How to run a bat file in the background from another bat file

batch-filecmdwindows-xp

I have a "setup" script which I run in the morning which starts all the programs that I need. Now some of those need additional setup of the environment, so I need to wrap them in small BAT scripts.

How do I run such a script on Windows XP in the background?

CALL env-script.bat runs it synchronously, i.e. the setup script can continue only after the command in the env-script has terminated.

START/B env-script.bat runs another instance of CMD.exe in the same command prompt, leaving it in a really messy state (I see the output of the nested CMD.exe, keyboard is dead for a while, script is not executed).

START/B CMD env-script.bat yields the same result. None of the flags in CMD seem to match my bill.

Best Answer

Two years old, but for completeness...

Standard, inline approach: (i.e. behaviour you'd get when using & in Linux)

START /B CMD /C CALL "foo.bat" [args [...]]

Notes: 1. CALL is paired with the .bat file because that where it usually goes.. (i.e. This is just an extension to the CMD /C CALL "foo.bat" form to make it asynchronous. Usually, it's required to correctly get exit codes, but that's a non-issue here.); 2. Double quotes around the .bat file is only needed if the name contains spaces. (The name could be a path in which case there's more likelihood of that.).

If you don't want the output:

START /B CMD /C CALL "foo.bat" [args [...]] >NUL 2>&1

If you want the bat to be run on an independent console: (i.e. another window)

START CMD /C CALL "foo.bat" [args [...]]

If you want the other window to hang around afterwards:

START CMD /K CALL "foo.bat" [args [...]]

Note: This is actually poor form unless you have users that specifically want to use the opened window as a normal console. If you just want the window to stick around in order to see the output, it's better off putting a PAUSE at the end of the bat file. Or even yet, add ^& PAUSE after the command line:

START CMD /C CALL "foo.bat" [args [...]] ^& PAUSE

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Another useful tip is to use %* to mean "all". For example:

echo off
set arg1=%1
set arg2=%2
shift
shift
fake-command /u %arg1% /p %arg2% %*

When you run:

test-command admin password foo bar

the above batch file will run:

fake-command /u admin /p password admin password foo bar

I may have the syntax slightly wrong, but this is the general idea.

Windows – How to shutdown, restart, or log off Windows via a bat file

The most common ways to use the shutdown command are:

shutdown -s — Shuts down.
shutdown -r — Restarts.
shutdown -l — Logs off.
shutdown -h — Hibernates.

Note: There is a common pitfall wherein users think -h means "help" (which it does for every other command-line program... except shutdown.exe, where it means "hibernate"). They then run shutdown -h and accidentally turn off their computers. Watch out for that.
shutdown -i — "Interactive mode". Instead of performing an action, it displays a GUI dialog.
shutdown -a — Aborts a previous shutdown command.

The commands above can be combined with these additional options:

-f — Forces programs to exit. Prevents the shutdown process from getting stuck.
-t <seconds> — Sets the time until shutdown. Use -t 0 to shutdown immediately.
-c <message> — Adds a shutdown message. The message will end up in the Event Log.
-y — Forces a "yes" answer to all shutdown queries.

Note: This option is not documented in any official documentation. It was discovered by these StackOverflow users.

I want to make sure some other really good answers are also mentioned along with this one. Here they are in no particular order.

Best Answer

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Windows – How to shutdown, restart, or log off Windows via a bat file

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