diff --git a/app/electron/main.ts b/app/electron/main.ts
index 4b1e0a1ac5..3ec741a71c 100644
--- a/app/electron/main.ts
+++ b/app/electron/main.ts
@@ -568,6 +568,7 @@ async function startServer(flags: string[] = []): Promise<ChildProcessWithoutNul
 
   const options = {
     detached: true,
+    windowsHide: true,
     env: {
       ...extendedEnv,
     },
diff --git a/backend/pkg/exec/exec.go b/backend/pkg/exec/exec.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..90fdd186c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/pkg/exec/exec.go
@@ -0,0 +1,556 @@
+/*
+This file has been adapted from the kubernetes/client-go project:
+https://github.com/kubernetes/client-go/blob/151d6316055ac2324ce7a2e3198cf2251303f325/rest/exec.go
+
+Copyright 2018 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package exec
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"crypto/x509"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"reflect"
+	goruntime "runtime"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
+	"golang.org/x/term"
+
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/serializer"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/dump"
+	utilnet "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/pkg/apis/clientauthentication"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/pkg/apis/clientauthentication/install"
+	clientauthenticationv1 "k8s.io/client-go/pkg/apis/clientauthentication/v1"
+	clientauthenticationv1beta1 "k8s.io/client-go/pkg/apis/clientauthentication/v1beta1"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/metrics"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/transport"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/util/connrotation"
+	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
+	"k8s.io/utils/clock"
+)
+
+const (
+	execInfoEnv            = "KUBERNETES_EXEC_INFO"
+	installHintVerboseHelp = `
+
+It looks like you are trying to use a client-go credential plugin that is not installed.
+
+To learn more about this feature, consult the documentation available at:
+      https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/authentication/#client-go-credential-plugins`
+)
+
+var (
+	scheme = runtime.NewScheme()
+	codecs = serializer.NewCodecFactory(scheme)
+)
+
+func init() {
+	install.Install(scheme)
+}
+
+var (
+	// Since transports can be constantly re-initialized by programs like kubectl,
+	// keep a cache of initialized authenticators keyed by a hash of their config.
+	globalCache = newCache()
+	// The list of API versions we accept.
+	apiVersions = map[string]schema.GroupVersion{
+		clientauthenticationv1beta1.SchemeGroupVersion.String(): clientauthenticationv1beta1.SchemeGroupVersion,
+		clientauthenticationv1.SchemeGroupVersion.String():      clientauthenticationv1.SchemeGroupVersion,
+	}
+)
+
+func newCache() *cache {
+	return &cache{m: make(map[string]*Authenticator)}
+}
+
+func cacheKey(conf *api.ExecConfig, cluster *clientauthentication.Cluster) string {
+	key := struct {
+		conf    *api.ExecConfig
+		cluster *clientauthentication.Cluster
+	}{
+		conf:    conf,
+		cluster: cluster,
+	}
+	return dump.Pretty(key)
+}
+
+type cache struct {
+	mu sync.Mutex
+	m  map[string]*Authenticator
+}
+
+func (c *cache) get(s string) (*Authenticator, bool) {
+	c.mu.Lock()
+	defer c.mu.Unlock()
+	a, ok := c.m[s]
+	return a, ok
+}
+
+// put inserts an authenticator into the cache. If an authenticator is already
+// associated with the key, the first one is returned instead.
+func (c *cache) put(s string, a *Authenticator) *Authenticator {
+	c.mu.Lock()
+	defer c.mu.Unlock()
+	existing, ok := c.m[s]
+	if ok {
+		return existing
+	}
+	c.m[s] = a
+	return a
+}
+
+// sometimes rate limits how often a function f() is called. Specifically, Do()
+// will run the provided function f() up to threshold times every interval
+// duration.
+type sometimes struct {
+	threshold int
+	interval  time.Duration
+
+	clock clock.Clock
+	mu    sync.Mutex
+
+	count  int       // times we have called f() in this window
+	window time.Time // beginning of current window of length interval
+}
+
+func (s *sometimes) Do(f func()) {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+
+	now := s.clock.Now()
+	if s.window.IsZero() {
+		s.window = now
+	}
+
+	// If we are no longer in our saved time window, then we get to reset our run
+	// count back to 0 and start increasing towards the threshold again.
