diff --git a/packages/gui/src/electron/main.tsx b/packages/gui/src/electron/main.tsx
index 34138b9c73..15526bb437 100644
--- a/packages/gui/src/electron/main.tsx
+++ b/packages/gui/src/electron/main.tsx
@@ -478,16 +478,26 @@ if (ensureSingleInstance() && ensureCorrectEnvironment()) {
     // if (!guessPackaged()) {
     //   mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();
     // }
-    mainWindow.on('close', (e) => {
+    mainWindow.on('close', async (e) => {
       // if the daemon isn't local we aren't going to try to start/stop it
       if (decidedToClose || !manageDaemonLifetime(NET)) {
         return;
       }
+      if (!mainWindow) {
+        throw new Error('`mainWindow` is empty');
+      }
       e.preventDefault();
+
       if (!isClosing) {
         isClosing = true;
+        let keepBackgroundRunning: boolean | undefined;
+        const p = readPrefs();
+        if (typeof p.keepBackgroundRunning === 'boolean') {
+          keepBackgroundRunning = p.keepBackgroundRunning;
+        }
+
         if (promptOnQuit) {
-          const choice = dialog.showMessageBoxSync({
+          const choice = await dialog.showMessageBox({
             type: 'question',
             buttons: [i18n._(/* i18n */ { id: 'No' }), i18n._(/* i18n */ { id: 'Yes' })],
             title: i18n._(/* i18n */ { id: 'Confirm' }),
@@ -496,22 +506,36 @@ if (ensureSingleInstance() && ensureCorrectEnvironment()) {
                 id: 'Are you sure you want to quit?',
               }
             ),
+            checkboxChecked: keepBackgroundRunning ?? false,
+            checkboxLabel: i18n._(/* i18n */ { id: 'Keep service running in the background' }),
           });
-          if (choice === 0) {
+          if (keepBackgroundRunning !== choice.checkboxChecked) {
+            savePrefs({ ...p, keepBackgroundRunning: choice.checkboxChecked });
+          }
+          if (choice.response === 0) {
             isClosing = false;
             return;
           }
+          keepBackgroundRunning = choice.checkboxChecked;
         }
         isClosing = false;
         decidedToClose = true;
-        mainWindow.webContents.send('exit-daemon');
+
         // save the window state and unmange so we don't restore the mini exiting state
         mainWindowState.saveState(mainWindow);
-        mainWindowState.unmanage(mainWindow);
+        mainWindowState.unmanage();
+
+        if (keepBackgroundRunning) {
+          mainWindow.close();
+          openedWindows.forEach((win) => win.close());
+          return;
+        }
+
+        mainWindow.webContents.send('exit-daemon');
         mainWindow.setBounds({ height: 500, width: 500 });
         mainWindow.center();
         ipcMain.on('daemon-exited', () => {
-          mainWindow.close();
+          mainWindow?.close();
 
           openedWindows.forEach((win) => win.close());
         });
diff --git a/packages/gui/src/util/chiaEnvironment.js b/packages/gui/src/util/chiaEnvironment.js
index bb10570597..9fd1037522 100644
--- a/packages/gui/src/util/chiaEnvironment.js
+++ b/packages/gui/src/util/chiaEnvironment.js
@@ -67,17 +67,56 @@ const getChiaVersion = () => {
   return version;
 };
 
+const spawnChildProcess = (command, args = [], options = undefined) => {
+  // As of Feb 11 2024, there is a bug in Electron that prevents electron from exiting when a child process is spawned and detached.
+  // This is a workaround for that bug.
+  if (process.platform === 'linux') {
+    // https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/34808#issuecomment-1275530924
+    return childProcess.spawn(
+      '/bin/bash',
+      [
+        '-c',
+        'for fd in $(ls /proc/$$/fd); do case "$fd" in 0|1|2|255) ;; *) eval "exec $fd<&-" ;; esac; done; exec "$@"',
+        '--',
+        command,
+        ...args,
+      ],
+      options
+    );
+  }
+  return childProcess.spawn(command, args, options);
+};
+
 const startChiaDaemon = () => {
   const script = getScriptPath(PY_DIST_FILE);
   const processOptions = {};
-  // processOptions.detached = true;
-  // processOptions.stdio = "ignore";
+  if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+    // We want to detach child daemon process from parent GUI process.
+    // You may think `detached: true` will do but it shows blank terminal on Windows.
+    // In order to hide the blank terminal while detaching child process,
+    // {detached: false, windowsHide: false, shell: true} works which is exact opposite of what we expect
+    // Please see the comment below for more details.
+    // https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/21825#issuecomment-503766781
+    processOptions.detached = false;
+    processOptions.stdio = 'ignore';
+    processOptions.windowsHide = false;
+    processOptions.shell = true;
+  } else {
+    processOptions.detached = true;
+    processOptions.stdio = 'ignore';
+    processOptions.windowsHide = true;
+  }
   pyProc = null;
   if (guessPackaged()) {
     try {
       console.info('Running python executable: ');
-      const Process = childProcess.spawn;
-      pyProc = new Process(script, ['--wait-for-unlock'], processOptions);
+      if (processOptions.stdio === 'ignore') {
+        const subProcess = spawnChildProcess(script, ['--wait-for-unlock'], processOptions);
+        subProcess.unref();
+      } else {
+        const Process = childProcess.spawn;
+        pyProc = new Process(script, ['--wait-for-unlock'], processOptions);
+      }
     } catch (e) {
       console.info('Running python executable: Error: ');
       console.info(`Script ${script}`);
@@ -86,10 +125,15 @@ const startChiaDaemon = () => {
     console.info('Running python script');
     console.info(`Script ${script}`);
 
-    const Process = childProcess.spawn;
-    pyProc = new Process('python', [script, '--wait-for-unlock'], processOptions);
+    if (processOptions.stdio === 'ignore') {
+      const subProcess = spawnChildProcess('python', [script, '--wait-for-unlock'], processOptions);
+      subProcess.unref();
+    } else {
+      const Process = childProcess.spawn;
+      pyProc = new Process('python', [script, '--wait-for-unlock'], processOptions);
+    }
   }
-  if (pyProc != null) {
+  if (pyProc != null && processOptions.stdio !== 'ignore') {
     pyProc.stdout.setEncoding('utf8');
 
     pyProc.stdout.on('data', (data) => {