Randy,

I am unaware of the requirement of the ShowDialog. I'm not sure if it is some requirement of your specific application but for the Compact Framework it isn't necessary. Here is a link to a thread that discusses different ways to load mutiple forms at the start and Show only certain ones. You might find it helpful.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=uuzlwCAuCHA.2300%40TK2MSFTNGP11&rnum=19&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dshowdialog%2Bshow%2Bgroup:microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.compactframework%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3DuuzlwCAuCHA.2300%2540TK2MSFTNGP11%26rnum%3D19

>That didn't work either. The program begins with
>
>Sub Main
> Dim frmTest As frmLogin = New frmLogin
> frmTest.Show()
>End Sub
>
>The program just ends without showing anything. Next I tried
>
>Sub Main
> Dim frmTest As frmBegin = New frmBegin
> frmTest.Show()
>End Sub
>
>And in the Load of the Begin form added
> Dim frmTest As frmLogin = New frmLogin
> frmTest.Show()
>
>The program still just ended without showing anything.
>
>I believe there needs to be a ShowDialog for the first form to keep the program running, but I agree with you that this is probably causing a problem when trying to load all the forms at the beginning of the program.