diff --git a/apps/cli/src/commands/service.test.ts b/apps/cli/src/commands/service.test.ts
index 5df318e..1c4dfe4 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/commands/service.test.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/commands/service.test.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import {
   resolveExecutableSiblingPackageJson,
   renderLaunchdPlist,
   renderServiceWrapper,
+  renderWindowsLauncher,
   renderSystemdTimer,
   runServiceAutoUpdate,
   scheduleDescription,
@@ -596,10 +597,24 @@ describe("native scheduler templates", () => {
       "/MO",
       "5",
       "/TR",
-      '"C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Roaming\\tokenmaxxing/service-sync.cmd"',
+      'wscript.exe //nologo //b "C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Roaming\\tokenmaxxing/service-sync-launcher.vbs"',
       "/F",
     ]);
   });
+
+  it("renders a hidden VBScript launcher for the sync wrapper", () => {
+    const launcher = renderWindowsLauncher(
+      "C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Roaming\\tokenmaxxing/service-sync.cmd",
+    );
+
+    // window style 0 = hidden, bWaitOnReturn = True so the wrapper's exit code propagates.
+    expect(launcher).toContain(
+      'shell.Run("""C:\\Users\\alex\\AppData\\Roaming\\tokenmaxxing/service-sync.cmd""", 0, True)',
+    );
+    expect(launcher).toContain("WScript.Quit exitCode");
+    // Must never open a console window: no direct cmd/console invocation.
+    expect(launcher).not.toContain("cmd.exe");
+  });
 });
 
 describe("legacyServiceWrapperPaths", () => {
@@ -1972,7 +1987,7 @@ describe("serviceInstallProgram", () => {
       installedAt: "2026-06-16T12:00:00.000Z",
       runnerTarget: "darwin-arm64",
       runnerVersion: "0.4.17",
-      templateVersion: 5,
+      templateVersion: 6,
     });
     expect(written[0]?.metadata).not.toHaveProperty("autoUpdate");
     expect(state.logs).toContain("Automatic sync installed");
diff --git a/apps/cli/src/commands/service.ts b/apps/cli/src/commands/service.ts
index fe8c9ed..21cb5c3 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/commands/service.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/commands/service.ts
@@ -58,12 +58,13 @@ const gunzipPromise = promisify(gunzip);
 const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
 
 const SERVICE_LABEL = "sh.tokenmaxxing.sync";
-const SERVICE_TEMPLATE_VERSION = 5;
+const SERVICE_TEMPLATE_VERSION = 6;
 const SYSTEMD_NAME = "tokenmaxxing-sync";
 const WINDOWS_TASK_NAME = "tokenmaxxing-sync";
 const POSIX_WRAPPER_NAME = "tokenmaxxing.sh";
 const LEGACY_POSIX_WRAPPER_NAME = "service-sync.sh";
 const WINDOWS_WRAPPER_NAME = "service-sync.cmd";
+const WINDOWS_LAUNCHER_NAME = "service-sync-launcher.vbs";
 const PACKAGE_NAME = "@851-labs/tokenmaxxing";
 const SERVICE_RUNNER_DIR_NAME = "service-runners";
 const SERVICE_RUNNER_POINTER_NAME = "service-runner-current";
@@ -3301,6 +3302,10 @@ function windowsTaskNames(): string[] {
   return [windowsTaskName(), ...LEGACY_SCHEDULE_TIMES.map((time) => legacyWindowsTaskName(time))];
 }
 
+function windowsLauncherPath(paths: ServicePaths): string {
+  return join(paths.configDir, WINDOWS_LAUNCHER_NAME);
+}
+
 function renderLaunchdStartInterval(): string {
   return String(SERVICE_INTERVAL_SECONDS);
 }
@@ -3851,6 +3856,21 @@ exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%\r
 `;
 }
 
+// schtasks can only register a task that runs in the interactive session, so pointing the task
+// action straight at the .cmd wrapper (a console program) makes a console window flash on every
+// run — every 5 minutes — stealing focus from full-screen apps and games. wscript.exe is a
+// GUI-subsystem host, so running the wrapper through this tiny .vbs with window style 0 performs
+// the sync with no window at all, while still propagating the wrapper's exit code to Task Scheduler.
+function renderWindowsLauncher(wrapperPath: string): string {
+  const command = vbsQuote(`"${wrapperPath}"`);
+  return `' Auto-generated by tokenmaxxing. Runs the sync wrapper without a console window.\r
+Dim shell, exitCode\r
+Set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")\r
+exitCode = shell.Run(${command}, 0, True)\r
+WScript.Quit exitCode\r
+`;
+}
+
 function renderWindowsLogRotation(logPath: string): string {
   const quotedLogPath = cmdQuote(logPath);
   const moves = Array.from({ length: SERVICE_LOG_ROTATIONS - 1 }, (_, index) => {
@@ -3929,7 +3949,9 @@ function writeServiceFiles(
         await rm(legacyWrapperPath, { force: true });
       }
       await writeFileAtomic(paths.wrapperPath, wrapper);
-      if (paths.backend !== "windows-task-scheduler") {
+      if (paths.backend === "windows-task-scheduler") {
+        await writeFileAtomic(windowsLauncherPath(paths), renderWindowsLauncher(paths.wrapperPath));
+      } else {
         await chmod(paths.wrapperPath, 0o755);
       }
       await writeFileAtomic(paths.metadataPath, `${JSON.stringify(metadata, null, 2)}\n`);
@@ -3950,6 +3972,9 @@ function removeServiceFiles(paths: ServicePaths): Effect.Effect<void, unknown> {
   return Effect.tryPromise({
     try: async () => {
       await rm(paths.wrapperPath, { force: true });
+      if (paths.backend === "windows-task-scheduler") {
+        await rm(windowsLauncherPath(paths), { force: true });
+      }
       for (const legacyWrapperPath of legacyServiceWrapperPaths(paths)) {
         await rm(legacyWrapperPath, { force: true });
       }
@@ -4017,7 +4042,7 @@ function windowsTaskCreateArgs(paths: ServicePaths): string[] {
     "/MO",
     String(SERVICE_INTERVAL_MINUTES),
     "/TR",
-    cmdQuote(paths.wrapperPath),
+    `wscript.exe //nologo //b ${cmdQuote(windowsLauncherPath(paths))}`,
     "/F",
   ];
 }
@@ -4393,6 +4418,11 @@ function cmdQuote(value: string): string {
   return `"${value.replaceAll('"', '\\"')}"`;
 }
 
+// VBScript string literals are double-quote delimited and escape an embedded quote by doubling it.
+function vbsQuote(value: string): string {
+  return `"${value.replaceAll('"', '""')}"`;
+}
+
 function escapeCmdSetValue(value: string): string {
   return value.replaceAll('"', '\\"');
 }
@@ -4466,6 +4496,7 @@ export {
   verifyNpmIntegrity,
   windowsTaskNames,
   windowsTaskCreateArgs,
+  renderWindowsLauncher,
   ServiceCommandNotFoundError,
   ServiceEnvTokenError,
   ServiceEphemeralCommandError,