diff --git a/src/editor-launch.js b/src/editor-launch.js
index 81fa6d5..d298295 100644
--- a/src/editor-launch.js
+++ b/src/editor-launch.js
@@ -290,9 +290,16 @@ const REFUSAL_REASONS = {
 // editor that has since been uninstalled, is refused rather than resolved
 // through an environment that is not there.
 //
-// The spawn options are the ones main.js holds everywhere else it starts a
-// child: no shell, hidden on Windows, detached with no stdio so the editor
-// outlives the app and cannot block on a pipe nobody reads.
+// The spawn options: never a shell, and detached with no stdio so the editor
+// outlives the app and cannot block on a pipe nobody reads. `detached` is
+// unconditional here, unlike the runners in main.js which set it only off
+// Windows — they are killed as a process group, and this child is released
+// rather than ever signalled.
+//
+// No `windowsHide`. That flag fills STARTUPINFO with "start hidden", and a GUI
+// application that honors it — VS Code does — launches with its window
+// invisible while the spawn still reports success (#181). It is for children
+// the app runs to collect their output; here the window is the point.
 async function openSiteInEditor(sitePath, editorPath, {
 	sites,
 	platform,
@@ -321,8 +328,7 @@ async function openSiteInEditor(sitePath, editorPath, {
 		child = spawn(command, args, {
 			detached: true,
 			stdio: 'ignore',
-			shell: false,
-			windowsHide: true
+			shell: false
 		});
 	} catch (e) {
 		// A synchronous throw is the argument-shape failure only. The one that
diff --git a/test/editor-launch.test.cjs b/test/editor-launch.test.cjs
index adee77a..6a370b2 100644
--- a/test/editor-launch.test.cjs
+++ b/test/editor-launch.test.cjs
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ test('a refusal is logged on one bounded line', async () => {
 	assert.ok(description.length <= 121);
 });
 
-test('the child is detached, shell-free and hidden, and its handle released', async () => {
+test('the child is detached and shell-free, and its handle released', async () => {
 	const { calls, options } = launchDeps();
 
 	await openSiteInEditor(SITE, EDITOR, options);
@@ -398,12 +398,34 @@ test('the child is detached, shell-free and hidden, and its handle released', as
 	assert.deepEqual(calls[0].options, {
 		detached: true,
 		stdio: 'ignore',
-		shell: false,
-		windowsHide: true
+		shell: false
 	});
 	assert.equal(calls[0].unrefed, true);
 });
 
+// `windowsHide` fills the new process's STARTUPINFO with "start hidden", and a
+// GUI application that honors it — VS Code does — launches with its window
+// invisible while the spawn still reports success, so the app said ok and the
+// contributor saw nothing (#181). The flag exists to suppress console windows
+// the app's own tooling creates; the editor's window is the point of the click.
+test('the editor is not asked to start hidden on Windows', async () => {
+	const winEditor = 'C:\\Users\\dev\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe';
+	const winSite = 'C:\\Users\\dev\\Desktop\\wp';
+	const fs = fakeFs({ [winEditor]: 'exe' });
+	const { calls, spawn } = recordingSpawn();
+
+	const result = await openSiteInEditor(winSite, winEditor, {
+		sites: [winSite],
+		platform: 'win32',
+		statPath: fs.statPath,
+		spawn
+	});
+
+	assert.deepEqual(result, { ok: true });
+	assert.ok(!('windowsHide' in calls[0].options),
+		'a GUI editor must not inherit a hidden first window');
+});
+
 test('a spawn that throws is reported, not raised at the window', async () => {
 	const { options } = launchDeps({
 		spawn: () => { throw new TypeError('args must be an array'); }