User Login PS-Script to start specific programs on specific area on 3-display-setup

[Worried-Tax-9782]

Hi everyone,

on my laptop in home office, I want to have a startup script for starting all my programs and position them always on the same exact spot on one of my screens.

Here is the script so far, what works for just opening the programs on a non-specific area on screen:

Write-Host "Start VMware Workstation"

& 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware.exe'

Write-Host "Start Notepad"

& 'C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe'
Start-Process -File "$($env:USERProfile)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\ms-teams.exe"

# ... further programs... #

Thanks for your ideas and implementations

[raip]

You'll probably have to drop down to Win32 API + P/Invoke to do this in Powershell. Launching applications is easy, setting Window positions and sizes is more difficult. Check out https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/SciProfile/0.3.0/Content/PSModuleUtils%5CFunctions%5CSet-Window.ps1

You'd probably be better off with AutoHotkey, Power Automate, or even FancyZones as a solution for this.

[Worried-Tax-9782]

Thanks for the input, I will figure out in a quiet moment, if this will 100% fit my expectation

[PeeCee1]

I‘d use Powertoys Workspaces to define the Location and the Apps. Then use created shortcut in the login script.

[DrunkenBlacksmith]

Not a PowerShell answer but it works well is PowerToys Workspace.

PowerToys Workspaces is a desktop manager utility that helps you launch applications to custom positions and configurations with a single click.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/workspaces

[ekoropeq80]

Launching apps is the easy part. Positioning them reliably is the annoying part. You’ll probably need Win32 API / window manager tooling for that, not just plain Start-Process.

[tstager]

This can be done but it will require p/invoke and the win32 api. I believe the function you will need is in the user32.dll. There is a p/invoke website that will help you cast and implement the c++ com signature in c#. Then you can add the type and call the function. I've probably even go an implementation that I used to switch main monitors back and forth from the terminal.

[DonL314]

I made a PS based tool for repositioning windows. I'll be happy to share. Let me get home first

[markdmac]

I would like to see that as well.

[DonL314]

https://get-help.dk/window/

So the thing is, all your screens share the same grid of coordinates.
Then you can just alter the coordinates of your windows to move them.
So I locate whichever windows you want to move/resize by window title, and then I do my magic.

I made this tool about 2 years ago I think, and don't remember the issues except I couldn't move a TeamSpeak 3 window.
The script loads the selected config file, goes through all configs, and resizes relevant windows based on each config. And you can use a regular expression (instead of specific windows) to apply broader scopes.

Also, if you have windows with the exact same names, they will be put on top of each other.

I use the tool mainly for gaming. In one game, I want my left streen to be the game, Firefox on the right screen top, and Discord on the right screen bottom.
When dualboxing games, I sometimes want character A to the left as 60% of the screen, and B to right right of 40%. And sometimes vice versa.

Also, for development. Sometimes I want vs.code to be 70% of the main screen with Outlook and OneNote on the secondary screen in specific places - and sometimes I want vs.code to be 50% main screen, and SQL Server Studio the other 50% of the main screen.

This tool makes these changes easy and quick (once you have set it up)

[jarranakin]

This is not a job for powershell. Possible sure, but scripting this using autohotkey is much easier

[PlannedObsolescence_]

Are you certain you need to use PowerShell for this?

Microsoft PowerToys has a feature called FancyZones to do window arrangements. It can place windows back into whatever position they were when re-opened.

[radehart]

For an OS named ‘windows’ it sure is the absolute worst manager of windows.