[DumdogsWorld]

Windows-only tool.

Found some requests for this on Google. I wanted this feature too. See, as simple and slimmed down as it may be, Kodi's DLNA media streaming functionality is actually better than other tools that I've come across.

So, here is a very small tool which disables the GUI of Kodi. It does so in a clean fashion by hiding the main window from both the desktop and taskbar.

To use:

Extract the programs in the zip file to your Kodi directory. Configure Kodi. (Make sure to run Kodi in windowed mode.) Close Kodi. Then run the version of the tool executable that matches your setup (there's only a portable and non-portable version). The program will run, wait for Kodi to start and create its main window, wait an additional second, hide Kodi's window, and then close itself. If Kodi fails to start, the program will timeout after 20 seconds.

Oh, and the source code is included.

===VERSION 2 CHANGES===

Version 2 has four versions of the program. Normal instant, normal delayed, portable instant, and portable delayed. Also included is the updated source code and an additional tool for unhiding Kodi, assuming it's running in the background.
Portable = Runs Kodi in portable mode.
Normal = Does NOT run Kodi in portable mode.
Instant = Program launches Kodi instantly.
Delayed = Program waits 10 seconds before even attempting to launch Kodi. This enables a higher success rate of Kodi starting when using the program on user login.

Download:

Version 1:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xgmicde4wmr1np...e.zip?dl=0

Version 2:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/85njcxxdvyzqq8...2.zip?dl=0

Scan all you like. They're clean. ;D

[steve1977]

Wow, this is very great. Have been looking for this for a while. How do you update the library?

[DumdogsWorld]

On my computer, simply adding video files to the library directories works well enough. Otherwise, you'll have to close the Kodi process, launch it again without the tool, update your library, and then re-hide Kodi as described above. I think I'm going to write a tool now to un-hide Kodi, to make everything easier.

[steve1977]

Thanks. Having a way to hide/unhide Kodi would be exceptional. Exactly what I am looking for.

Possible to launch at start (hidden)? Should be as easy as adding to the list of programs to launch at startup?

Have you tried running two different versions of Kodi in parallel?

[steve1977]

Noticed that the unhider alraedy exists with V2. Works well.

One weird thing though - the "hider" appears permanent. I restarted the computer and now wanted to open Kodi with GUI. Unfortunatelt, this no longer works, When starting the regular kodi.exe, it does not open the GUI and only shows as "process" in task manager.

Any ideas?