List of cmd commands windows

Command Description Append The append command can be used by programs to open files in another directory as if they were located in the current directory. The append command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The append command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Arp The arp command is used to display or change entries in the ARP cache. The arp command is available in all versions of Windows. Assoc The assoc command is used to display or change the file type associated with a particular file extension. The assoc command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. At The at command is used to schedule commands and other programs to run at a specific date and time. The at command is available in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Beginning in Windows 8, command line task scheduling should instead be completed with the schtasks command. Atmadm The atmadm command is used to display information related to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) connections on the system. The atmadm command is available in Windows XP. Support for ATM was removed beginning in Windows Vista, making the atmadm command unnecessary. Attrib The attrib command is used to change the attributes of a single file or a directory. The attrib command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Auditpol The auditpol command is used to display or change audit policies. The auditpol command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Bcdboot The bcdboot command is used to copy boot files to the system partition and to create a new system BCD store. The bcdboot command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Bcdedit The bcdedit command is used to view or make changes to Boot Configuration Data. The bcdedit command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. The bcdedit command replaced the bootcfg command beginning in Windows Vista. Bdehdcfg The bdehdcfg command is used to prepare a hard drive for BitLocker Drive Encryption. The bdehdcfg command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Bitsadmin The bitsadmin command is used to create, manage, and monitor download and upload jobs. The bitsadmin command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. While the bitsadmin command is available in those versions of Windows, it is being phased out—the BITS PowerShell cmdlets should be used instead. Bootcfg The bootcfg command is used to build, modify, or view the contents of the boot.ini file, a hidden file that is used to identify in what folder, on which partition, and on which hard drive Windows is located. The bootcfg command is available in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The bootcfg command was replaced by the bcdedit command beginning in Windows Vista. Bootcfg is still available in Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista, but it serves no real value since boot.ini is not used in these operating systems. Bootsect The bootsect command is used to configure the master boot code to one compatible with BOOTMGR (Vista and later) or NTLDR (XP and earlier). The bootsect command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8. The bootsect command is also available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista but only from the Command Prompt available in System Recovery Options. Break The break command sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking on DOS systems. The break command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. The break command is available in Windows XP and later versions of Windows to provide compatibility with MS-DOS files but it has no effect in Windows itself. Cacls The cacls command is used to display or change access control lists of files. The cacls command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The cacls command is being phased out in favor of the icacls command, which should be used instead in all versions of Windows after Windows XP. Call The call command is used to run a script or batch program from within another script or batch program. The call command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. The call command has no effect outside of a script or batch file. In other words, running the call command at the Command Prompt or MS-DOS prompt will do nothing. Cd The cd command is the shorthand version of the chdir command. The cd command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Certreq The certreq command is used to perform various certification authority (CA) certificate functions. The certreq command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Certutil The certutil command is used to dump and display certification authority (CA) configuration information in addition to other CA functions. The certutil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Change The change command changes various terminal server settings like install modes, COM port mappings, and logons. The change command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Chcp The chcp command displays or configures the active code page number. The chcp command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Chdir The chdir command is used to display the drive letter and folder that you are currently in. Chdir can also be used to change the drive and/or directory that you want to work in. The chdir command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Checknetisolation The checknetisolation command is used to test apps that require network capabilities. The checknetisolation command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8. Chglogon The chglogon command enables, disables, or drains terminal server session logins. The chglogon command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Executing the chglogon command is the same as executing change logon. Chgport The chgport command can be used to display or change COM port mappings for DOS compatibility. The chgport command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Executing the chgport command is the same as executing change port. Chgusr The chgusr command is used to change the install mode for the terminal server. The chgusr command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Executing the chgusr command is the same as executing change user. Chkdsk The chkdsk command, often referred to as check disk, is used to identify and correct certain hard drive errors. The chkdsk command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Chkntfs The chkntfs command is used to configure or display the checking of the disk drive during the Windows boot process. The chkntfs command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Choice The choice command is used within a script or batch program to provide a list of choices and return the value of that choice to the program. The choice command is available in MS-DOS and all versions of Windows except Windows XP. Use the set command with the /p switch in place of the choice command in batch files and scripts that you plan to use in Windows XP. Cipher The cipher command shows or changes the encryption status of files and folders on NTFS partitions. The cipher command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Clip The clip command is used to redirect the output from any command to the clipboard in Windows. The clip command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Cls The cls command clears the screen of all previously entered commands and other text. The cls command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Cmd The cmd command starts a new instance of the cmd.exe command interpreter. The cmd command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Cmdkey The cmdkey command is used to show, create, and remove stored user names and passwords. The cmdkey command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Cmstp The cmstp command installs or uninstalls a Connection Manager service profile. The cmstp command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Color The color command is used to change the colors of the text and background within the Command Prompt window. The color command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Command The command command starts a new instance of the command.com command interpreter. The command command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The command command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Comp The comp command is used to compare the contents of two files or sets of files. The comp command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Compact The compact command is used to show or change the compression state of files and directories on NTFS partitions. The compact command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Convert The convert command is used to convert FAT or FAT32 formatted volumes to the NTFS format. The convert command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Copy The copy command does simply that — it copies one or more files from one location to another. The copy command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. The xcopy command is considered to be a more «powerful» version of the copy command. Cscript The cscript command is used to execute scripts via Microsoft Script Host. The cscript command is available in all versions of Windows. The cscript command is most popularly used to manage printers from the command line using scripts like prncnfg.vbs, prndrvr.vbs, prnmngr.vbs, and others. Ctty The ctty command is used to change the default input and output devices for the system. The ctty command is available in Windows 98 and 95 as well as in MS-DOS. The functions provided by the ctty command were no longer necessary beginning in Windows XP because the command.com interpreter (MS-DOS) is no longer the default command line interpreter. Date The date command is used to show or change the current date. The date command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Dblspace The dblspace command is used to create or configure DoubleSpace compressed drives. The dblspace command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. DriveSpace, executed using the drvspace command, is an updated version of DoubleSpace. Windows began handling compression beginning in Windows XP. Debug The debug command starts Debug, a command line application used to test and edit programs. The debug command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The debug command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Defrag The defrag command is used to defragment a drive you specify. The defrag command is the command line version of Microsoft’s Disk Defragmenter. The defrag command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Del The del command is used to delete one or more files. The del command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. The del command is the same as the erase command. Deltree The deltree command is used to delete a directory and all the files and subdirectories within it. The deltree command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Beginning in Windows XP, a folder and its files and subfolders can be removed using the /s function of the rmdir command. Deltree was no longer needed with this new rmdir ability so the command was removed. Diantz The diantz command is used to losslessly compress one or more files. The diantz command is sometimes called Cabinet Maker. The diantz command is available in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The diantz command is the same as the makecab command. Dir The dir command is used to display a list of files and folders contained inside the folder that you are currently working in. The dir command also displays other important information like the hard drive’s serial number, the total number of files listed, their combined size, the total amount of free space left on the drive, and more. The dir command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Diskcomp The diskcomp command is used to compare the contents of two floppy disks. The diskcomp command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS, with the exclusion of Windows 11 and Windows 10. Diskcopy The diskcopy command is used to copy the entire contents of one floppy disk to another. The diskcopy command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS, with the exclusion of Windows 11 and Windows 10. Diskpart The diskpart command is used to create, manage, and delete hard drive partitions. The diskpart command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The diskpart command replaced the fdisk command beginning in Windows XP. Diskperf The diskperf command is used to manage disk performance counters remotely. The diskperf command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Diskraid The diskraid command starts the DiskRAID tool which is used to manage and configure RAID arrays. The diskraid command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Dism The dism command starts the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM). The DISM tool is used to manage features in Windows images. The dism command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Dispdiag The dispdiag command is used to output a log of information about the display system. The dispdiag command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Djoin The djoin command is used to create a new computer account in a domain. The djoin command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Doskey The doskey command is used to edit command lines, create macros, and recall previously entered commands. The doskey command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Dosshell The dosshell command starts DOS Shell, a graphical file management tool for MS-DOS. The dosshell command is available in Windows 95 (in MS-DOS mode) and also in MS-DOS version 6.0 and later MS-DOS versions that were upgraded from previous versions that contained the dosshell command. A graphical file manager, Windows Explorer, became an integrated part of the operating system beginning in Windows 95. Dosx The dosx command is used to start DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI), a special mode designed to give MS-DOS applications access to more than the normally allowed 640 KB. The dosx command is available in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The dosx command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. The dosx command and DPMI is only available in Windows to support older MS-DOS programs. Driverquery The driverquery command is used to show a list of all installed drivers. The driverquery command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Drvspace The drvspace command is used to create or configure DriveSpace compressed drives. The drvspace command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. DriveSpace is an updated version of DoubleSpace, executed using the dblspace command. Windows began handling compression beginning in Windows XP. Echo The echo command is used to show messages, most commonly from within script or batch files. The echo command can also be used to turn the echoing feature on or off. The echo command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Edit The edit command starts the MS-DOS Editor tool which is used to create and modify text files. The edit command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The edit command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Edlin The edlin command starts the Edlin tool which is used to create and modify text files from the command line. The edlin command is available in all 32-bit versions of Windows but is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. In MS-DOS, the edlin command is only available up to MS-DOS 5.0, so unless your later version of MS-DOS was upgraded from 5.0 or prior, you won’t see the edlin command. Emm386 The emm386 command is used to give MS-DOS access to more than 640 KB of memory (RAM). The emm386 command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Windows itself has access to extended and expanded memory beginning in Windows 95. Endlocal The endlocal command is used to end the localization of environment changes inside a batch or script file. The endlocal command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Erase The erase command is used to delete one or more files. The erase command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. The erase command is the same as the del command. Esentutl The esentutl command is used to manage Extensible Storage Engine