diff --git a/lib/coreBundle.js b/lib/coreBundle.js
index d9041dd0f009072511a7d808dec83121ff29e127..e5c72c452c98f1c64038c5f24ac5805fbc99151f 100644
--- a/lib/coreBundle.js
+++ b/lib/coreBundle.js
@@ -8906,6 +8906,10 @@ async function launchProcess(options) {
     env: options.env,
     cwd: options.cwd,
     shell: options.shell,
+    // gstack patch (#2160/#1989): Node defaults windowsHide to false for
+    // child_process.spawn, so browser children could flash a console window
+    // on Windows. Playwright never needs the child's window shown.
+    windowsHide: true,
     stdio
   };
   const spawnedProcess = childProcess.spawn(options.command, options.args || [], spawnOptions);
@@ -8985,7 +8989,7 @@ async function launchProcess(options) {
       options.log(`[pid=${spawnedProcess.pid}] <will force kill>`);
       try {
         if (process.platform === "win32") {
-          const taskkillProcess = childProcess.spawnSync(`taskkill /pid ${spawnedProcess.pid} /T /F`, { shell: true });
+          const taskkillProcess = childProcess.spawnSync(`taskkill /pid ${spawnedProcess.pid} /T /F`, { shell: true, windowsHide: true });
           const [stdout2, stderr2] = [taskkillProcess.stdout.toString(), taskkillProcess.stderr.toString()];
           if (stdout2)
             options.log(`[pid=${spawnedProcess.pid}] taskkill stdout: ${stdout2}`);