How do I run a bat file in the background from another bat file?

Question

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.

Answer 1

Since START is the only way to execute something in the background from a CMD script, I would recommend you keep using it. Instead of the /B modifier, try /MIN so the newly created window won't bother you. Also, you can set the priority to something lower with /LOW or /BELOWNORMAL, which should improve your system responsiveness.

Answer 2

Create a new C# Windows application and call this method from main:

public static void RunBatchFile(string filename)
{
    Process process = new Process();

    process.StartInfo.FileName = filename;

    // suppress output (command window still gets created)
    process.StartInfo.Arguments = "> NULL";

    process.Start();
    process.WaitForExit();
}

Answer 3

Actually, the following works fine for me and creates new windows:

test.cmd:

@echo off
call "cmd /c start test2.cmd"
call "cmd /c start test3.cmd"
echo Foo
pause

test2.cmd

@echo off
echo Test 2
pause
exit

test3.cmd

@echo off
echo Test 3
pause
exit

Combine that with parameters to start, such as /min, as Moshe pointed out if you don't want the new windows to spawn in front of you.