databases. The esentutl command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Eventcreate The eventcreate command is used to create a custom event in an event log. The eventcreate command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Eventtriggers The eventtriggers command is used to configure and display event triggers. The eventtriggers command is available in Windows XP. Beginning in Windows Vista, event triggers are created using the Attach Task To This Event feature in Event Viewer, making the eventtriggers command unnecessary. Exe2bin The exe2bin command is used to convert a file of the EXE file type (executable file) to a binary file. The exe2bin command is available in 32-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The exe2bin command is not available in any 64-bit version of Windows. Exit The exit command is used to end the cmd.exe (Windows) or command.com (MS-DOS) session that you’re currently working in. The exit command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Expand The expand command is used to extract the files and folders contained in Microsoft Cabinet (CAB) files. The expand command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all versions of Windows. The expand command is not available in the 64-bit version of Windows XP. Extrac32 The extrac32 command is used to extract the files and folders contained in Microsoft Cabinet (CAB) files. The extrac32 command is available in all versions of Windows. The extrac32 command is actually a CAB extraction program that can extract any Microsoft Cabinet file. Use the expand command instead of the extrac32 command if possible. Extract The extract command is used to extract the files and folders contained in Microsoft Cabinet (CAB) files. The extract command is available in Windows 98 and 95. The extract command was replaced by the expand command beginning in Windows XP. Fasthelp The fasthelp command provides more detailed information on any of the other MS-DOS commands. The fasthelp command is only available in MS-DOS. The help command replaced the fasthelp command beginning in Windows 95. Fastopen The fastopen command is used to add a program’s hard drive location to a special list stored in memory, potentially improving the program’s launch time by removing the need for MS-DOS to locate the application on the drive. The fastopen command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The fastopen command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Fastopen is only available in Windows 10, Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP to support older MS-DOS files. Fc The fc command is used to compare two individual or sets of files and then show the differences between them. The fc command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Fdisk The fdisk command is used to create, manage, and delete hard drive partitions. The fdisk command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. The fdisk command was replaced by the diskpart command beginning in Windows XP. Partition management is also available from Disk Management in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP. Find The find command is used to search for a specified text string in one or more files. The find command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Findstr The findstr command is used to find text string patterns in one or more files. The findstr command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Finger The finger command is used to return information about one or more users on a remote computer that’s running the Finger service. The finger command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Fltmc The fltmc command is used to load, unload, list, and otherwise manage Filter drivers. The fltmc command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Fondue The fondue command, short for Features on Demand User Experience Tool, is used to install any of the several optional Windows features from the command line. The fondue command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8. Optional Windows features can also be installed from the Programs and Features applet in Control Panel. For The for command is used to run a specified command for each file in a set of files. The for command is most often used within a batch or script file. The for command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Forcedos The forcedos command is used to start the specified program in the MS-DOS subsystem. The forcedos command is only available in 32-bit versions of Windows XP. The forcedos command is only used for MS-DOS programs that are not recognized as such by Windows XP. Forfiles The forfiles command selects one or more files to execute a specified command on. The forfiles command is most often used within a batch or script file. The forfiles command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Format The format command is used to format a drive in the file system that you specify. The format command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Drive formatting is also available from Disk Management in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP. Fsutil The fsutil command is used to perform various FAT and NTFS file system tasks like managing reparse points and sparse files, dismounting a volume, and extending a volume. The fsutil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Ftp The ftp command can be used to transfer files to and from another computer. The remote computer must be operating as an FTP server. The ftp command is available in all versions of Windows. Ftype The ftype command is used to define a default program to open a specified file type. The ftype command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Getmac The getmac command is used to display the media access control (MAC) address of all the network controllers on a system. The getmac command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Goto The goto command is used in a batch or script file to direct the command process to a labeled line in the script. The goto command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Gpresult The gpresult command is used to display Group Policy settings. The gpresult command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Gpupdate The gpupdate command is used to update Group Policy settings. The gpupdate command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Graftabl The graftabl command is used to enable the ability of Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode. The graftabl command is available in all versions of Windows and in MS-DOS up to version 5.0. The graftabl command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Graphics The graphics command is used to load a program that can print graphics. The graphics command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The graphics command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Help The help command provides more detailed information on any of the other Command Prompt or MS-DOS commands. The help command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Hostname The hostname command displays the name of the current host. The hostname command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Hwrcomp The hwrcomp command is used to compile custom dictionaries for handwriting recognition. The hwrcomp command is available in Windows 8 and Windows 7. Hwrreg The hwrreg command is used to install a previously compiled custom dictionary for handwriting recognition. The hwrreg command is available in Windows 8 and Windows 7. Icacls The icacls command is used to display or change access control lists of files. The icacls command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. The icacls command is an updated version of the cacls command. If The if command is used to perform conditional functions in a batch file. The if command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Interlnk The interlnk command is used to connect two computers via a serial or parallel connection to share files and printers. The interlnk command is only available in MS-DOS. The ability to directly connect two computers is handled by the networking functions in all versions of Windows. Intersvr The intersvr command is used to start the Interlnk server and to copy Interlnk files from one computer to another. The intersvr command is only available in MS-DOS. The ability to directly connect two computers is handled by the networking functions in all versions of Windows. Ipconfig The ipconfig command is used to display detailed IP information for each network adapter utilizing TCP/IP. The ipconfig command can also be used to release and renew IP addresses on systems configured to receive them via a DHCP server. The ipconfig command is available in all versions of Windows. Ipxroute The ipxroute command is used to display and change information about IPX routing tables. The ipxroute command is available in Windows XP. Microsoft removed their built-in NetWare client beginning in Windows Vista, removing the associated ipxroute command as well. Irftp The irftp command is used to transmit files over an infrared link. The irftp command is available in Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Iscsicli The iscsicli command starts the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator, used to manage iSCSI. The iscsicli command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Kb16 The kb16 command is used to support MS-DOS files that need to configure a keyboard for a specific language. The kb16 command is available in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The kb16 command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. The kb16 command replaced the keyb command beginning in Windows XP but only exists to support older MS-DOS files. Keyb The keyb command is used to configure a keyboard for a specific language. The keyb command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. See the kb16 command for an equivalent command in later versions of Windows. Keyboard language settings are handled by the Region and Language or Regional and Language Options (depending on the version of Windows) Control Panel applets in Windows beginning in Windows XP. Klist The klist command is used to list Kerberos service tickets. The klist command can also be used to purge Kerberos tickets. The klist command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7. Ksetup The ksetup command is used to configure connections to a Kerberos server. The ksetup command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7. Ktmutil The ktmutil command starts the Kernel Transaction Manager utility. The ktmutil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Label The label command is used to manage the volume label of a disk. The label command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Lh The lh command is the shorthand version of the loadhigh command. The lh command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Licensingdiag The licensingdiag command is a tool used to generate a text-based log and other data files that contain product activation and other Windows licensing information. The licensingdiag command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8. Loadfix The loadfix command is used to load the specified program in the first 64K of memory and then runs the program. The loadfix command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The loadfix command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Loadhigh The loadhigh command is used to load a program into high memory and is usually used from within the autoexec.bat file. The loadhigh command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Memory usage is handled automatically beginning in Windows XP. Lock The lock command is used to lock a drive, enabling direct disk access for a program. The lock command is only available in Windows 98 and 95. Drive locking is no longer available as of Windows XP. Lodctr The lodctr command is used to update registry values related to performance counters. The lodctr command is available in all versions of Windows. Logman The logman command is used to create and manage Event Trace Session and Performance logs. The logman command also supports many functions of Performance Monitor. The logman command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Logoff The logoff command is used to terminate a session. The logoff command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Lpq The lpq command displays the status of a print queue on a computer running Line Printer Daemon (LPD). The lpq command is available in all versions of Windows. The lpq command is not available by default in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Vista, but can be enabled by turning on the LPD Print Service and LPR Port Monitor features from Programs and Features in Control Panel. Lpr The lpr command is used to send a file to a computer running Line Printer Daemon (LPD). The lpr command is available in all versions of Windows. The lpr command is not available by default in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Vista, but can be enabled by turning on the LPD Print Service and LPR Port Monitor features from Programs and Features in Control Panel. Makecab The makecab command is used to losslessly compress one or more files. The makecab command is sometimes called Cabinet Maker. The makecab command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The makecab command is the same as the diantz command, a command that was removed after Windows 7. Manage-bde The manage-bde command is used to configure BitLocker Drive Encryption from the command line. The manage-bde command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. A script by the name of manage-bde.wsf exists in Windows Vista and can be used with the cscript command to perform BitLocker tasks from the command line in that operating system. Md The md command is the shorthand version of the mkdir command. The md command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Mem The mem command shows information about used and free memory areas and programs that are currently loaded into memory in the MS-DOS subsystem. The mem command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The mem command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Memmaker The memmaker command is used to start MemMaker, a memory optimization tool. The memaker command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Memory usage is automatically optimized beginning in Windows XP. Mkdir The mkdir command is used to create a new folder. The mkdir command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Mklink The mklink command is used to create a symbolic link. The mklink command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Mode The mode command is used to configure system devices, most often COM and LPT ports. The mode command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Mofcomp The mofcomp command properly displays the data within a Managed Object Format (MOF) file. The mofcomp command is available in all versions of Windows. More The more command is used to display the information contained in a text file. The more command can also be used to paginate the results of any other Command Prompt or MS-DOS command. The more command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Mount The mount command is used to mount Network File System (NFS) network shares. The mount command is available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The mount command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Services for NFS Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. The mount command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Mountvol The mountvol command is used to display, create, or remove volume mount points. The mountvol command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Move The move command is used to move one or files from one folder to another. The move command is also used to rename directories. The move command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Mrinfo The mrinfo command is used to provide information about a router’s interfaces and neighbors. The mrinfo command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Msav The msav command starts Microsoft Antivirus. The msav command is only available in MS-DOS. Microsoft Antivirus was designed for MS-DOS and Windows 3.x only. Microsoft provides an optional virus protection suite called Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP and later operating systems, and