How to open the console prompt in Windows 7. How to open the command line (console) in Windows
- Press the Windows key (it has the Windows icon) and at the same time the R key. Next, type cmd and press Enter.
- go to the Start menu, then Programs, then select Accessories and then select Command Prompt.
In order to open the command line in operating systems such as Windows 7 / Vista / 8 or in the good old Windows XP, you can use the key combination Win + R, where Win is the key on which the Windows logo is depicted. After pressing the keys, a window will appear in which you need to enter the cmd command in English and press ok. The black window on the screen with white text and a blinking cursor that appears on the screen is our command line, into which special commands are written to control the computer.
To call the command line, you can use the win+r hotkeys, and you can also do it as follows. Click the Start menu, then Programs, then the Standard tab, then Command Prompt and press enter.
The fastest and most practical way to open the command line in Vidovs and ask some command is to press and hold the Win button (with a window picture) and press R. In the provided field, write cmd and confirm with Enter. That's all.
The fastest way to open the command line is undoubtedly Start (located on the right at the very bottom). After clicking on Start, select Programs, then Accessories and Command Prompt, that is, the Console is in front of you!
Often, in various manuals and faqs they write that you need to call the command line. But how to do this and what it is is not written :)
What is the command line?
The command line provides communication between the OS and the user. In Windows OS everything is done with the mouse, i.e. - visually. A click downloads programs, a click creates folders and files. The same can be done on the command line, but using a set of special commands. When there was no Windows OS yet, it was in the command line that all work with the computer was carried out. In other words, the command line is a remnant of the DOS system and is used in most cases for debugging the Windows system.
This is what the window looks like:
Now let's look at several options/ways on how to call this window.
In both Windows XP and versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8, the path to the command line is the same.
- By clicking on Start, you should see a Run button. By clicking on no, the Start the program window will appear. Open in the field You write three letters - cmd- confirm with the OK button and you will receive a window with a console. (If there is no Run button, then you need to enable it in the settings, namely: Start / Properties / Advanced / (or right-click on Start and Properties) - find and check the box - Run.
- Calling up the Run window faster, You will get by pressing hotkeys: Windows button(with windows, usually located between STRG and ALT) + letter R key. Then type - cmd - and confirm with the OK button.
- You can also call the command line console through the menu by clicking on Start/Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt
- Well the longest: By opening the partition on which Windows is located, entering the folder Windows/System32 and double clicking on the file cmd.exe
You can call the command line (console) in Windows 8 (7, XP) in the following ways:
The command line is the means through which we access control of our operating system and does this by entering various commands.
And in order to open the command line in Windows 8 (7, XP), you must perform a certain action.
The easiest first way to call it is by pressing key combinations Win+R, then confirm the action via Enter and open the service - Run.
How else to call the command line we need in Windows XP and Windows 7, you need to click on the Start menu, then click on the command called Run, and then in the window that opens you need to write cmd and click OK.
Sometimes you just need to call the command line. This is required to perform any actions in Windows using certain commands. Press the button START then select EXECUTE then we write the command CMD and confirm your actions by pressing OK.
from the menu: start - standard - command line...
Keyboard shortcut: Win + R, type cmd, press Enter.
Learn to use the mouse to a minimum, faster on the keyboard.
To correctly call the command line in the Windows XP, 7 and 8 operating systems, you need to hold down the Windows key on the keyboard and R in English - a line will appear - enter cmd in English and press Enter - then enter the desired command.
There are a lot of ways to call the command line. Recently I had to open it when the computer did not want to turn on, so I had to throw the installation visible on the flash drive and run the line through the installation window. And if you don’t have such problems, then you can use the combination Win + R, then cmd and Enter.
Command line (cmd) is a powerful software tool that allows you to manage the operating system, as well as all applications installed in it, by entering various text commands. The process of managing the OS using cmd is much faster, because the serious productivity of the computer is not used, since the Windows graphical shell is not used.
There are several ways to find and call the command line (also called the console).
Launch the command line from the Start menu
Go to the menu and then go through the following sections one by one: "All programs"/"Back" --> "Standard" --> "Command line". Next, just click on it with the mouse and the console will immediately open.
Launch Command Prompt through the search box in the Start menu
Also, go to the menu and in the search bar below enter the phrase: " Command line". The console shortcut should be highlighted in the search results that appear at the top. Click on it and thereby launch cmd.
Launch the command line through the system command “Run”
Press the "quick" keyboard shortcut Win+R. In the window that opens, enter the phrase: “cmd” (code name of the console) and click "OK" so that she appears immediately.
