How do I run ledutil.exe so it's completely hidden yet still works?

[smalltownguy]

I've been fine tuning my setup for a few weeks now, and I just have a few more things to get sorted out. One of the last things I need to get working is the LED function on my player 1 and player 2 start buttons. I'm using original Atari volcano buttons with LED's in them connected to my minipac. I want them to flash when you coin up in the early Atari games like Missile Command, Rolling Thunder, etc. I can get them to work properly if use a program like XYNTService to run ledutil.exe as a service on startup. I've also been able to get it to work with RunAsSvc too.

My problem is that no matter which way I configure ledutil.exe to run, I always catch a glimpse of it in one shape or another. I tried creating a shortcut to ledutil.exe and modifying it to run 'minimized' and I got pretty close, but I STILL get a blip of the minimized program in the bottom left corner of my screen right before Mala loads. (I have Mala set as my Windows shell)

I tried using the Mala Launcher plugin, but then I kept losing focus from Mala when it would load Ledutil.exe.

I tried using the CP viewer options in Mala's options, setting the command line pointing to ledutil.exe

That last option is the closest I've gotten so far, but even that seems to be a sort of 'end around' way to do it. Plus, I'm pretty sure as I keep launching and quitting games, more instances of ledutil.exe are going to be launched, and I'm not thinking that's such a good idea.

So here's where I am. Anyone have any ideas?

[Ond]

Hey smalltownguy,  I'm not sure if this will help you but I thought it was worth a mention.  I use 'Startx' from my FE to initialize apps but keep things hidden.  StartX.exe  self terminates when the app is closed.

[ahofle]

It actually used to run hidden without a window.  Not sure what version that behavior changed.  Might be worth an inquiry on the official MAME forums.

[smalltownguy]

Looking a bit more closely at  XYNTService, I noticed the following setting in my ini:

UserInterface = Yes

When I changed it to 'No' the Dos box went away.