third party antivirus tools are available for all versions of Windows. Msbackup The msbackup command starts Microsoft Backup, a tool used to back up and restore one or more files. The msbackup command is only available in MS-DOS. The msbackup command was replaced with Microsoft Backup beginning in Windows 95 and then Backup and Restore in later versions of Windows. Mscdex The mscdex command is used to provide CD-ROM access to MS-DOS. The mscdex command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Windows provides access to CD-ROM drives for the MS-DOS subsystem beginning in Windows XP, so the mscdex command is unnecessary in this and later operating systems. Msd The msd command starts Microsoft Diagnostics, a system information tool. The msd command is only available in MS-DOS. The msd command was replaced with System Information beginning in Windows 95. Msg The msg command is used to send a message to a user. The msg command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Msiexec The msiexec command is used to start Windows Installer, a tool used to install and configure software. The msiexec command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Muiunattend The muiunattend command starts the Multilanguage User Interface unattended setup process. The muiunattend command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Nbtstat The nbtstat command is used to show TCP/IP information and other statistical information about a remote computer. The nbtstat command is available in all versions of Windows. Net The net command is used to display, configure, and correct a wide variety of network settings. The net command is available in all versions of Windows. Net1 The net1 command is used to display, configure, and correct a wide variety of network settings. The net1 command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The net command should be used instead of the net1 command. The net1 command was made available in Windows NT and Windows 2000 as a temporary fix for a Y2K issue that the net command had, which was corrected before the release of Windows XP. The net1 command remains in later versions of Windows only for compatibility with older programs and scripts that utilized the command. Netcfg The netcfg command is used to install the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), a lightweight version of Windows used to deploy workstations. The netcfg command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Netsh The netsh command is used to start Network Shell, a command-line utility used to manage the network configuration of the local, or a remote, computer. The netsh command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Netstat The netstat command is most commonly used to display all open network connections and listening ports. The netstat command is available in all versions of Windows. Nfsadmin The nfsadmin command is used to manage Server for NFS or Client for NFS from the command line. The nfsadmin command is available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The nfsadmin command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Services for NFS Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. The nfsadmin command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Nlsfunc The nlsfunc command is used to load information specific to a particular country or region. The nlsfunc command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The nlsfunc command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Nlsfunc is only available in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP to support older MS-DOS files. Nltest The nltest command is used to test secure channels between Windows computers in a domain and between domain controllers that are trusting other domains. The nltest command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Nslookup The nslookup is most commonly used to display the hostname of an entered IP address. The nslookup command queries your configured DNS server to discover the IP address. The nslookup command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Ntbackup The ntbackup command is used to perform various backup functions from the Command Prompt or from within a batch or script file. The ntbackup command is available in Windows XP. The ntbackup command was replaced with the wbadmin beginning in Windows Vista. Ntsd The ntsd command is used to perform certain command line debugging tasks. The ntsd command is available in Windows XP. The ntsd command was removed beginning in Windows Vista due to the addition of dump file support in Task Manager. Ocsetup The ocsetup command starts the Windows Optional Component Setup tool, used to install additional Windows features. The ocsetup command is available in Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Beginning in Windows 8, Microsoft is depreciating the ocsetup command in favor of the dism command. Openfiles The openfiles command is used to display and disconnect open files and folders on a system. The openfiles command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Path The path command is used to display or set a specific path available to executable files. The path command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Pathping The pathping command functions much like the tracert command but will also report information about network latency and loss at each hop. The pathping command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Pause The pause command is used within a batch or script file to pause the processing of the file. When the pause command is used, a «Press any key to continue…» message displays in the command window. The pause command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Pentnt The pentnt command is used to detect floating point division errors in the Intel Pentium chip. The pentnt command is also used to enable floating point emulation and disable floating point hardware. The pentnt command is available in Windows XP. The pentnt command was removed beginning in Windows Vista due to the lack of Intel Pentium CPU use at the time of this operating system release. Ping The ping command sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request message to a specified remote computer to verify IP-level connectivity. The ping command is available in all versions of Windows. Pkgmgr The pkgmgr command is used to start the Windows Package Manager from the Command Prompt. Package Manager installs, uninstalls, configures, and updates features and packages for Windows. The pkgmgr command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Pnpunattend The pnpunattend command is used to automate the installation of hardware device drivers. The pnpunattend command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Pnputil The pnputil command is used to start the Microsoft PnP Utility, a tool used to install a Plug and Play device from the command line. The pnputil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Popd The popd command is used to change the current directory to the one most recently stored by the pushd command. The popd command is most often utilized from within a batch or script file. The popd command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Power The power command is used to reduce the power consumed by a computer by monitoring software and hardware devices. The power command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. The power command was replaced by operating system integrated power management functions beginning in Windows XP. Powercfg The powercfg command is used to manage the Windows power management settings from the command line. The powercfg command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Print The print command is used to print a specified text file to a specified printing device. The print command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Prompt The prompt command is used to customize the appearance of the prompt text in Command Prompt or MS-DOS. The prompt command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Pushd The pushd command is used to store a directory for use, most commonly from within a batch or script program. The pushd command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Pwlauncher The pwlauncher command is used to enable, disable, or show the status of your Windows To Go startup options. The pwlauncher command is available in Windows 11, 10, and 8. Qappsrv The qappsrv command is used to display all Remote Desktop Session Host servers available on the network. The qappsrv command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Qbasic The qbasic command starts QBasic, the MS-DOS based programming environment for the BASIC programming language. The qbasic command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. The qbasic command is not installed by default with Windows 98 or 95 but is available from the installation disc or disks. Qprocess The qprocess command is used to display information about running processes. The qprocess command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Query The query command is used to display the status of a specified service. The query command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Quser The quser command is used to display information about users currently logged on to the system. The quser command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Qwinsta The qwinsta command is used to display information about open Remote Desktop Sessions. The qwinsta command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Rasautou The rasautou command is used to manage Remote Access Dialer AutoDial addresses. The rasautou command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Rasdial The rasdial command is used to start or end a network connection for a Microsoft client. The rasdial command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Rcp The rcp command is used to copy files between a Windows computer and a system running the rshd daemon. The rcp command is available in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The rcp command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel and then installing the Utilities and SDK for UNIX-based Applications available here for Windows Vista and here for Windows 7. The rcp command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Rd The rd command is the shorthand version of the rmdir command. The rd command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Rdpsign The rdpsign command is used to sign a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) file. The rdpsign command is available in Windows 7. Reagentc The reagentc command is used to configure the Windows Recovery Environment (RE). The reagentc command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Recimg The recimg command is used to create a custom refresh image. The recimg command is available in Windows 8. Recover The recover command is used to recover readable data from a bad or defective disk. The recover command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Reg The reg command is used to manage the Windows Registry from the command line. The reg command can perform common registry functions like adding registry keys, exporting the registry, etc. The reg command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Regini The regini command is used to set or change registry permissions and registry values from the command line. The regini command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Register-cimprovider The register-cimprovider command is used to register a Common Information Model (CIM) Provider in Windows. The register-cimprovider command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8. Regsvr32 The regsvr32 command is used to register a DLL file as a command component in the Windows Registry. The regsvr32 command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Relog The relog command is used to create new performance logs from data in existing performance logs. The relog command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Rem The rem command is used to record comments or remarks in a batch or script file. The rem command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Ren The ren command is the shorthand version of the rename command. The ren command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Rename The rename command is used to change the name of the individual file that you specify. The rename command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Repair-bde The repair-bde command is used to repair or decrypt a damaged drive that’s been encrypted using BitLocker. The repair-bde command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Replace The replace command is used to replace one or more files with one or more other files. The replace command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Reset The reset command, executed as reset session, is used to reset the session subsystem software and hardware to known initial values. The reset command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Restore The restore command is used to restore files that were backed up using the backup command. The restore command is only available in MS-DOS. The backup command was only available up to MS-DOS 5.00 but the restore command was included by default with later versions of MS-DOS to provide a way to restore files that were backed up in previous versions of MS-DOS. Rexec The rexec command is used to run commands on remote computers running the rexec daemon. The rexec command is available in Windows Vista and Windows XP. The rsh command is not available by default in Windows Vista but can be enabled by turning on the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel and then installing the Utilities and SDK for UNIX-based Applications available here. The rexec command is not available in Windows 7 but can be executed in Windows XP via Windows XP Mode if need be. Rmdir The rmdir command is used to delete an existing or completely empty folder. The rmdir command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Robocopy The robocopy command is used to copy files and directories from one location to another. This command is also called Robust File Copy. The robocopy command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. The robocopy command is superior to both the copy command and the xcopy command because robocopy supports many more options. Route The route command is used to manipulate network routing tables. The route command is available in all versions of Windows. Rpcinfo The rpcinfo command makes a remote procedure call (RPC) to an RPC server and reports what it finds. The rpcinfo command is available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The rpcinfo command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Services for NFS Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. The rpcinfo command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Rpcping The rpcping command is used to ping a server using RPC. The rpcping command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Rsh The rsh command is used to run commands on remote computers running the rsh daemon. The rsh command is available in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The rsh command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel and then installing the Utilities and SDK for UNIX-based Applications available here for Windows Vista and here for Windows 7. The rsh command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Rsm The rsm command is used to manage media resources using Removable Storage. The rsm command is available in Windows Vista and Windows XP. The rsm command was optional in Windows Vista and then removed in Windows 7 due to Removable Storage Manager being removed from the operating system. Search for the rsm command in the C:\Windows\winsxs folder in Windows Vista if you’re having trouble executing the command. Runas The runas command is used to execute a program using another user’s credentials. The runas command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Rwinsta The rwinsta command is the shorthand version of the reset session command. The rwinsta command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Sc The sc command is used to configure information about services. The sc command communicates with the Service Control Manager. The sc command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Scandisk The scandisk command is used to start Microsoft ScanDisk, a disk repair program. The scandisk command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. The scandisk command was replaced by the chkdsk command beginning in Windows XP. Scanreg The scanreg command starts Windows Registry Checker, a basic registry repair program and backup utility. The scanreg command is available in Windows 98 and Windows 95. The functions provided by the scanreg command were no longer necessary beginning in Windows XP due to changes in how the Windows Registry functions. Schtasks The schtasks command is used to schedule specified programs or commands to run at certain times. The schtasks command can be used to create, delete, query, change, run, and end scheduled tasks. The schtasks command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.