Suppressing Popups in Windows

Question

Is there an easy way to tell Windows not to display popups on a headless server machine?

Currently occasional application popups are causing my app to freeze because no one is available to press 'Okay' on the console. Just logging to the eventlog would be more than sufficient.

Answer 1

It all depends on the kind of popup, from system's message box to custom dialog. So I don't think there is a generic solution to this.

Should I have the problem, I would use a macro language, like AutoHotkey (or AutoIt), to detect the activation of the popup and automate the click on the discard button.

[EDIT] Found a ready to use AHK popup blocker: New window (popup) blocker
Perhaps usable as is, or as a starting point.

Answer 2

Depending on precisely what popups need to be handled, there are a couple of approaches.

1. For hard error popup handling, HOWTO: How To Change Hard Error Popup Handling in Windows NT
2. Creating an application to suppress messages. Microsoft has some documentation (from the XP Embedded documentation, but this does not require XP Embedded): Creating a Win32 Service This allows for considerable customization in the handling of the messages, logging, and replies (i.e. depressing the button you want).