How to wait for a process to terminate to execute another process in batch file

Use start /w programname to wait for the end of programname

START /W notepad
ECHO Back from notepad  
START /W wordpad
ECHO Back from wordpad
START /W notepad

Try something like this...

@ECHO OFF

PSKILL NOTEPAD

START "" "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"

:LOOP
PSLIST wordpad >nul 2>&1
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (
  GOTO CONTINUE
) ELSE (
  ECHO Wordpad is still running
  TIMEOUT /T 5
  GOTO LOOP
)

:CONTINUE
NOTEPAD

I used PSLIST and PSEXEC, but you could also use TASKKILL and TASKLIST. The >nul 2>&1 is just there to hide all the output from PSLIST. The SLEEP 5 line is not required, but is just there to restrict how often you check if WordPad is still running.

This is an updated version of aphoria's Answer.

I Replaced PSLIST and PSEXEC with TASKKILL and TASKLIST`. As they seem to work better, I couldn't get PSLIST to run in Windows 7.

Also replaced Sleep with TIMEOUT.

This Was everything i needed to get the script running well, and all the additions was provided by the great guys who posted the comments.

Also if there is a delay before the .exe starts it might be worth inserting a Timeout before the :loop.

@ECHO OFF

TASKKILL NOTEPAD

START "" "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"

:LOOP
tasklist | find /i "WORDPAD" >nul 2>&1
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (
  GOTO CONTINUE
) ELSE (
  ECHO Wordpad is still running
  Timeout /T 5 /Nobreak
  GOTO LOOP
)

:CONTINUE
NOTEPAD