Using the start command with parameters passed to the started program

Question

I have a Virtual Machine in Virtual PC 2007   To start it from the desktop  I have the following command in a batch file    c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe  -pc  MY-PC  -launch   But that leaves a dos prompt on the host machine until the virtual machine shuts down  and I exit out of the Virtual PC console   That s annoying   So I changed my command to use the START command  instead   start  c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe  -pc MY-PC -launch   But it chokes on the parameters passed into Virtual PC   START    indicates that parameters do indeed go in that location   Has anyone used START to launch a program with multiple command-line arguments

User · Answer

None of these answers worked for me   Instead  I had to use the Call command   Call    Path To Program Program exe   lt parameters gt    I m not sure this actually waits for completion    the C   Redistributable I was installing went fast enough that it didn t matter

User · Answer

START has a peculiarity involving double quotes around the first parameter  If the first parameter has double quotes it uses that as the optional TITLE for the new window     I believe what you want is   start     c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe  -pc MY-PC -launch   In other words  give it an empty title before the name of the program to fake it out

User · Answer

Change The  Virtual PC exe  to a name without space like  VirtualPC exe  in the folder  When you write start  path  with    the CMD starts a new cmd window with the path as the title  Change the name to a name without space write this on Notepad and after this save like Name cmd or Name bat   CD  CD Program Files CD Microsoft Virtual PC start VirtualPC exe timeout 2 exit   This command will redirect the CMD to the folder start the VirualPC exe wait 2 seconds and exit

User · Answer

If you want passing parameter and your  exe file in test folder of c  drive   start  parameter   C  test test1 exe  -pc My Name-PC -launch  If you won t want passing parameter and your  exe file in test folder of c  drive  start     C  test test1 exe  -pc My Name-PC -launch  If you won t want passing parameter and your  exe file in test folder of H   Any Other drive   start     H  test test1 exe  -pc My Name-PC -launch

User · Answer

The answer in  peculiarity  is correct and directly answers the question   As TimF answered  since the first parameter is in quotes  it is treated as a window title     Also note that the Virtual PC options are being treated as options to the  start  command itself  and are not valid for  start    This is true for all versions of Windows that have the  start  command   This problem with  start  treating the quoted parameter as a title is even more annoying that just the posted problem   If you run this   start  some valid command with spaces    You get a new command prompt window  with the obvious result for a window title  Even more annoying  this new window doesn t inherit customized font  colors or window size  it s just the default for cmd exe

User · Answer

have you tried   start  c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe   -pc MY-PC -launch

User · Answer

You can use quotes by using the   D Path   use  D only for specifying the path and not the path program   It appears that all code on the same line that follows goes back to normal meaning you don t need to separate path and file       start   D  C  Program Files Internet Explorer   IEXPLORE EXE   or       start   D  TITLE   C  Program Files Internet Explorer   IEXPLORE EXE   will start IE with default web page       start   D  TITLE   C  Program Files Internet Explorer   IEXPLORE EXE www bing com   starts with Bing  but does not reset your home page    D stands for  directory   and using quotes is OK   WRONG EXAMPLE        start   D  TITLE   C  Program Files Internet Explorer IEXPLORE EXE    gives      ERROR  The current directory is invalid       D must only be followed by a directory path  Then space and the batchfile or program you wish to start run  Tested and works under XP but windows Vista 7 8 may need some adjustments to UAC   -Mrbios

User · Answer

b parameter  start  b     c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe  -pc  MY-PC  -launch

User · Answer

If you must use double quotation mark at any parameter  you can get error   c  somepath  is not recognized a an internal or external command  operable program or batch file    I suggest below solution when using double qoutation mark  https   stackoverflow com a 43467194 3835640

User · Answer

Instead of a batch file  you can create a shortcut on the desktop   Set the target to    c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe  -pc  MY-PC  -launch   and you re all set  Since you re not starting up a command prompt to launch it  there will be no DOS Box

User · Answer

Put the command inside a batch file  and call that with the parameters    Also  did you try this yet   Move end quote to encapsulate parameters   start  c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC Virtual PC exe -pc MY-PC -launch

User · Answer

The spaces are DOSs CMDs Problems so you should go to the Path via   cd  c  program files Microsoft Virtual PC    and then simply start VPC via   start Virtual 1 exe -pc MY-PC -launch    1 means the first exe with  Virtual  at the beginning  So if there is a  Virtual PC exe  and a  Virtual PC1 exe  the first would be the Virtual 1 exe and the second Virtual 2 exe and so on   Or use a VNC-Client like VirtualBox

[windows] Using the "start" command with parameters passed to the started program

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