Basic code sample showing how to start a process hidden

PowerShellOperations.vb

Option Infer On

Public Class PowerShellOperations
    ''' <summary>
    ''' Get this computer's IP address 
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <returns></returns>
    Public Shared Async Function GetIpAddress() As Task(Of String)
        Const fileName As String = "ipPower.txt"

        If File.Exists(fileName) Then
            File.Delete(fileName)
        End If

        Dim start = New ProcessStartInfo With {
            .FileName = "powershell.exe",
            .UseShellExecute = False,
            .RedirectStandardOutput = True,
            .Arguments = "Invoke-RestMethod ipinfo.io/ip",
            .CreateNoWindow = True
        }

        Using process As System.Diagnostics.Process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(start)
            Using reader = process.StandardOutput
    
                process.EnableRaisingEvents = True
    
                Dim ipAddressResult = reader.ReadToEnd()
    
                Await File.WriteAllTextAsync(fileName, ipAddressResult)
                Await process.WaitForExitAsync()
    
                Return Await File.ReadAllTextAsync(fileName)
            End Using
        End Using
    End Function
End Class