+	if inWindow := now.Sub(s.window) < s.interval; !inWindow {
+		s.window = now
+		s.count = 0
+	}
+
+	// If we have not run the function more than threshold times in this current
+	// time window, we get to run it now!
+	if underThreshold := s.count < s.threshold; underThreshold {
+		s.count++
+		f()
+	}
+}
+
+// GetAuthenticator returns an exec-based plugin for providing client credentials.
+func GetAuthenticator(config *api.ExecConfig, cluster *clientauthentication.Cluster) (*Authenticator, error) {
+	return newAuthenticator(globalCache, term.IsTerminal, config, cluster)
+}
+
+func newAuthenticator(c *cache, isTerminalFunc func(int) bool, config *api.ExecConfig, cluster *clientauthentication.Cluster) (*Authenticator, error) {
+	key := cacheKey(config, cluster)
+	if a, ok := c.get(key); ok {
+		return a, nil
+	}
+
+	gv, ok := apiVersions[config.APIVersion]
+	if !ok {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("exec plugin: invalid apiVersion %q", config.APIVersion)
+	}
+
+	connTracker := connrotation.NewConnectionTracker()
+	defaultDialer := connrotation.NewDialerWithTracker(
+		(&net.Dialer{Timeout: 30 * time.Second, KeepAlive: 30 * time.Second}).DialContext,
+		connTracker,
+	)
+
+	a := &Authenticator{
+		cmd:                config.Command,
+		args:               config.Args,
+		group:              gv,
+		cluster:            cluster,
+		provideClusterInfo: config.ProvideClusterInfo,
+
+		installHint: config.InstallHint,
+		sometimes: &sometimes{
+			threshold: 10,
+			interval:  time.Hour,
+			clock:     clock.RealClock{},
+		},
+
+		stdin:           os.Stdin,
+		stderr:          os.Stderr,
+		interactiveFunc: func() (bool, error) { return isInteractive(isTerminalFunc, config) },
+		now:             time.Now,
+		environ:         os.Environ,
+
+		connTracker: connTracker,
+	}
+
+	for _, env := range config.Env {
+		a.env = append(a.env, env.Name+"="+env.Value)
+	}
+
+	// these functions are made comparable and stored in the cache so that repeated clientset
+	// construction with the same rest.Config results in a single TLS cache and Authenticator
+	a.getCert = &transport.GetCertHolder{GetCert: a.cert}
+	a.dial = &transport.DialHolder{Dial: defaultDialer.DialContext}
+
+	return c.put(key, a), nil
+}
+
+func isInteractive(isTerminalFunc func(int) bool, config *api.ExecConfig) (bool, error) {
+	var shouldBeInteractive bool
+	switch config.InteractiveMode {
+	case api.NeverExecInteractiveMode:
+		shouldBeInteractive = false
+	case api.IfAvailableExecInteractiveMode:
+		shouldBeInteractive = !config.StdinUnavailable && isTerminalFunc(int(os.Stdin.Fd()))
+	case api.AlwaysExecInteractiveMode:
+		if !isTerminalFunc(int(os.Stdin.Fd())) {
+			return false, errors.New("standard input is not a terminal")
+		}
+		if config.StdinUnavailable {
+			suffix := ""
+			if len(config.StdinUnavailableMessage) > 0 {
+				// only print extra ": <message>" if the user actually specified a message
+				suffix = fmt.Sprintf(": %s", config.StdinUnavailableMessage)
+			}
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("standard input is unavailable%s", suffix)
+		}
+		shouldBeInteractive = true
+	default:
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("unknown interactiveMode: %q", config.InteractiveMode)
+	}
+
+	return shouldBeInteractive, nil
+}
+
+// Authenticator is a client credential provider that rotates credentials by executing a plugin.
+// The plugin input and output are defined by the API group client.authentication.k8s.io.
+type Authenticator struct {
+	// Set by the config
+	cmd                string
+	args               []string
+	group              schema.GroupVersion
+	env                []string
+	cluster            *clientauthentication.Cluster
+	provideClusterInfo bool
+
+	// Used to avoid log spew by rate limiting install hint printing. We didn't do
+	// this by interval based rate limiting alone since that way may have prevented
+	// the install hint from showing up for kubectl users.