​ Sdbinst The sdbinst command is used to deploy customized SDB database files. The sdbinst command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Secedit The secedit command is used to configure and analyze system security by comparing the current security configuration to a template. The secedit command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Set The set command is used to display, enable, or disable environment variables in MS-DOS or from the Command Prompt. The set command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Setlocal The setlocal command is used to start the localization of environment changes inside a batch or script file. The setlocal command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Setspn The setspn command is used to manage the Service Principal Names (SPN) for an Active Directory (AD) service account. The setspn command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Setver The setver command is used to set the MS-DOS version number that MS-DOS reports to a program. The setver command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The setver command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Setx The setx command is used to create or change environment variables in the user environment or the system environment. The setx command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Sfc The sfc command is used to verify and replace important Windows system files. The sfc command is also referred to as System File Checker or Windows Resource Checker, depending on the operating system. The sfc command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Shadow The shadow command is used to monitor another Remote Desktop Services session. The shadow command is available in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Share The share command is used to install file locking and file sharing functions in MS-DOS. The share command is available in MS-DOS as well as in all 32-bit versions of Windows. The share command is not available in 64-bit versions of Windows. Share is only available in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP to support older MS-DOS files. Shift The shift command is used to change the position of replaceable parameters in a batch or script file. The shift command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Showmount The showmount command is used to display information about NFS mounted file systems. The showmount command is available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The showmount command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Services for NFS Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. The showmount command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Shutdown The shutdown command can be used to shut down, restart, or log off the current system or a remote computer. The shutdown command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Smartdrv The smartdrv command installs and configures SMARTDrive, a disk caching utility for MS-DOS. The smartdrv command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. Caching is automatic beginning in Windows XP, making the smartdrv command unnecessary. Sort The sort command is used to read data from a specified input, sort that data, and return the results of that sort to the Command Prompt screen, a file, or another output device. The sort command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Start The start command is used to open a new command line window to run a specified program or command. The start command can also be used to start an application without creating a new window. The start command is available in all versions of Windows. Subst The subst command is used to associate a local path with a drive letter. The subst command is a lot like the net use command except a local path is used instead of a shared network path. The subst command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. The subst command replaced the assign command beginning with MS-DOS 6.0. Sxstrace The sxstrace command is used to start the WinSxs Tracing Utility, a programming diagnostic tool. The sxstrace command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Sys The sys command is used to copy the MS-DOS system files and command interpreter to a disk. The sys command is available in Windows 98 and 95, as well as in MS-DOS. The sys command is used most often to create a simple bootable disk or hard drive. The necessary system files for Windows are too large to fit on a disk, so the sys command was removed beginning in Windows XP. Systeminfo The systeminfo command is used to display basic Windows configuration information for the local or a remote computer. The systeminfo command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Takeown The takedown command is used to regain access to a file that that an administrator was denied access to when reassigning ownership of the file. The takeown command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Taskkill The taskkill command is used to terminate a running task. The taskkill command is the command line equivalent of ending a process in Task Manager in Windows. The taskkill command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tasklist Displays a list of applications, services, and the Process ID (PID) currently running on either a local or a remote computer. The tasklist command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tcmsetup The tcmsetup command is used to set up or disable the Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) client. The tcmsetup command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Telnet The telnet command is used to communicate with remote computers that use the Telnet protocol. The telnet command is available in all versions of Windows. The telnet command is not available by default in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Vista, but can be enabled by turning on the Telnet Client Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. Tftp The tftp command is used to transfer files to and from a remote computer that’s running the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) service or daemon. The tftp command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The tftp command is not available by default in some versions of Windows, but can be enabled by turning on the TFTP Client Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. Time The time command is used to show or change the current time. The time command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Timeout The timeout command is typically used in a batch or script file to provide a specified timeout value during a procedure. The timeout command can also be used to ignore keypresses. The timeout command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Title The title command is used to set the Command Prompt window title. The title command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tlntadmn The tlntadmn command is used to administer a local or remote computer running Telnet Server. The tlntadmn command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. The tlntadmn command is not available by default in some versions of Windows, but can be enabled by turning on the Telnet Server Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. Tpmvscmgr The tpmvscmgr command is used to create and destroy TPM virtual smart cards. The tpmvscmgr command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8. Tracerpt The tracerpt command is used to process event trace logs or real-time data from instrumented event trace providers. The tracerpt command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tracert The tracert command sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request messages to a specified remote computer with increasing Time to Live (TTL) field values and displays the IP address and hostname, if available, of the router interfaces between the source and destination. The tracert command is available in all versions of Windows. Tree The tree command is used to graphically display the folder structure of a specified drive or path. The tree command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Tscon The tscon command is used to attach a user session to a Remote Desktop session. The tscon command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tsdiscon The tsdiscon command is used to disconnect a Remote Desktop session. The tsdiscon command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tskill The tskill command is used to end the specified process. The tskill command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tsshutdn The tsshutdn command is used to remotely shut down or restart a terminal server. The tsshutdn command is available in Windows XP. The ability to shut down a computer remotely is also available in the more powerful shutdown command, so tsshutdn was removed beginning in Windows Vista. Type The type command is used to display the information contained in a text file. The type command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Typeperf The typerperf command displays performance data in the Command Prompt window or writes the data to specified log file. The typeperf command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Tzutil The tzutil command is used to display or configure the current system’s time zone. The tzutil command can also be used to enable or disable Daylight Saving Time adjustments. The tzutil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Umount The umount command is used to remove Network File System (NFS) mounted network shares. The umount command is available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The umount command is not available by default in Windows Vista or Windows 7 but can be enabled by turning on the Services for NFS Windows feature from Programs and Features in Control Panel. The umount command is not available in Windows 11, 10, or 8 because Service for UNIX (SFU) was discontinued. Undelete The undelete command is used to undo a deletion performed with the MS-DOS delete command. The undelete command is only available in MS-DOS. The undelete command was removed beginning in Windows 95 due to the availability of the Recycle Bin in Windows. Additionally, free file recovery programs are available from third-party software makers. Unformat The unformat command is used to undo the formatting on a drive performed by the MS-DOS format command. The unformat command is only available in MS-DOS. The unformat command was removed beginning in Windows 95 due to file system changes. Unlock The unlock command is used to unlock a drive, disabling direct disk access for a program. The unlock command is only available in Windows 98 and 95. Drive locking is no longer available as of Windows XP. Unlodctr The unlodctr command removes Explain text and Performance counter names for a service or device driver from the Windows Registry. The unlodctr command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Vaultcmd The vaultcmd command is used to create, remove, and show stored credentials. The vaultcmd command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Ver The ver command is used to display the current Windows or MS-DOS version number. The ver command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Verify The verify command is used to enable or disable the ability of Command Prompt, or MS-DOS, to verify that files are written correctly to a disk. The verify command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Vol The vol command shows the volume label and serial number of a specified disk, assuming this information exists. The vol command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. Vsafe The vsafe command is used to start VSafe, a basic virus protection system for MS-DOS. The vsafe command is only available in MS-DOS. VSafe was designed for MS-DOS and Windows 3.x only. Microsoft provides an optional virus protection suite called Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP and later operating systems, and third-party antivirus tools are available for all versions of Windows. Vssadmin The vssadmin command starts the Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command line tool which displays current volume shadow copy backups and all installed shadow copy writers and providers. The vssadmin command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. W32tm The w32tm command is used to diagnose issues with Windows Time. The w32tm command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Waitfor The waitfor command is used to send or wait for a signal on a system. The waitfor command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Wbadmin The wbadmin command is used to start and stop backup jobs, display details about a previous backup, list the items within a backup, and report on the status of a currently running backup. The wbadmin command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. The wbadmin command replaced the ntbackup command beginning in Windows Vista. Wecutil The wecutil command is used to manage subscriptions to events that are forwarded from WS-Management supported computers. The wecutil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Wevtutil The wevtutil command starts the Windows Events Command Line Utility which is used to manage event logs and publishers. The wevtutil command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Where The where command is used to search for files that match a specified pattern. The where command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Whoami The whoami command is used to retrieve user name and group information on a network. The whoami command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Winmgmt The winmgmt command starts the command line version of WMI, a scripting tool in Windows. The winmgmt command is available in all versions of Windows. Winrm The winrm command is used to start the command line version of Windows Remote Management, used to manage secure communications with local and remote computers using web services. The winrm command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Winrs The winrs command is used to open a secure command window with a remote host. The winrs command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Winsat The winsat command starts the Windows System Assessment Tool, a program that assesses various features, attributes, and capabilities of a computer running Windows. The winsat command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Wmic The wmic command starts the Windows Management Instrumentation Command line (WMIC), a scripting interface that simplifies the use of Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and systems managed via WMI. The wmic command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Wsmanhttpconfig The wsmanhttpconfig command is used to manage aspects of the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service. The wsmanhttpconfig command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Xcopy The xcopy command can copy one or more files or directory trees from one location to another. The xcopy command is generally considered a more «powerful» version of the copy command through the robocopy command trumps even xcopy. The xcopy command is available in all versions of Windows, as well as in MS-DOS. A command by the name of xcopy32 existed in Windows 95 and Windows 98. To avoid a long and confusing explanation here, just know that no matter if you executed the xcopy command or the xcopy32 command, you were always executing the most updated version of the command. Xwizard The xwizard command, short for Extensible Wizard, is used to register data in Windows, often from a preconfigured XML file. The xwizard command is available in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

