Start multiple tasks in parallel and wait for them in windows?

Question

How do I execute some tasks in parallel in batch script and wait for them?

command1;

# command3, command4 and command5 should execute in sequence say task1
         


        

Answer 1

Here's an example how it can be done with tasklist and process window titles:

launcher.cmd

@echo off
for /l %%a in (1,1,5) do start "worker%%a" cmd /c worker.cmd & timeout /t 1 >nul
:loop
timeout /t 2 >nul
tasklist /v /fi "imagename eq cmd.exe" /fo csv | findstr /i "worker" >nul && goto :loop
echo Workers finished

worker.cmd

@echo off
set /a wait=2 + ( %RANDOM% %% 5 ) 
echo waiting for %wait%...
timeout /t %wait% >nul
echo I'm done!
timeout /t 2 >nul

I'm using tasklist /v /fo csv to get titles.

Answer 2

I think this is the simplest way to do that:

command1

(
   start "task1" cmd /C "command3 & command4 & command5"
   start "task2" cmd /C "command6 & command7 & command8"
) | pause

command9

Further details in the comments below this answer.