+	sometimes   *sometimes
+	installHint string
+
+	// Stubbable for testing
+	stdin           io.Reader
+	stderr          io.Writer
+	interactiveFunc func() (bool, error)
+	now             func() time.Time
+	environ         func() []string
+
+	// connTracker tracks all connections opened that we need to close when rotating a client certificate
+	connTracker *connrotation.ConnectionTracker
+
+	// Cached results.
+	//
+	// The mutex also guards calling the plugin. Since the plugin could be
+	// interactive we want to make sure it's only called once.
+	mu          sync.Mutex
+	cachedCreds *credentials
+	exp         time.Time
+
+	// getCert makes Authenticator.cert comparable to support TLS config caching
+	getCert *transport.GetCertHolder
+	// dial is used for clients which do not specify a custom dialer
+	// it is comparable to support TLS config caching
+	dial *transport.DialHolder
+}
+
+type credentials struct {
+	token string           `datapolicy:"token"`
+	cert  *tls.Certificate `datapolicy:"secret-key"`
+}
+
+// UpdateTransportConfig updates the transport.Config to use credentials
+// returned by the plugin.
+func (a *Authenticator) UpdateTransportConfig(c *transport.Config) error {
+	// If a bearer token is present in the request - avoid the GetCert callback when
+	// setting up the transport, as that triggers the exec action if the server is
+	// also configured to allow client certificates for authentication. For requests
+	// like "kubectl get --token (token) pods" we should assume the intention is to
+	// use the provided token for authentication. The same can be said for when the
+	// user specifies basic auth or cert auth.
+	if c.HasTokenAuth() || c.HasBasicAuth() || c.HasCertAuth() {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	c.Wrap(func(rt http.RoundTripper) http.RoundTripper {
+		return &roundTripper{a, rt}
+	})
+	if c.HasCertCallback() {
+		return errors.New("can't add TLS certificate callback: transport.Config.TLS.GetCert already set")
+	}
+	c.TLS.GetCertHolder = a.getCert // comparable for TLS config caching
+	if c.DialHolder != nil {
+		if c.DialHolder.Dial == nil {
+			return errors.New("invalid transport.Config.DialHolder: wrapped Dial function is nil")
+		}
+
+		// if c has a custom dialer, we have to wrap it
+		// TLS config caching is not supported for this config
+		d := connrotation.NewDialerWithTracker(c.DialHolder.Dial, a.connTracker)
+		c.DialHolder = &transport.DialHolder{Dial: d.DialContext}
+	} else {
+		c.DialHolder = a.dial // comparable for TLS config caching
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+var _ utilnet.RoundTripperWrapper = &roundTripper{}
+
+type roundTripper struct {
+	a    *Authenticator
+	base http.RoundTripper
+}
+
+func (r *roundTripper) WrappedRoundTripper() http.RoundTripper {
+	return r.base
+}
+
+func (r *roundTripper) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+	// If a user has already set credentials, use that. This makes commands like
+	// "kubectl get --token (token) pods" work.
+	if req.Header.Get("Authorization") != "" {
+		return r.base.RoundTrip(req)
+	}
+	creds, err := r.a.getCreds()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting credentials: %v", err)
+	}
+	if creds.token != "" {
+		req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+creds.token)
+	}
+
+	res, err := r.base.RoundTrip(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if res.StatusCode == http.StatusUnauthorized {
+		if err := r.a.maybeRefreshCreds(creds); err != nil {
+			klog.Errorf("refreshing credentials: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+	return res, nil
+}
+
+func (a *Authenticator) credsExpired() bool {
+	if a.exp.IsZero() {
+		return false
+	}
+	return a.now().After(a.exp)
+}
+
+func (a *Authenticator) cert() (*tls.Certificate, error) {
+	creds, err := a.getCreds()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return creds.cert, nil
+}
+
+func (a *Authenticator) getCreds() (*credentials, error) {
+	a.mu.Lock()
+	defer a.mu.Unlock()
+
+	if a.cachedCreds != nil && !a.credsExpired() {
+		return a.cachedCreds, nil
+	}
+
+	if err := a.refreshCredsLocked(); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return a.cachedCreds, nil
+}
+
+// maybeRefreshCreds executes the plugin to force a rotation of the
+// credentials, unless they were rotated already.
+func (a *Authenticator) maybeRefreshCreds(creds *credentials) error {
+	a.mu.Lock()
+	defer a.mu.Unlock()
+
+	// Since we're not making a new pointer to a.cachedCreds in getCreds, no
+	// need to do deep comparison.