You can do almost anything via graphical user interfaces in Windows. However, if you are a Mac OS X user then you want to check how to automate things using the lists of commands for Mac OS X.

Also, there are many tasks that are repeatable and you can simply write the set of commands (into a so-called batchfile on Windows, script on Mac OS X and Ubuntu) that will do the same thing, the same scenario but much faster and you don’t need to click buttons and sit at the computer all the time.

That is why Windows has CMD commands supported. In fact, these commands, in general, are a mix between a programming language and actions. You can make many things via the command line that you can do through the user interface.

If you prefer a video instead of reading an article, please check the video below:

The purpose of the batch file is to type a sequence of special commands that explain to the computer what you want to do. The added benefits compared to using UIs with a mouse and keyboard are that in a single click you can launch from dozens to a hundred (!) of commands you previously prepared in a text file. Even better, you can schedule to run these commands to be launched at a specific time. It is easier than regular programming.

That’s why the Command Prompt is so popular in the developer’s community. So if you want to benefit, it’s time to get to know the most useful Command Prompt commands!

  • Starting Point: Basic Windows CMD commands
  • Make commands more powerful: pipes and tips
  • Chaining Windows commands safely
  • 1. Deltree command
  • 2. Driverquery
  • 3. Ping
  • 4. Pathping
  • 5. Tasklist
  • 6. Taskkill
  • 7. System File Checker
  • 8. Repair-bde
  • 9. NetDiag
  • 10. Tracert
  • 11. CIPHER
  • 12. Finger
  • 13. Comp
  • 14. Clip
  • 15. Color
  • 16. Append
  • 17. Getmac
  • 18. Label
  • 19. Logman
  • 20. Ftype
  • 21. BCDBOOT
  • 22. CERTREQ
  • 23. Delprof
  • 24. DIRUSE
  • 25. DSMGMT
  • 26. Fsutil
  • 27. Dnscmd
  • 28. Klist
  • 29. mqsvc
  • 30. mstsc
  • Conclusion

Starting Point: Basic Windows CMD Commands

What you can do in a command line depends on the program’s understanding of your commands. In Windows, it’s either cmd.exe or PowerShell. They are interpreting your commands. PowerShell is nice but it requires a .NET framework and you may not have access to it in Windows Recovery or Windows Safe Mode.

On the other side, cmd.exe represents the shell that you can use in Windows Recovery or Windows Safe Mode too. Also, .bat files (shortened from “batch“, these are the files where commands are stored) are used by cmd.exe by default. It is still the most common way to distribute shell batch files for Windows. So learning cmd.exe commands and how it works means that you will be able to read and understand .bat files.

In order to launch Win 10 Command Prompt, click on the Windows menu, then go to the Windows System folder and open Command Prompt. Please note that if you run the Command Prompt without administration rights, all Windows CMD commands typed inside it will be without rights as well. That’s nice to avoid problems while learning.

Let’s start by displaying text with echo:

echo Hello World!

This will display the text in the console. Congratulations on your first command! Displaying things is very helpful in scripts and in loops, in order to show helpful comments on what is going on or simply to indicate progress.

In order to display two lines, you can use & command like this

echo Hello World! & echo Hello Again!

The & operator allows executing two commands in one line. It’s useful in commands you directly type. That is important especially if something must launch quickly after another task.

In the command line, you often work with files. You may want to know what are current files in the folder you’re in. Right, you can use Windows Explorer too in another window but when you just can’t, the Windows Command Prompt list directory method is the way to go. Also, you can ignore or show hidden files more easily.
So:

dir

Now, you may be looking for a specific file. You have a starting point but you don’t know the exact folder. In dir you can show all files in current directories, but also files in subdirectories in one command:

dir /S

But when you know a little more about dir command, let’s learn a bit more. Dir command also allows you to do searches. It has a way different behavior than Windows Explorer search but it’s useful. Let’s say you need to find a file with the word SQL in the filename:

dir /S *sql*

Please note that if you search the word put, it will match also the filenames like input or output because both words contain put. The search is case-insensitive by default because Windows generally ignores cases when it’s about files and directories.

Now you may want to display the content of a file using the type command. Don’t do so with too big files because your Command Prompt will be filled out with too many lines. But it is still useful for relatively small files like configurations.

type "filename"

That’s the right time to tell you something you should do in all Command Prompt commands: always put double quotes (like this: “filename.txt“) around all filenames. Yes, it’s tempting to skip a few keystrokes but if you speak double quotes around filenames or folders then it may cause you a serious problem someday. You don’t want to have your filename interpreted as a shell command that can happen if your filename or folder name suddenly uses spaces inside.

Make CMD Commands More Powerful: Pipes and Tips

Important: you can halt and cancel any running command by pressing CTLR+C on the keyboard at any time.

