metaMonitor

Lightweight batch script to ensure Metatrader Terminals are always running

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🖥️ metaMonitor.bat

metaMonitor is a lightweight batch script that monitors and ensures your MetaTrader 4/5 terminals are always running. If a terminal is not found, it will automatically restart it using its .exe path or an optional .lnk shortcut.

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📦 Features

• ✅ Monitors multiple MetaTrader terminals (MT4 & MT5)
• 🚀 Auto-restarts terminals if they stop running
• 🧠 Supports .lnk shortcuts with custom icons or launch settings
• 📄 Logs all activity to metaMonitor.log
• 🔁 Can be set to run on Windows startup
• 💬 Simple plain-text configuration (terminals.txt)

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📁 Recommended File Layout

For convenience and consistency, store all script-related files in a dedicated base folder, for example:

C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\Documents\metaMonitor\
│
├── metaMonitor.bat       :: Main monitoring script
├── terminals.txt         :: List of MetaTrader terminals to monitor
└── metaMonitor.log       :: Log file (auto-generated)

This structure keeps everything in one place, and ensures logs and configs stay organized.

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⚙️ Configuration

At the top of metaMonitor.bat, you can customize these values:

set "TIMEOUT=60"        :: Time (in seconds) between monitoring cycles
set "START_DELAY=30"    :: Delay (in seconds) after starting a terminal
set "TERMINALS_FILE=terminals.txt"  :: Config file with terminal paths
set "LOG_FILE=metaMonitor.log"      :: Output log file

Feel free to edit these to match your desired frequency or log location.

• The default TIMEOUT is set to 60 seconds to avoid overloading the system with too many checks.
• The START_DELAY is set to 30 seconds because in my experience, opening multiple MetaTrader terminals too quickly often caused some or all of my Expert Advisors (EAs) to disappear. I suspect this happens when the system is under heavy load and can't initialize all charts and EAs properly at once — potentially resulting in data loss. A delay ensures the terminals have enough time to start cleanly before continuing the loop.

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📝 Editing terminals.txt

Define each MetaTrader terminal you want to monitor. You can include:

• Only the .exe path
• Or the .exe path plus a .lnk shortcut, separated by a semicolon. Useful if you use shortcuts with custom icons.

Example:

# MT4 basic
C:\Program Files (x86)\Metatrader 4\terminal.exe

# MT4 with shortcut
C:\Program Files (x86)\Metatrader 4\terminal.exe;C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\Desktop\MT4Shortcut.lnk

# MT5 basic
C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 5\terminal64.exe

# MT5 with shortcut
C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 5\terminal64.exe;C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\Desktop\MT5Shortcut.lnk

Lines starting with # are ignored.

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🚀 Running metaMonitor

You can start the script by double-clicking it, or by running it from Command Prompt:

cd C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\Documents\metaMonitor
metaMonitor.bat

It will:

• Check if each terminal is running
• Start it if it's missing (via .lnk if provided)
• Append the result to metaMonitor.log
• Loop every TIMEOUT seconds

Leave the console window open to let it continue monitoring in the background.

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🔄 Run on Windows Startup

To make metaMonitor.bat launch automatically when you log into Windows:

1. Create a Shortcut

• Right-click metaMonitor.bat
• Choose Create shortcut
• Rename the shortcut to something like Start metaMonitor

2. Open Startup Folder

Press Win + R, type shell:startup, and hit Enter.

This opens your personal startup folder:

C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

3. Move the Shortcut

Move your Start metaMonitor shortcut into that folder.

✅ Now metaMonitor.bat will run automatically each time you log in.

📝 All logs will be saved in:

C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\Documents\metaMonitor\metaMonitor.log

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🧪 Example Output

-----------------------------------
--------  metaMonitor v1.0 --------
-----------------------------------
2025-05-30 13:45:23 - ONLINE: C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 5\terminal64.exe
2025-05-30 13:45:23 - START:  C:\Users\ibitebyt3s\Desktop\MT4Shortcut.lnk

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📃 License

MIT License

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✨ Credits

Built with care by @ibitebyt3s Helping traders keep their MetaTrader terminals up and running — always.