Launch the command line through the system folder on the HDD
Open this folder by sequentially going through the following directories: C:\Windows\system32. Search it well and you will definitely find a file there called " cmd.exe", by clicking on which you can launch the command line.
Launch the command line through the extended context menu of any folder on the HDD
Move the mouse cursor over some folder on your disk, press and hold (i.e., do not release!) the keyboard. Shift. Then, right-click on the selected folder. mouse to bring up the expanded options menu. Click on the function "Open command window", which will launch the console.
Launch the command line from them. administrator
Using system services with administrative rights significantly expands the user's powers and gives him access to additional features when working in Windows.
To open console with admin rights, click on its shortcut or the file itself (depending on which method you used to search for it) rights. keyboard mouse and click on the function "Run as administrator". The console will start with extended user rights. This is the last thing that may be useful to you when working with cmd. That's all!
When working with Windows, it is quite common to read instructions like “Open the command line...” or “Type the command in the console...”, but in order to take advantage of such valuable recommendations, you need to know how to open this command line (console) . In this article I will give several ways to do this. They all open a window with a command line terminal. Depending on your habits, you can choose any of them.
Method one. Open the console using the Run window.
This method is universal and suitable for all versions of the Windows operating system.
To open the Run window, press the key combination Win + R.
In order to call the console, you need to enter the cmd command and press Enter on the keyboard or click on the “OK” button:
Method two. Open the console using the “Start” menu and selecting “Standard programs” from the list
In order to use this method, you need to click on the “Start” button, usually located in the lower left corner of the monitor. After that, click on the “All programs” link:
In the drop-down list of programs, you need to find the “Standard” folder, click on it and select the “Command Line” program in this folder:
Method three. Open the console by searching in the Start menu
This method of opening the Windows Command Prompt is similar to the previous one. However, there are differences. After clicking on the “Start” button, you need to type cmd in the search bar. After this, you need to select the cmd.exe program in the “Programs” list found:
Method four. Open the console by finding the program file in Explorer
It’s far from the most convenient way, but who knows, maybe there are fans of finding files in Explorer and opening them exactly where they are located in the file system. To do this, we will need to open Explorer and know the location of the command line program file.
The cmd.exe program is located in the C:\Windows\system32 directory - once you find it, you can open it by double-clicking:
What does the Command Line or Winows Console actually look like?
In principle, the four methods described above for opening the console should be enough for all occasions ( even without a keyboard or mouse), all that remains is to understand what the Windows console looks like in order to understand that what was opened was exactly what you ordered. And she looks like this:
Greetings, dear friends, acquaintances and other personalities. Today we will talk about such a useful thing as console commands, as well as about working with the command line in general.
The command line is a text-based interface in which commands are issued by entering text strings from the keyboard. Another name for the command line, as you have already understood for a long time, is the console.
To many users, the command line seems like an anachronism from the days of working with DOS, but sometimes it is an absolutely necessary tool, not only for professionals, but also for the average user.
Basic console commands. What's what and why. Introductory
Actually, this thing is one of the key elements for system management, despite the fact that the OS has long switched to a graphical interface. Not knowing about the console and not being able to master at least its basic fundamentals is bad, and as an IT person, not having knowledge about basic things is bad at all..
To launch the command line, press the Win + R key combination and in the “Run” window that appears, enter cmd. The command line utility itself is usually located in the folder C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe.
This is what the Windows command line looks like by default. As you can see, everything is quite ascetic. If you want a nicer look, right-click on the window title and select “Properties”, “Colors” tab, where you can choose the font and background color.
In the window that opens, at the top you see the traditional small-soft copyright sign, and just below there is a line with the current catalog and a blinking cursor inviting you to start working.
The command line has hotkeys that can help you with your work:
- F1 – each time you press a key, enters the last command letter by letter;
- F3 – displays the last command;
- F5 – each press displays the previous command;
- F7 – Displays a numbered list of commands (by default, the last 50 commands are saved).
Now let's look at some commands in more detail.
dir command
Displays the contents of the current directory. If you need to view the contents of another directory, you will have to specify the path to the console, for example: dir (space) C:\, and press Enter.
cd command
Allows you to change the current directory. Let me remind you that the directory you are currently in is listed here:
To change the current directory type: cd (space) C:\Folder name and press Enter.
Notes:
- If you want to open a new directory on the same disk where the current one is located, then you do not need to register the disk; you just need to indicate the name of the desired directory.
- In order to use the cd command to move to another drive, you need to add the following parameter (sometimes called a flag) /D, that is, the command to move to another drive will look like this:
cd /D D:\
mkdir command
Allows you to create new folders with the name you specify.