When some command outputs too much content to fit on the screen, you will need to use more commands. This is one of the simple CMD commands that you will need in many circumstances since the Command Prompt on Windows 10 can’t contain much text. more command works like this: it prints one screen of text and you press the spacebar to show the next screen of text until you’ve read it all.

However, unlike other commands we’ve seen so far, the more command takes the text as input. A lot of text. So you need to redirect the text from the type command to move, otherwise, it won’t work out. You can do so using the pipe | operator. On the left side of pipe |, you put a command to produce output. On the right side, you write a command that will receive the output and do something with it. So for example when trying to look at a long text file:

type "filename" | more

We use this technique here with type and more, but it can work in other cases too. For example, you may combine more with the help command to display the documentation page by page:

help | more

Note that if you no longer need to show the next screen and you want to leave more command, just press the Q key on your keyboard. You can also press an equal sign “=” to display the current line number. And even better: you can skip a few lines at the beginning of the output. For example when you want to list a directory but you don’t want to see the header and you want to skip the first 7 lines:

dir | more +7

The “+7” means seven lines you want to skip. By the way, you don’t need to use type to display a file using more. It supports directly file display by putting the filename at the end of the command:

more "filename"

It has an added benefit: more command tells your current viewing position in the file with a percentage of the progress. In general, if you have some command that also provides an additional feature it is better to use this command and its feature instead of two separate commands. You will often find the benefits of using commands with additional parameters because it makes the script shorter.

But the best views of the world don’t replace a good text editor. Sometimes you really want to have the output of the command inside a new file instead. Good news: there’s another cmd.exe command for that and it is represented by the simple “>” symbol (without quotes). You can use it like this:

tree /F > "files.txt"

You may think of it as showing the direction of the output: take everything from the console and save it into “files.txt” filename.

As you can see, first the command is written normally, as you would if you wanted to see the result in that dark Windows 10 Command Prompt console window. Then you have “the greater than” symbol > operator and after that operator, we have the output filename where the output from the console will be direct to instead of the visible window. Much like when you do “File > Save” in an application, you will generally put the name of a new, non-existent file.

Well, if you really want, you can put the name of an existing file. Be careful though, this operator will replace the actually existing file, effectively deleting all its contents, much like with “File > Save”.

Even better, there’s a second operator that is represented by double greater than “>>” symbols. Instead of writing into a file and erasing the content, this one can use the existing file and write the output at the end of this existing file. This is really convenient when you need to compare multiple commands output but also you can literally write files with echo commands used in the Command Prompt, much like this:

echo "Hello World" > "Command log.txt"
copy "Big Archive.zip" "Backup Big Archive.zip"

IMPORTANT: use @echo instead of echo to output the result of the command only. Otherwise, you will see duplicated lines: original command and its result.

Using >> command is also a good and practical way to concatenate two existing text files. Yes, using the double greater than operator and type program, you can suddenly concatenate two files. Combining good features from different programs is an important aspect of the command line scripts. Type command alone might not look useful, but that’s for this kind of combination that exists. So for example, concatenating files is useful to combine your monthly reports in CSV:

 
type "September report.csv" >> "Combined report.csv"
type "October report.csv" >> "Combined report.csv"

Note that you need to use the “double greater than >> operator to add the content to an existing file. If you use > (single “greater than“) then it will overwrite any existing file content or will create a new file.

There’s a bonus: all cmd prompt commands support these two operators: “>” and “>>” !

Chaining Windows CMD Commands Safely

Now, we’ve seen earlier how to chain two commands with operator. The thing is that, when you chain two commands, it’s usually because they’re related and you only want to execute the second command only if the first one worked out.

For example, you want to create a new directory and copy a file in this new directory. Now, if the directory creation failed somehow, are you really sure you want to continue and copy that file? The copy might fail in the cascade because the directory doesn’t exist because of the previous error as the directory creation may have failed because the folder already existed and so coping new file may also erase an existing file you didn’t intend to. That’s exactly where you start to wonder if you really want to run that copy command without checking.

By using the double ampersand && operator, the second command will execute only if the first one worked correctly. Here’s an example of creating a  new directory and then copying a file:

mkdir "v2" && copy "index.html" "v2"

If you run this command once, assuming you have an index.html file already, you will get a new directory. In this directory, there will be a copy of the index.html file. However, if you delete the index.html file in the new v2 directory via Windows Explorer and then you run the command chain again, you will see that index.html doesn’t get copied. That proves that the && operator works out and didn’t run the “copy” command because mkdir command failed.

But how does it know that? There’s a thing called exit code. When an application exits, it always returns an exit code to the operating system in order to indicate if all has gone right or not. This way various apps can launch other applications and have a simple way to know how the task launched finished its job. Generally, an exit code of 0 (zero) is considered as “everything went fine!”. If the application returns something that is not a zero, a parent app understands the application had an error. Also, the non-zero number is the error code returned and can explain the reason.

Exit code is the basic Windows commands concept or even, we can say a core concept. Hence why it’s integrated straight into the syntax of CMD line commands. Exit codes aren’t just dark numbers that are only accessible to Windows command line operators. The exit code of the last command is always stored in the global  %ERRORLEVEL% command variable that any app can read.

In the command line, we often want to extract data and sometimes we need only one line or just one special file. It may be simpler for you to tell the computer to find a specific date in your log file instead of scrolling through yourself and looking for it. That’s the purpose of the find command. It searches a string in a text and outputs any line that contains that search string to allow easy filtering. Let’s get back to the log file filter example, the command would look like this:

find "[07/Oct" "Connections Log.txt"

See how it helps to see more clearly what’s happening? But find does not only work with files! Thanks to the so-called “pipe” operator represented by “|” symbol (no quotes). find operator combined with | operator can be to filter lines you really want to look for, such as your IP address using ipconfig, which is one of the Windows System commands:

ipconfig | find "IPv"

See how it’s convenient? Instead of a whole screen, you get only a few lines with exactly what you want. Maybe you would want to keep it in Windows 10 Command Prompt list!

Take a look at a few more Windows Prompt commands:

1. Deltree Command

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

This is one of the most important commands prompt Windows commands. It is a short form of delete tree. Deltree is a command utilized to delete files and directories forever from the computer or laptop. Be very very careful with this command because it removes data permanently.

Syntax

This command removes a directory and all the subdirectories and files in it.

To delete more than one file and directory the syntax is as shown below:

DELTREE [/Y] [drive:]path [[drive:]path[...]]

Where

/Y: Crushes assisting to validate if the user wants to delete the subdirectory.

[drive:]path: This defines the name of the directory user wants to remove.

Example

deltree c:\MyFile

When the user fires the above command in the Command Prompt Windows 10 then it deletes the MyFile directory and everything present in that directory.

2. Driverquery

This is one of the most important Windows commands. Wrong device drivers can point to any quantity of system dilemmas. If users want to view which drivers are placed on a Windows operating system, they can achieve this by executing the driver query Windows command-line tool. This command comes under basic CMD prompt commands which give data about each driver that is being utilized.

Syntax

driverquery

If a user wants a bit extra report, you can affix the -v switch. Another alternative is to affix the -si switch, which makes the tool demonstrate signature data for the drivers. Here’s how they seem:

driverquery -v driverquery -si

3. Ping

Ping is presumably the easiest of all distinguishing Command Prompt Windows 10 commands. It is utilized to check fundamental TCP/IP connectivity to a web host. To apply it, just enter the command, accompanied by the alias or IP address of the host you need to examine.

Syntax

ping 192.168.1.1

Always remember that this command will operate only if the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) movement is permitted to move between the two computers. If at any time a firewall is preventing ICMP traffic, the ping will break.

4. Pathping CMD Command

Ping does an excellent duty of informing users whether two computers can interact with each other over TCP/IP, but if ping does break then users will not give any data regarding the characteristics of the collapse. This is where the Windows Command Prompt commands like pathping are handy.

Syntax

The command is given below.

pathping 192.168.1.1

Pathping is intended for circumstances in which one or more routers live between hosts. It conveys a sequence of packets to each router that’s on the route to the target host in an attempt to discover whether the router is operating moderately or filtering packets. At its purest, the syntax for pathping is the same as that of the ping command.

5. Tasklist

This is one of the best Windows Command Prompt codes. The tasklist command is created to give data about the tasks that are operating on a Windows operating system.

Syntax

Users can put the following command.

tasklist

The tasklist command has many arbitrary switches. The -m switch, which makes the tasklist to illustrate all the DLL modules connected with a job. The next is the -svc switch, which places the settings that back each job. Here’s how they work:

tasklist -m tasklist -svc

6. Taskkill

This is one of the basic CMD commands. The taskkill command eliminates a task, either by title or by process ID. The arrangement for this command is manageable. Users must fire the taskkill command with -pid (process ID) or -im (image name) and the title or process ID of the job that they need to stop.

