How could I start a Selenium browser(like Firefox) minimized?

Question

How could I start a Selenium browser (like Firefox) minimized? I want the command browser.start(mySettings) to start a browser minimized.

Answer 1

The best way to minimize your browser is to use shortcut using Robot class.

Shortcut: Alt+Space+N (for Windows)

Robot robot=new Robot();
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ALT);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SPACE);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_N);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ALT);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SPACE);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_N);

By using above code you can minimize your browser.

Answer 2

Without knowing your motive for minimizing the browser and assuming that you are using the WebDriver drivers (Selenium v2) and don't want a UI to pop up, one could use the lightweight browser HtmlUnitDriver.