Question: Is there a way to start up a mathematica front end (GUI) from a (Windows) command prompt and have it eval a notebook without further user action?

even though mathematica.exe takes the -run and -initfile options they dont work the same
as they do with math.exe. (-run ''<<file.m'' wants to open a file named ''<<file.m'' for example)

---

Thanks. The first answer looks promising, however I get 
FrontEndObject::notavail
A front end is not available

(per docs it is "UseFrontEnd" by the way.)

Perhaps a path issue, however even after setting $FrontEndLaunchCommand no joy..

Re: Initialization Cell -- that simple answer would seem to do exactly what I need excepting for the "do you want to run initialization.." nag box. If there is an option somplace to automatically start a kernel and run initialization cells that would be really useful to know.

I'm running 6.0 by the way.

Answer: 
You can try this:

In C:\Program Files\Wolfram Research\Mathematica\7.0 create a file called firstgo.m containing:

```
UsingFrontEnd[Module[{},
file = "C:\\Temp\\Test.nb";
targetnotebook = NotebookOpen[file, Visible -> True];
SelectionMove[targetnotebook, Next, Cell];
SelectionEvaluate[targetnotebook];
NotebookSave[targetnotebook];
NotebookClose[targetnotebook];
]];

```

And in C:\Temp create a file called Test.nb containing:

```
Module[{x1=0},
Export["C:\\Program Files\\Wolfram Research\\Mathematica\\7.0\\sin.gif",
Plot[Sin[x],{x,0,6}]];
While[x1<1000000,
If[Mod[x1,100000]==0,Print["x1="<>ToString[x1]]];
x1++]]

```

Then in a Windows command console run this:

```
cd C:\Program Files\Wolfram Research\Mathematica\7.0
MathKernel -noprompt -initfile firstgo.m

```

You will see the Test.nb creates a file called 'sin.gif' in the Mathematica directory. Test.nb also contains some Print output, but despite running in the front end and saving after the run there is no print output saved. Also, I have yet to figure out a way to quit the kernel without interrupting the front end process.

Addendum

If you know how long your process is going to take you can use a batch file to close Mathematica when it's done, (ready for the next run). This example pauses 20 seconds before shutting down Mathematica. Note, firstgo.m is now moved to C:\Temp for purpose of demonstration. Create a batch file RunFirstGo.bat in My Documents containing:

```
@echo off
setlocal
PATH = C:\Program Files\Wolfram Research\Mathematica\7.0\;%PATH%
echo Launching MathKernel %TIME%
start MathKernel -noprompt -initfile "C:\Temp\firstgo.m"
ping localhost -n 20 > nul
echo Terminating MathKernel %TIME%
taskkill /F /FI "IMAGENAME eq MathKernel.exe" > nul
endlocal

```

RunFirstGo.bat can then be run from a Windows command console like so:

```
cd my documents
runfirstgo

```

Alternatively, RunFirstGo.bat can be run as Scheduled Task (via Windows Control Panel).
If this is for a specific notebook, have you tried setting the relevant cells in the notebook to have the property [InitializationCell](http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/ref/menuitem/InitializationCell.html)? Or do you want to do this with any notebook? If the latter, Sjoerd's answer works better.