START

Opens a separate window to run a specific program or command.

START ["title"] [/D path] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE | /SHARED] [/LOW | /NORMAL | /HIGH | /REALTIME | /ABOVENORMAL | /BELOWNORMAL] [/NODE numa_node] [/AFFINITY mask] [/WAIT] [/B] [/MACHINE arch] [command/program [parameters]]

Where:

• "title" - Specifies the text to display in the title bar.
• /D path - Specifies the current directory for the new window (e.g. C:\WINDOWS).
• /I - The new environment will be the original CMD one instead of the current one (that is, the original environment variables will be restored in the new window, instead of being inherited from those of the environment from which this command is executed).
• /MIN - Starts a minimized window.
• /MAX - Starts the maximized window.
• /SEPARATE - Launches 16-bit Windows programs in a separate memory space (not supported on 64-bit platforms).
• /SHARED - Launch 16-bit Windows programs in shared memory space (not supported on 64-bit platforms).
• /LOW - Starts the application in low priority class (idle, i.e. its instructions are executed only if the processor is not busy with other processes).
• /NORMAL - Starts the application in normal priority class.
• /HIGH - Starts the application in high priority class.
• /REALTIME - Launches the application in real-time priority class.
• /ABOVENORMAL - Starts the application in supnormal (above normal) priority class.
• /BELOWNORMAL - Starts the application in subnormal (below normal) priority class.
• /NODE numa_node - Specifies the preferred Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA) node, as an integer. For example, for two processes communicating with each other, if they are created with the same preferred NUMA node, the required memory latencies will be reduced.
• /AFFINITY mask - Specifies the processor affinity mask as a hexadecimal number. This mask indicates which processors can run the process, excluding all others. For example, 0x1 indicates the first processor, 0x2 the second, 0x4 the third, 0x8 the fourth, and so on, using powers of two to indicate individual processors. To indicate multiple processors, simply add the masks associated with the individual processors, for example 0x3 (0x1 + 0x2) are the first two processors, while 0xc (0x4 + 0x8) are the third and fourth.
• /WAIT - Starts the application and waits for it to terminate.
• /B - Starts the application without creating a new window by ignoring ^C, i.e. disabling BREAKBREAK (Ctrl + C would be used to terminate a running command or batch file). Although the BREAK command to control the behavior of ^C is deprecated, this option still works in the latest versions of Windows, although its use is discouraged.
• /MACHINE arch - Specifies the architecture of the process to launch. Available values for arch are X86, AMD64, ARM, ARM64.
• command/program - Specifies a command, batch file, or program. If it is an internal command or batch file, the window will not close when it finishes; if it is an external command or program, the window will close when START finishes. If a non-executable file is specified, it will open the program associated with the ASSOCASSOC and FTYPEFTYPE commands.
• parameters - Specifica i parametri del comando o dell'applicazione specificata.

Examples:

1. Opens the file C:\bat.bat minimized in subnormal priority class:

start /min /belownormal "C:\bat.bat"

 

2. Runs the applications tweedledum.exe (processor affinity 1 and 3) and tweedledee.exe (processor affinity 2 and 4) with the same preferred NUMA node:

start /node 1 /affinity 0x5 tweedledum.exe
start /node 1 /affinity 0xa tweedledee.exe

 

Further information:

If the extension is not specified in the name of the program or non-executable file, it can be searched for and added by the interpreter based on the value of the environment variable PATHEXT. The following line of code (see SETSET):

set pathext

will show the list of extensions that can be omitted, for example:

PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC

The operation of this environment variable is similar to that of the PATH environment variable, see the PATHPATH command.