When working with batch scripts in Windows, you'll frequently encounter command echoing - where each command gets printed to the console before execution. This occurs because by default, CMD shows both the command and its output.

@echo off
:: This still shows the command prompt prefix
command1
command2

For true silent execution where neither commands nor output appear:

@echo off >nul 2>&1
:: Redirect all output to null
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
:: Your commands here
command1 >nul 2>&1
command2 >nul 2>&1

For more control over what gets suppressed:

@echo off
:: Suppress command display but show errors
command1 >nul
command2 2>&1

:: Alternative using call with redirection
call :silent >nul 2>&1
exit /b

:silent
:: Commands to run silently
command1
command2

Here's a complete silent batch file template:

@echo off
if "%1"=="hidden" goto :hidden

:: Rerun hidden
start "" /b cmd /c "%~f0" hidden
exit

:hidden
:: Actual silent execution begins
@echo off >nul 2>&1
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

:: Your silent commands here
tasklist >nul
systeminfo | find "OS Name" >log.txt

:: Optional: Show final output if needed
type log.txt

When troubleshooting silent scripts, temporarily enable logging:

@echo off
:: Log everything while keeping console clean
call :main >"%temp%\batch.log" 2>&1
type "%temp%\batch.log"
exit /b

:main
:: Your actual script commands
command1
command2

When executing batch files in Windows Command Prompt, you might notice that each command gets displayed before execution by default. This behavior occurs because CMD shows the command processing as part of its normal operation.

The standard approach is using @echo off at the beginning of your script, but this only prevents the display of the commands themselves - not the command prompts. Here's why this happens:

:: Example showing the limitation
@echo off
echo Hello World
pause

For true silent execution where nothing appears in the console, combine these techniques:

@echo off >nul 2>&1
:: Your commands here
echo This won't display >nul
start "" /B your_program.exe
exit /B 0

For temporary command hiding:

@echo off
(
  echo This section won't show commands
  timeout /t 3 >nul
  echo Still hidden
)
echo Back to visible mode

For complete silent execution (including errors):

@echo off
call :silent >nul 2>&1
goto :eof

:silent
:: Hidden commands here
del temporary_file.tmp
exit /B

For maximum stealth, create a VBScript to execute your batch file:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "cmd /c your_script.bat", 0, False
Set WshShell = Nothing

• Debugging becomes harder with complete output suppression
• Some commands may still produce unavoidable output
• Consider logging to a file when using silent methods