SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = {0};

sei.cbSize = sizeof (SHELLEXECUTEINFO);
sei.fMask  = SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
sei.lpVerb = "open";
sei.lpFile = "notepad.exe";
sei.nShow  = SW_SHOWNORMAL;

if (ShellExecuteEx (&sei))
{
   WaitForSingleObject (sei.hProcess, INFINITE);
}