Page Last Updated: 08/02/2010
Command Prompt Basics - A Getting Started Guide

Many of the troubleshooting techniques you will find on the internet make use of the DOS or Command Prompt. This is how computers used to work before the mouse became common. You have to type in your commands. This site will give you a quick overview of how the command prompt works.

This information was formally on amset.info, but has now been moved to its own separate domain. You may have been redirected here from amset.info. 

Throughout this page you will see this referred to as a command prompt. DOS Prompt and Command Prompt are the same thing.

You should have a Command Prompt open when reading this page so that you can try the commands. Unless stated, you will not damage your data by just moving around your folders.

Opening a Command Prompt

There are two conventional ways to start a Command prompt.

1. Start, Programs, Accessories, Command prompt
2. Start, Run and type "cmd" (minus quotes) and press enter.

You can also use Microsoft power toys to open a command prompt from Windows Explorer. You can read more about the power toys further down this page, here.

The screenshot below shows a Command Prompt on Windows 7 - it is almost identical on all other versions of Windows.

Command Prompt on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 2008

On Windows Vista and Windows 7, a standard Command Prompt may not allow you to do everything that you need to. In that case you will need to use an elevated command prompt.

The best way to start an elevated command prompt is to RIGHT click on the shortcut and choose Run As Administrator.

How to tell if the command prompt is elevated

If the prompt is elevated, then the initial path will be C:\Windows\System32. The title bar will also say "Administrator: Command Prompt". If the prompt is not elevated then by default it will start in C:\Users\Username (where username is the username of the account in use) and the title bar will just say "Command Prompt". The example above was configured to start in C:\ .

Command Prompt Basics

When you are working in Command Prompt, there are a couple of things that usually work:

Many of the commands will have extra options available, known as switches. They are added to the command by entering a "/" then a letter, number or word. These can change how the tool works or handles the information. A common switch would be the help command, which will also give you information on the other switches available.

<command> /?
This will usually bring up information about the command and the available switches. If it doesn't work, try "-?" after the command instead.

<command> > <filename>.txt
This will send the results of the command to a text file instead of the screen. You can include switches as well. This is particularly useful if you are looking at the help information for a command. Look at this example command:

 xcopy /? >c:\xcopy.txt

This writes the content of the help command to a file called xcopy.txt located in the root of the C:\ drive.

CLS
If you have lots of text in your Command Prompt window, this command will clear it.

Frequently Used Command Prompt Entries

There are two commands you will use most

1. "CD" (change directory) (minus quotes). This changes directory relevant to the one you are currently working in.
2. "DIR" (directory) (minus quotes). This lists the files and directories in the folder that you are in.

DIR

The "Dir" command is probably the most basic command. It gives you a listing of all the files and folders that are located in the folder that you are currently open in.
For example, in the screenshot above, we are in the root of the C:\ drive. If a DIR command is carried out at this point, then you will get a result similar to this:

Volume in drive C is System
Volume Serial Number is 1234-5678

 Directory of C:\

25/10/2002 23:42 0 AUTOEXEC.BAT
26/10/2002 01:03 0 COMLOG.txt
25/10/2002 23:42 0 CONFIG.SYS
06/02/2003 15:08 0 dir.txt
04/11/2002 20:40 262,144 ntuser.dat
25/10/2002 23:49 <DIR> Documents and Settings
27/01/2003 19:58 <DIR> Program Files
27/01/2003 09:26 <DIR> WINDOWS
5 File(s) 262,144 bytes
3 Dir(s) 12,528,111,616 bytes free

Advanced "dir" commands

You can get a little more advanced with the dir command by putting extra commands after the intitial "dir".
For example:

dir /s

will show the contents of the current folder, and any subfolders that are below. This will produce a very long file listing. You might want to filter the results or send them to a text file (see above).

dir /s something.doc

This command will search through all subdirectories below for a file that matches that file name. Similarly, issuing the command

dir /s *.doc

will list all files that end in .doc (Word files).

CD

The CD command is very simple to use. All commands are relative to the directory that you are in. Therefore, using the example output of a "dir" that is shown above, if you want to change to the "Windows" directory, you would type

CD Windows

If you want to change to the "system" directory (which is a sub directory of "windows"), you would enter

CD System

However if you knew that you wanted to change to the system directory immediately, you could type this command instead:

CD Windows\System

However if you were already deep in another directory (for example c:\ documents and settings \username\ local settings) and then wanted to move directly to windows\system then you can do that by putting in an initial backwards slash:

 CD \Windows\System

This tells the command to go to the root of the drive, then to the directory Windows and system.

Moving Back Up

You can also move back up the tree, instead of down.

If you want to just return to the root of the drive (C:\) you would just type

 cd \  or cd\

If you wanted to just go back one level (to use the earlier example, you were in c:\windows\system and you wanted to be in c:\windows) you would just type:

 cd..