Syntax

Here are two samples of how this command operates.

taskkill -pid 3125 taskkill -im chrome.exe

7. System File Checker

One can say that this command comes under the most important Windows commands. Wicked apps will regularly strive to substitute kernel system files with altered variants in an attempt to gain control of the system. The System File Checker can be utilized to check the probity of the Windows system registers. If any of the folders are discovered to be lost or nefarious, they will be repaired.

Syntax

Users can execute the System File Checker by utilizing this command.

sfc /scannow

The sfc /scannow command examines all secured system files, and substitute damaged files with a cached model that is placed in a compressed enclosure at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.

8. Repair-bde Windows command

This is one of the most amazing Windows command line commands. If a drive that is secured is facing some problems then users can seldom retrieve the data utilizing a service named repair-bde.

Syntax

To apply this command, users require a target drive to which the retrieved data can be recorded, as well as the BitLocker retrieval key or restoration password. The primary syntax for this command is:

repair-bde <root> <target> -rk | rp <root>

Users should define the root drive, the target drive, and both the rk (recovery key) or the rp (recovery password) switch, along with the route to the restoration key or the restoration password. Following is the example:

repair-bde c: d: -rk e:\restore.bek

9. NetDiag

Conceivably the most valuable of the CMD prompt commands that are developed into Windows is NetDiag. The NetDiag command is outlined to operate a series of analyses on the computer in order to assist the professional sketch out why the computer is encountering networking difficulties.

Syntax

The command is shown below:

Netdiag

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

Listing the NetDiag command by itself will make all of the possible analyses to be covered. Netdiag can assist users to interpret any amount of network problems such as Monitoring Virtual Private Networks.

10. Tracert CMD command

The tracert command tracks the path it exercises for a packet to touch a target and displays users an erudition about each jaunt along that path. For example, if users run tracert abc.com, they’ll notice information about each link the packet communicates with on its route to touch the server.

Syntax

If users are having concerns comparing to a website, tracert can explicate where the enigma is transpiring.

tracert  abc.com

The above command is one of the most crucial Command Prompt Windows 10 commands.

11. CIPHER

The cipher comes under the encryption Windows Command Prompt Commands. This reveals or changes the encryption of records and files on NTFS volumes. If employed without parameters, cipher reveals the encryption status of the prevailing directory and any records it holds.

Syntax

For example, the following command enables the encryption of the Private directory.

cipher /e private 

12. Finger

The Command Prompt Windows 10 also has one important command known as finger. It displays information about a user or users on a particular remote computer.

Syntax

For example, finger user1@users.abc.com

13. Comp

This Windows Command Line command is used to compare the contents of two files byte-by-byte. If applied without parameters, it allows users to enter the files to compare.

Syntax

For example,

comp c:\annualreports \\sales\myfile\march 

14. Clip

The clip comes under the redirecting Windows Commands. It redirects command output from the command line. Users can also paste the output into other programs and files.

Syntax

For example,

clip < myfile.txt 

15. Color

The color is one of the featuring CMD Prompt Commands. It develops the font and background colors in the Command Prompt pane for the running session. If applied without parameters, color alters the default view and sets colors.

Syntax

For example,

color 84 

16. Append

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

The append comes under the directories Command Prompt Commands Windows 10. This allows programs to open files in particular folders or directories. If applied without parameters, the append command reveals the appended directory index.

Syntax

For example,

append /e

The above command will store a copy of the appended directory list.

17. Getmac

The getmac command comes under the most important Windows CMD Commands. This command gives the media access control (MAC) address. It also gives the record of network rules connected with each address for all network cards locally or over a network. getmac can be beneficial if you want to use the MAC address into a network analyzer or when you want to understand what rules are running on a specific network adapter.

Syntax

For example,

getmac /fo table /nh /v 

18. Label

The label commands are basic CMD Line Commands. It forms, switches, or removes the name of a disk. If applied without parameters, the label command modifies the prevailing volume label or eliminates the current label. An NTFS volume label is 32 characters in length. It can retain and disclose the fact that was applied when the label was formed.

Syntax

For example,

label a:reports-december 

19. Logman

The logman commands are used in the Windows server Command Prompt Windows 10. The logman command builds and maintains Performance logs and Event Trace Session. This command also backs many roles of Performance Monitor from the command line.

Syntax

For example,

logman query "perf_log" 

20. Ftype

The ftype commands are Windows System Commands. It represents or changes filetypes that are applied in file name extension assistance. If applied without an operator(=), ftype shows the prevailing open command string for the designated filetype. If applied without parameters, ftype shows the filetypes that have open strings specified.

Syntax

For example,

ftype txtfile

21. BCDBOOT

BCDBOOT is a command-line utility. It is applied to install the bootmgr bootloader and to set and configure its boot configuration data (BCD). BCD is a binary file that represents all installed Windows applications. bcdboot images the primary boot files from a separated Windows on the disk to the custom boot distribution, and combines that with a proper admission to the boot configuration data. In other words, bcdboot is used to build and repair a system partition.

Syntax

For example, the following command is displaying the use of bcdboot command.

bcdboot C:\Windows 

22. CERTREQ

The CERTREQ command can be utilized to get certificates from a certification authority (CA), to regain a reply to a prior request from a CA, to build a new request. The .cer file users get from the Certificate Authority can simply be fixed by keeping the file on the server they created the CSR on, for example as cert.cer, and by performing the subsequent command at the prompt:

Syntax

certreq –submit certrequest.req certnew.cer certnew.pfx C:\>certreq -accept cert.cer

This is the default certreq.exe option. If no alternative is defined at the CMD, certreq.exe tries to give a certificate call to a certificate authority. Users must define a certificate request when utilizing the –submit method. If this parameter is discarded, a standard File Open window surfaces, allowing users to pick the suitable certificate call file.

23. Delprof

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

Delprof is a CMD utility that one can apply to delete user profiles on local or remote machines running various Windows OS. User profiles can take up significant disk space, particularly if various users are utilizing one machine. In such cases, Delprof.exe can be used to restore disk space by removing profiles that are no longer needed. But, because each profile on the machine is shown in sequence when users run the utility, they may require to use the graphical interface.

Syntax

Delprof2 /c:mymachine

The above command deletes inactive profiles on ‘mymachine’.

24. DIRUSE

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

The Windows NT Resource Kit comprises DIRUSE which provides disk usage by drive, folder, or sub-folders. The command reveals the total folders, files, and space utilized by the machine. Users can apply DIRUSE to mark folders eating more than a specific setpoint. The following command is used to display the disk usage by the drive and many important parameters.

Syntax

DIRUSE [/S | /V] [/M | /K | /B] [/C] [/,] [/Q:# [/L] [/A] [/D] [/O]] [/*] DIRS

Example:

diruse /, /* c:\

25. DSMGMT

DSMGMT command is utilized for maintaining active directory lightweight directory assistance partitions. It is used for managing and regulating single compliant operations and picking up metadata that is moved by broken active directory domain controllers. This command is convenient if the AD LDS server role is installed. To apply dsmgmt, users first must run the dsmgmt command from an advanced command prompt. For most of the dsmgmt commands, users are only required to type the initial few characters than the entire command.

Syntax

For instance, users can type either of the following commands to execute configurable settings:

configurable settings co s 

26. Fsutil

The fsutil is one of the administrative commands. It is used to accomplish jobs that are linked to the file allocation table (FAT) and NTFS file systems. For example, this command is used for handling reparse points, sparse files, or decreasing a volume. It can also be used with various parameters and if it is used without parameters then it displays a list of supported sub-commands. To use this command, one must be an administrator.

Syntax

For example,

fsutil file findbysid myfile d:\hello

The above command will find ‘myfile’ from the hello folder.

27. Dnscmd

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

The dns is the phonebook of the system. The dnscmd command is a command-line interface for handling DNS servers. This command or utility is beneficial in scripting batch files. The scripted batch files are used to automate regular DNS management tasks. This command can also be used to perform a single abandoned structure and configuration of different DNS servers on the network. This command can also be used to get the zone information and it is also used to clear cache and with many useful parameters.

Syntax

For example,

dnscmd/zoneinfo

The above command is used to get the current zone information.

28. klist

This command is used to display a list of cached Kerberos tickets. This notice refers to Windows Server 2012. In Kerberos, the client sends a request for a ticket to the key distribution center. It is the process of authentication. The klist command is used to list cached tickets. This command is also used with various parameters and if parameters are not provided then the klist command will give all the tickets to currently logged-in users.

Syntax

For example,

klist sessions

The above command is used when you want to diagnose a logon session for a user or a service. This command is used to find the LogonID from the klist.

29. mqsvc

Important: This command is not supported on Windows 10 Home and Pro.

