>The reason you couldn't make the DOS window disappear is because it is not part of the batch file or DOS; 'tis VFP who creates the window.

Hi Hilmar - it can't be VFP running here, because the SMS runs the BAT first on machines with no VFP runtimes at all (often, anyway). The BAT does install VFP apps, to be sure - so I can use any number of ways to do a vfp-run post-executable - the problem is in the initial SMS BAT launch. But thanks for the reply (one never knows when a reply may prove useful) - I'll check George/Ed's code out, see how that goes.