START

Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.

START ["title"] [/Dpath] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE | /SHARED]
      [/LOW | /NORMAL | /HIGH | /REALTIME] [/WAIT] [/B] 
      [command/program] [parameters]

    "title"     Title to display in window title bar.
    path        Starting directory
    I           The new environment will be the original environment 
                passed to the cmd.exe and not the current environment.
    MIN         Start window minimized
    MAX         Start window maximized
    SEPARATE    Start 16-bit Windows program in separate memory space
    SHARED      Start 16-bit Windows program in shared memory space
    LOW         Start application in the IDLE priority class
    NORMAL      Start application in the NORMAL priority class
    HIGH        Start application in the HIGH priority class
    REALTIME    Start application in the REALTIME priority class
    WAIT        Start application and wait for it to terminate
    B           Start application without creating a new window. The
                application has ^C handling ignored. Unless the 
		application enables ^C processing, ^Break is the only 
		way to interrupt the application
    command/program
                If it is an internal cmd command or a batch file then
                the command processor is run with the /K switch to 
		cmd.exe. This means that the window will remain after 
		the command has been run.

                If it is not an internal cmd command or batch file then
                it is a program and will run as either a windowed 
		application or a console application.

    parameters  These are the parameters passed to the command/program


If Command Extensions are enabled, external command invocation
through the command line or the START command changes as follows:

non-executable files may be invoked through their file association just
    by typing the name of the file as a command. (e.g. WORD.DOC would
    launch the application associated with the .DOC file extension).
    See the ASSOC and FTYPE commands (in NT help) for how to create 
    these associations from within a command script.

When executing an application that is a 32-bit GUI application, CMD.EXE
    does not wait for the application to terminate before returning to
    the command prompt.  This new behavior does NOT occur if executing
    within a command script.

When executing a command line whose first token is CMD without an
    extension or path qualifier, then replaces CMD with the value of the
    COMSPEC variable, thus avoiding picking up random versions of
    CMD.EXE when you least expect them.

When executing a command line whose first token does NOT contain an
    extension, then CMD.EXE uses the value of the PATHEXT
    environment variable to determine which extensions to look for
    and in what order. The default value for the PATHEXT variable is:

        .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD

    Notice the syntax is the same as the PATH variable, with
    semicolons separating the different elements.

When executing a command, if there is no match on any extension, then
looks to see if the name, without any extension, matches a directory 
name and if it does, the START command launches the Explorer on that 
path. If done from the command line, it is the equivalent to doing a CD 
/D to that path.

NOTE: The text above was copied from Windows NT 4.0 Help. Notice there 
may be some slight difference between the START command in Windows 9x 
and that in Windows NT/2000. START is usually used to start a directory, 
or a program. For example, to open current directory in a command 
prompt, you may type: "START .". Note the dot between the double 
quotation marks: don't type the double quotation marks but remember to 
type the dot. The dot represents current directory. To start Windows 
Media Player 6.4, you may type: "START mplayer2". Although "mplayer2" 
can also be executed through the RUN dialog, it cannot be found in the 
PATH environment variable. So you cannot start it by directly typing 
"mplayer2" at the command prompt. This is a special use of the START 
command. Notice that although the PATH environment variable in a command 
prompt is local, it will be inherited by the newly started program.

For more information, please refer to Windows NT command line command 
help.