+	if creds != a.cachedCreds {
+		// Credentials already rotated.
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return a.refreshCredsLocked()
+}
+
+// refreshCredsLocked executes the plugin and reads the credentials from
+// stdout. It must be called while holding the Authenticator's mutex.
+func (a *Authenticator) refreshCredsLocked() error {
+	interactive, err := a.interactiveFunc()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("exec plugin cannot support interactive mode: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	cred := &clientauthentication.ExecCredential{
+		Spec: clientauthentication.ExecCredentialSpec{
+			Interactive: interactive,
+		},
+	}
+	if a.provideClusterInfo {
+		cred.Spec.Cluster = a.cluster
+	}
+
+	env := append(a.environ(), a.env...)
+	data, err := runtime.Encode(codecs.LegacyCodec(a.group), cred)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("encode ExecCredentials: %v", err)
+	}
+	env = append(env, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", execInfoEnv, data))
+
+	stdout := &bytes.Buffer{}
+	cmd := exec.Command(a.cmd, a.args...)
+	cmd.Env = env
+	cmd.Stderr = a.stderr
+	cmd.Stdout = stdout
+	if interactive {
+		cmd.Stdin = a.stdin
+	} else if goruntime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		// On Windows, if the process is not interactive, we need to hide the
+		// terminal window, in order to prevent it from flashing when the exec
+		// plugin.
+		cmd.SysProcAttr = GetSysProcAttr()
+	}
+
+	err = cmd.Run()
+	// incrementCallsMetric(err)
+	if err != nil {
+		return a.wrapCmdRunErrorLocked(err)
+	}
+
+	_, gvk, err := codecs.UniversalDecoder(a.group).Decode(stdout.Bytes(), nil, cred)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("decoding stdout: %v", err)
+	}
+	if gvk.Group != a.group.Group || gvk.Version != a.group.Version {
+		return fmt.Errorf("exec plugin is configured to use API version %s, plugin returned version %s",
+			a.group, schema.GroupVersion{Group: gvk.Group, Version: gvk.Version})
+	}
+
+	if cred.Status == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("exec plugin didn't return a status field")
+	}
+	if cred.Status.Token == "" && cred.Status.ClientCertificateData == "" && cred.Status.ClientKeyData == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("exec plugin didn't return a token or cert/key pair")
+	}
+	if (cred.Status.ClientCertificateData == "") != (cred.Status.ClientKeyData == "") {
+		return fmt.Errorf("exec plugin returned only certificate or key, not both")
+	}
+
+	if cred.Status.ExpirationTimestamp != nil {
+		a.exp = cred.Status.ExpirationTimestamp.Time
+	} else {
+		a.exp = time.Time{}
+	}
+
+	newCreds := &credentials{
+		token: cred.Status.Token,
+	}
+	if cred.Status.ClientKeyData != "" && cred.Status.ClientCertificateData != "" {
+		cert, err := tls.X509KeyPair([]byte(cred.Status.ClientCertificateData), []byte(cred.Status.ClientKeyData))
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed parsing client key/certificate: %v", err)
+		}
+
+		// Leaf is initialized to be nil:
+		//  https://golang.org/pkg/crypto/tls/#X509KeyPair
+		// Leaf certificate is the first certificate:
+		//  https://golang.org/pkg/crypto/tls/#Certificate
+		// Populating leaf is useful for quickly accessing the underlying x509
+		// certificate values.
+		cert.Leaf, err = x509.ParseCertificate(cert.Certificate[0])
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed parsing client leaf certificate: %v", err)
+		}
+		newCreds.cert = &cert
+	}
+
+	oldCreds := a.cachedCreds
+	a.cachedCreds = newCreds
+	// Only close all connections when TLS cert rotates. Token rotation doesn't
+	// need the extra noise.
+	if oldCreds != nil && !reflect.DeepEqual(oldCreds.cert, a.cachedCreds.cert) {
+		// Can be nil if the exec auth plugin only returned token auth.