By default, the mkdir command creates folders in the current directory. If you need to create a folder in another directory, write this, for example:
Using the same command, you can immediately create a directory tree.
rmdir command
Used to delete directories. Something like this:
Note: By default, the rmdir command only removes empty directories. If you use it to try to delete a folder with contents, you will see the following message:
To delete a non-empty folder, you must add the /S parameter to the rmdir command. Like this:
Don't forget to confirm the deletion by pressing the "Y" and Enter keys.
shutdown command
I think it's clear from the name that this command allows you to turn off the computer. I foresee a completely logical question - why turn off the computer using the command line, when it is much easier to turn it off through the main Windows menu. But imagine, for example, that you need to leave, and the computer is still performing some task that you do not want to interrupt, but the computer must nevertheless be turned off. This is where the shutdown command is indispensable.
So, on the command line, type:
shutdown (space) –s
In this case, the computer will simply turn off. If you need a delayed shutdown of your computer, type:
shutdown (space) –s (space) –t (space) time in seconds, through which the computer should turn off:
As soon as you press Enter, the time remaining until the computer turns off will begin counting down. In XP it looks like this:
On Windows 7:
If you change your mind about shutting down the computer, you can stop the countdown by adding the –a option to the shutdown command. Like this:
And the countdown will be disabled.
systeminfo command
Provides detailed information about system configuration, version, type, processor, BIOS version, memory size, etc. Like this:
z
driverquery command
Lists all installed device drivers and their properties. If you add the /V parameter to the command, in addition to a list of drivers, their status will also be displayed.
cls command
When the Command Prompt window becomes filled with various text and becomes difficult to work in, the cls command allows you to clear the screen.
msconfig command
Calls the service " Windows System Configuration".
I think that for many it will not be new.
regedit command
Opens a utility that allows you to edit the Windows system registry.
chkdsk command
Intended. If the command is used without additional parameters, a report on the status of the current disk is displayed.
Here are some command parameters that may be useful when checking disks:
- /f – sets the correction of errors on the disk. For the scan to begin, the disk must be locked. If the drive is not locked, you will be prompted to check the drive the next time you restart your computer.
- /v – allows you to display the names of scanned files and directories;
- /r – allows you to detect damaged disk sectors and restore that part of the data that can still be read.
format command
Using this command you can format your hard drive. I don’t recommend doing this now :) Syntax:
format (space) C: Enter.
The following additional parameters exist for this command:
- /fs specifies the file system when formatting the disk;
- /v allows you to set the volume label;
- /a allows you to set the cluster size. If this parameter is not specified, the cluster will be determined automatically based on the disk size.
This is the bare minimum :)
pathping command
The utility that this command runs provides information about data loss on intermediate nodes between the origin and destination. The command sends ping messages to each router along the path over a period of time, and then calculates the loss rate for each router based on the responses received. This way you can identify routers that have problems accessing the network.
netstat command
Displays active TCP connections, ports the computer is listening on, Ethernet statistics, IP routing tables, IPv4 statistics (for IP, ICMP, TCP, and UDP protocols) and IPv6 statistics (for IPv6, ICMPv6, TCP over IPv6, and UDP over IPv6 protocols). If you run the command without parameters, only TCP connections will be displayed.
tasklist command
Launches a command line utility that displays a list of all processes running by the system with a PID code and the size of occupied RAM. If the command is run without additional parameters, a list of processes on the current computer is displayed.
In order to see a list of processes on a remote computer, use the /s parameter indicating the IP address or domain name of the computer.
taskkill command
Unlike the previous command, this one is intended to stop a process on a local or remote system. A process can be stopped by its ID. To do this, use the /pid parameter. For example, like this:
taskkill (space) /pid (space) 3148 Enter
In addition, the process can be stopped by the image name by adding the /im parameter. Like this:
taskkill (space) /im (space) AnVir.exe Enter
Further.
sfc team
A very useful utility that is designed to restore damaged system files. Here are some parameters it works with:
- /scannow - immediate scan of all protected system files;
- /scanonce - scans protected system files the next time the system boots;
- /scanboot – scans all protected system files every time the system boots;
Afterword
This material presents the bare minimum for working with the console. In subsequent articles, there may be more interesting and useful commands. However, you can study some of them yourself by entering the command help in the console, after which, having selected the command that interests you, enter HELP<имя команды>to learn about its syntax and other components:
As always, if you have any questions, additions, thanks, etc., write in the comments.
Remember that you are better!
Which means everything will be fine.
Stay with us.
PS: For the existence of this article, special thanks to a friend of the project and a member of our team under the nickname “Wolverine”.