [intptr]::Zero, $x, 0, 0, 0, 0x41);
}
finally { exit 0 }

Original answer: compile and link c# executable

And moving a window is no easy task, either. See this post for some other options. But here’s a batch script that will compose and link a C# app on the fly to handle window moves.

@echo off
setlocal

:: // generate c.cs
call :heredoc movewind >"%temp%\c.cs" && goto compile_and_link
// syntax: movewind.exe [pid | "window title"] x y
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class movewind {
    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int x, int y, int cx, int cy, uint uFlags);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);

    static void Main(string[] args) {
        int pid;
        string title;
        bool res = Int32.TryParse(args[0], out pid);
        if (res) {title = Process.GetProcessById(pid).MainWindowTitle;} else {title = args[0];}
        IntPtr handle = FindWindow(null, title);
        try {
            SetWindowPos(handle, IntPtr.Zero, Convert.ToInt32(args[1]), Convert.ToInt32(args[2]), 0, 0, 0x41);
        }
        catch (Exception e) {
            Console.WriteLine("Exception caught while attempting to move window with handle " + handle);
            Console.WriteLine(e);
        }
    }
}
:compile_and_link

set "movewind=%temp%\movewind.exe"

for /f "delims=" %%I in ('dir /b /s "%windir%\microsoft.net\*csc.exe"') do (
    if not exist "%movewind%" "%%I" /nologo /out:"%movewind%" "%temp%\c.cs" 2>NUL
)
del "%temp%\c.cs"
if not exist "%movewind%" (
    echo Error: Please install .NET 2.0 or newer.
    goto :EOF
)

:: // get left monitor width
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%I in ('wmic desktopmonitor get screenwidth /format:list') do set "x=%%I"

:: // make sure test environment is in place
if not exist "c:\test" mkdir "c:\test"
if not exist "c:\test\screen1.txt" >"c:\test\screen1.txt" echo This should be on the left.
if not exist "c:\test\screen2.txt" >"c:\test\screen2.txt" echo This should be on the right.

:: // syntax: movewind.exe [pid | "window title"] x y
start /max notepad.exe "c:\test\screen1.txt"
call :movewind "screen1.txt - Notepad" 0 0
start /max notepad.exe "c:\test\screen2.txt"
call :movewind "screen2.txt - Notepad" %x% 0

del "%movewind%"

:: // end main runtime
goto :EOF

:: // SCRIPT FUNCTIONS

:movewind <title> <x> <y>
tasklist /v | find /i "%~1" && (
    "%movewind%" "%~1" %~2 %~3
    goto :EOF
) || (
    ping -n 1 -w 500 169.254.1.1 >NUL
    goto movewind
)

:heredoc <uniqueIDX>
:: // https://stackoverflow.com/a/15032476/1683264
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set go=
for /f "delims=" %%A in ('findstr /n "^" "%~f0"') do (
    set "line=%%A" && set "line=!line:*:=!"
    if defined go (if #!line:~1!==#!go::=! (goto :EOF) else echo(!line!)
    if "!line:~0,13!"=="call :heredoc" (
        for /f "tokens=3 delims=>^ " %%i in ("!line!") do (
            if #%%i==#%1 (
                for /f "tokens=2 delims=&" %%I in ("!line!") do (
                    for /f "tokens=2" %%x in ("%%I") do set "go=%%x"
                )
            )
        )
    )
)
goto :EOF

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