+		if oldCreds.cert != nil && oldCreds.cert.Leaf != nil {
+			metrics.ClientCertRotationAge.Observe(time.Since(oldCreds.cert.Leaf.NotBefore))
+		}
+		a.connTracker.CloseAll()
+	}
+
+	// if a.cachedCreds.cert != nil && a.cachedCreds.cert.Leaf != nil {
+	// 	expiry = a.cachedCreds.cert.Leaf.NotAfter
+	// }
+	// expirationMetrics.set(a, expiry)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// wrapCmdRunErrorLocked pulls out the code to construct a helpful error message
+// for when the exec plugin's binary fails to Run().
+//
+// It must be called while holding the Authenticator's mutex.
+func (a *Authenticator) wrapCmdRunErrorLocked(err error) error {
+	switch err.(type) {
+	case *exec.Error: // Binary does not exist (see exec.Error).
+		builder := strings.Builder{}
+		fmt.Fprintf(&builder, "exec: executable %s not found", a.cmd)
+
+		a.sometimes.Do(func() {
+			fmt.Fprint(&builder, installHintVerboseHelp)
+			if a.installHint != "" {
+				fmt.Fprintf(&builder, "\n\n%s", a.installHint)
+			}
+		})
+
+		return errors.New(builder.String())
+
+	case *exec.ExitError: // Binary execution failed (see exec.Cmd.Run()).
+		e := err.(*exec.ExitError)
+		return fmt.Errorf(
+			"exec: executable %s failed with exit code %d",
+			a.cmd,
+			e.ProcessState.ExitCode(),
+		)
+
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("exec: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/backend/pkg/exec/syscallattr_other.go b/backend/pkg/exec/syscallattr_other.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4cc260dd12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/pkg/exec/syscallattr_other.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+//go:build !windows
+
+package exec
+
+import (
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+func GetSysProcAttr() *syscall.SysProcAttr {
+	// Nothing here since it's not needed. It's just for keeping the
+	// multi-platform code working.
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/backend/pkg/exec/syscallattr_windows.go b/backend/pkg/exec/syscallattr_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d0aa61a561
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/pkg/exec/syscallattr_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+//go:build windows
+
+package exec
+
+import (
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+func GetSysProcAttr() *syscall.SysProcAttr {
+	// This prevents the console window from appearing when running the command,
+	// since we do not want it flashing when the exec plugin is running.
+	return &syscall.SysProcAttr{
+		HideWindows: true,
+	}
+}
diff --git a/backend/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go b/backend/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
index 6419119bfe..19e340c9a6 100644
--- a/backend/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
+++ b/backend/pkg/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
@@ -17,9 +17,12 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
 
+	"github.com/headlamp-k8s/headlamp/backend/pkg/exec"
 	"github.com/headlamp-k8s/headlamp/backend/pkg/logger"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/pkg/apis/clientauthentication"
+	rest "k8s.io/client-go/rest"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/transport"
 )
 
 // TODO: Use a different way to avoid name clashes with other clusters.
@@ -185,6 +188,42 @@ func (c *Context) RESTConfig() (*rest.Config, error) {
 	return clientConfig.ClientConfig()
 }
 
+func makeTransportFor(conf *rest.Config) (http.RoundTripper, error) {
+	// We want to override the Exec related transport config when on Windows to
+	// make it run without flashing the terminal window.
+	if conf.ExecProvider == nil || runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
+		return rest.TransportFor(conf)
+	}
+
+	confNoExec := *conf
+	confNoExec.ExecProvider = nil
+	// Get the Transport Config but without the ExecProvider because we will set
+	// it up with our version.
+	cfg, err := confNoExec.TransportConfig()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	var cluster *clientauthentication.Cluster
+	if conf.ExecProvider.ProvideClusterInfo {
+		var err error
+
+		cluster, err = rest.ConfigToExecCluster(conf)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	provider, err := exec.GetAuthenticator(conf.ExecProvider, cluster)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if err := provider.UpdateTransportConfig(cfg); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return transport.New(cfg)
+}
+
 // OidcConfig returns the oidc config for the context.
 func (c *Context) OidcConfig() (*OidcConfig, error) {
 	if c.OidcConf != nil {
@@ -256,7 +295,7 @@ func (c *Context) SetupProxy() error {
 
 	restConf, err := c.RESTConfig()
 	if err == nil {
-		roundTripper, err := rest.TransportFor(restConf)
+		roundTripper, err := makeTransportFor(restConf)
 		if err == nil {
 			proxy.Transport = roundTripper
 		}