Alternatively, if you want to access a totally different directory, for example "Program Files" you could type

cd program files or cd "program files"

When typing directories to change to, if the directory name is unique, then you can use wild cards. For example

cd program*

Directory Entry Shortcut: : If you are on Windows 2000 or XP and you have a Windows Explorer screen open at the location that you want to run a Command Prompt command you could open the Command Prompt and typing a long series of directories or CD commands. Instead, just type CD and then a space, then drag and drop the directory you want to work in to the Command Prompt window. The full path to the directory will be entered, ready for you to press enter.

More Commands

These commands can change file names, create directories etc, so should be used with caution.

File Renaming

You can rename files in a command prompt.

rename something.txt someone.txt

would rename the file something.txt to someone.txt

Directory Creation

You can create directories from the command prompt:

 mkdir something

would create a directory called "something".
If you want a directory with a name that has a space in it, such as "My Files" you need include the command in " ":

 mkdir "my files"

This ensures that the directory is created with the space. Without the space you will get a new directory called "my" and an error message.

Windows Power Toys

If you do a lot of work in the command prompt, then you might be interested in installing the "Command Prompt Here" (Windows 9x, NT and 2000) or "Command Here" (Windows XP) Power Toys. These add a new command the right click menu you get when you click on a directory allowing you to open a Command Prompt in that directory.

You can download these Power Toys from Microsoft's web site.

Changing where the Command Prompt shortcut starts

By default, the command prompt will start in your Home directory. This could be "C:\Documents and Settings\Username" or a network drive. If you want to always start in another location, such as the root of the C: drive, then you can change the Shortcut. Right click on it and choose Properties. Change the value in "Start In" to your preferred location.

Keyboard Short Cuts

There are a couple of shortcuts that you can use from the keyboard instead of typing full directory paths.

Use a Wild Card

If the directory you are wanting to change to is very long but uniquely named, then you can use a wild card instead of typing the entire thing.

For example, instead of:

cd "program files"

you could enter

cd prog*

Enter the wildcard character once you have typed enough characters for Windows to only have one choice.

Using "Tab" to Select Files or Folders - Windows XP/Server 2003 only

Another neat trick if you are using a command prompt on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 and is to use the "Tab" key to scroll through the files and folders in the current directory. Type the command you want to use as normal, for example "cd" then press tab to cycle through the files and folders until you reach the one you want. Then press enter. You may still have to enter the " as before, so would type " cd " " then press tab until you reached the folder you want to change to, enter the second " to finish off and press enter.
This technique can save a lot of time if you need to change to a directory with a long name.
It will also let you enter hidden folders that do not appear with dir without having to remember the correct name.

Repeat a Command

If you want to repeat a command that you have just run, or adjust something in the last command, press the "Up" cursor key to bring it back. You can then adjust it and press enter. Useful if you are trying to work out what switches and options you can use to achieve a certain result.

Full Command Listing

If you want a full list of the commands available to you, just type "help" and they will be listed. You can then type "help <command>" for the instructions.

Screen Size and Buffer Size

When you are working with a Command Prompt, it maybe helpful to increase the screen size or the buffer size.
Screen size is what you can actually see on the screen.
Buffer size is what is stored and can be viewed by using the scroll bars at the side.

To change the screen size and buffer size, right click on the icon in the top left corner of the Command Prompt window and choose Properties. Then click on layout.
A good buffer size is height 300, whereas a good screen size is height between 25 and 50.

After pressing OK you will be asked if you want to apply the changes to the shortcut or the current window only. If you are testing, select the current window only.

Deleting Files

Finally - remember that if you delete a file within a Command Prompt session it does not go in to the recycle bin. It will be deleted immediately.

Network Diagnostics

One of the most common uses for the command prompt is to do network diagnostics. You can find out more information about using the command prompt for this on our network diagnostics page.

Running scripts remotely

Using the Sysinternals tool PSEXEC it is possible to run commands on remote systems. This has been used to great effect to work with Windows Automatic Updates and has been described in some depth on that site here.

Further Reading

You can purchase books which cover the Command Prompt in more depth from our Amazon Store.

About

This information originally started life as a page on amset.info, our community assistance site. However that site is targeted at Microsoft Exchange server, as Sembee Ltd. is a Microsoft Exchange consultancy. Therefore it was moved to its own domain in early 2010. Traffic from amset.info is directed here.

Other sites that are owned and operated by Sembee Ltd include kbsearch.info, certificatesforexchange.com, office-recovery.info, wuauclt.info, blog.sembee.co.uk, exbpa.com and amset.info.

© Sembee Ltd. 1998 - 2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any content on this web site is prohibited without express written consent. Use of this web site is subject to our terms and conditions. All trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. This site is not endorsed or recommended by any company or organisation mentioned on this site. We are not responsible for the content of any of the sites linked to from this site.