Command Prompt: run scripts in background (equivalent of Linux's &/bg)

Windows does have a similar functionality to Linux's &, to launch processes such that they don't take over your console. Instead of a command-line flag, though, it's a command prefix.

Simply run your command with start in front of it, as such: C:\> start myprog.exe

It also works with commands, not just executables: C:\> start dir

This will start a new console window and run the command inside it.

If you don't want to have a new console window come up when running the command, use the /B switch, like this: C:\> start /B myprog.exe

There are several other options you can specify to configure how to run the command. You can figure them out by reading the help for start by using start /?.