Message Queuing allows different applications working at various times to reach across varied networks and operations that may be momentarily offline. Message Queuing gives confirmed message delivery, dynamic routing, safety. This command can be used to complete solutions asynchronous and synchronous messaging situations. This is one of the most important windows commands.

Syntax

For example,

Mqsvc.exe

The above command is used for the confirmed message delivery and can be used for various versions of Windows such as windows 10, windows 7, windows 8/8.1, and also different windows servers.

30. mstsc

This command is used to create a remote desktop connection to Remote Desktop Session Host (rd Session Host) servers or other remote machines. This command is also used to edit the current remote Desktop Connection (.rdp) configuration file. It is also used to transfer old connection files that were designed with the Client Connection Manager to new .rdp connection files. This windows command is used on a Windows Server and many other versions of the Windows operating system. It can be used with different parameters and it can also be used to start a remote desktop connection in a full-screen mode. In other words, this command is mainly used for remote desktop connections.

Syntax

For example,

mstsc/f

The above command is used to connect to a screen in a full-screen mode.

Conclusion

You should now have more knowledge to use the line commands effectively. With all these tips and commands and operators we have discussed, you should be able to create new command-line batch files and update existing batch files that you already have.

Now it’s time to practice! Create a sample folder and try these CMD commands inside the sample folder. Try to do tests, copy new files, and see what you can do. It is always good to verify your command line scripts inside sample testing folders instead of testing them on new files. And don’t forget to do backups first especially if you are going to modify, replace, or delete content, or files!

 
 

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Бывает, что некоторые команды Windows cmd сложно вспомнить, и сохранение их на компьютере или на бумаге в качестве шпаргалки является хорошей практикой. Этот список не является полным, но он содержит наиболее часто используемые команды. Не стесняйтесь добавить свои наиболее часто используемые команды в комментариях ниже, а так же поделиться этим списком.

Управление файлами и папками

  • COPY – Копирование файлов в другое место
  • DIR – Отображение файлов и папок в текущем каталоге
  • DEL или ERASE – Удаление файлов
  • EDIT – Запуск редактора файлов
  • CD – Изменить каталог
  • EXPAND – Распаковать сжатые файлы
  • FC – Сравнивает файлы и показывает различия между ними
  • FIND – Найти текстовую строку в файле
  • MD или MAKEDIR – Создать папку
  • MOVE – Переместить файлы из одной папки в другую
  • PRINT – отобразить содержимое текстового файла
  • RD или RMDIR – удалить папку
  • REN или RENAME – переименовать файл или папку
  • REPLACE – Замена файлов в одном каталоге на файлы с тем же именем в другом каталоге
  • ROBOCOPY – Использует программу «Робокопи» для копирования файлов и каталогов
  • TREE – Показывает структуру каталогов диска или папки
  • TYPE – Отображает содержимое текстовых файлов
  • OPENFILES – Управление открытыми локальными или сетевыми файлами
  • XCOPY – Копирование файлов и деревьев каталогов

Приложения и процессы

  • SCHTASKS – Запланированный запуск приложения приложения (планировщик задач)
  • SHUTDOWN – Выключение или перезагрузка компьютера
  • TASKLIST – Список выполняемых задач
  • TASKKILL – Остановить или прекратить выполнение задачи (для остановки задачи используется PID, который можно узнать из TASKLIST).
  • REG – Запустить редактор реестра
  • RUNAS – Запуск задачи от имени другого пользователя

Управление дисками

  • CHKDISK – Проверяет диск и показывает статистику
  • DEFRAG – Запуск дефрагментации диска
  • CHKNTFS – Отображает или изменяет выполнение проверки диска при загрузке
  • COMPACT – Отображает и изменяет сжатие файлов в разделах NTFS
  • CONVERT – преобразование дискового тома FAT в NTFS
  • DISKPART – Отображение и настройка свойств разделов диска
  • FORMAT – Форматирование диска
  • FSUTIL – Отображение и настройка свойств файловой системы
  • LABEL – Создание, изменение или удаление метки тома диска
  • RECOVER – Восстановление данных с поврежденного или испорченного диска
  • VOL – Отображение метки тома и серийного номера диска

Системная информация

  • DATE – Выводит или устанавливает текущую дату
  • TIME – Выводит или устанавливает системное время
  • DRIVERQUERY – Отображает текущее состояние и свойства драйвера устройства
  • HOSTNAME – Отображает имя компьютера
  • SYSTEMINFO – Отображает информацию о конфигурации компьютера
  • VER – Позволяет просмотреть версию Windows
  • GPRESULT – Отображает текущие примененные групповые политики (RSoP)
  • GPUPDATE – Обновление групповых политик

Сеть

  • IPCONFIG – Отображает информацию о сетевых интерфейсах
  • PING – Отправляет ICMP-запросы на целевой хост, проверяет его доступность
  • TRACERT – Отображение пути пакетов в сети
  • NSLOOKUP – Поиск IP-адреса по имени ресурса
  • ROUTE – Отображает таблицы сетевых маршрутов
  • ARP – Показывает таблицу с IP-адресами, преобразованными в физические адреса
  • NETSH – Запускает программу управления сетевыми настройками
  • GETMAC – Показывает MAC-адрес сетевого адаптера
  • TFTP – Запускает TFTP-клиент в консоли

Настройка командной строки

  • CLS – Очистить экран
  • CMD – Отображает другую командную строку
  • COLOR – Устанавливает цвет текста и фона в консоли
  • PROMPT – Изменение начального текста командной строки
  • TITLE – Присвоение заголовка для текущего сеанса
  • HELP – Запуск справки CMD
  • EXIT – Выход из командной строки

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191028
Санкт-Петербург
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+7 (812) 403-06-99

700
300

ООО «ИТГЛОБАЛКОМ ЛАБС»

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A  addusers  Used to add and list users in a CSV file  admodcmd  Used for bulk modifying contents in an active directory  arp  Address Resolution Protocol is used to map IP address to the hardware address  assoc  Used to change associations for file extensions  associat  One step file association  at  Run a command at a specific time  atmadm  Display connection info of the ATM adapter  attrib  Used to change file attributes B  bcdboot  Used to create and repair a system partition  bcdedit  Used to manage boot configuration data  bitsadmin  Used to manage the Background Intelligent Transfer Service  bootcfg  Used to edit boot configuration in Windows  break  Enable/Disable break capability (CTRL+C) in CMD C  cacls  Used to change permissions of files  call  Used one batch program to call another  certreq  Used to request a certificate from a certification authority  certutil  Manage Certification Authority files and services  cd  Used to change folder (directory) or go to a specific one  change  Used to change terminal services  chcp  Displays the number of active console code page  chdir  Same as cd command  chkdsk  Used to check and repair issues in the disk  chkntfs  Used to check the NTFS file system  choice  Accept user input (via keyboard) to a batch file  cipher  Used to encrypt/decrypt files and folder  cleanmgr  Used clean temp files and recycle bin automatically  clip  Copy result of any command (stdin) to Windows clipboard  cls  Clear CMD screen  cmd  Used to start a new CMD shell  cmdkey  Used to manage stored usernames and passwords  cmstp  Used to install or remove a connection manager service profile  color  Change the color of the CMD shell using options  comp  Compare contents of two files or two sets of files  compact  Compress files and folders on an NTFS partition  compress  Compress one or more files  convert  Convert a FAT partition to NTFS  copy  Copy one or more files to another location  coreinfo  Show the mapping between logical and physical processors  cprofile Cleans specified profiles of wasted space and disabled user-specific file associations  cscmd  Configure offline files on a client computer  csvde  Import or Export the data of an active directory D  date  Used to display the date or change it  defrag  Used to defragment system hard drive  del  Used to delete a file(s)  delprof  Used to delete user profile(s)  deltree  Used to delete a folder and its sub-folders  devcon  Access the command line device manager utility  dir  Used to display files and folders list  dirquota  Manage File Server Resource Manager quotas  diruse  Used to display disk usage  diskcomp  Compare contents of two floppy disks  diskcopy  Copy data of one floppy disk to another  diskpart  Make changes to partitions of storage, both internal and connected  diskshadow  Access the Disk Shadow Copy Service  diskuse  View used space in folder(s)  doskey  Used to edit command line, recall commands, and create macros  driverquery  Display a list of installed device drivers  dsacls  View and edit access control entries for objects in active directory  dsadd  Used to add objects to active directory  dsget  View objects in active directory  dsquery  Find objects in an active directory  dsmod  Used to modify objects in an active directory  dsmove  Rename or move an active directory object.  dsrm  Remove objects from an active directory  dsmgmt  Manage Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services E echo Turn command-echoing feature on/off, display a message on the screen endlocal End localization environment changes in a batch file erase Used to delete on or more file(s) eventcreate Add custom event to Windows event log (Admin rights required) eventquerry Display list of events and their properties from event logs eventtriggers Display and configure event triggers on local and remote machines exit Exit the command line (Quit current batch script) expand Uncompress one or more .CAB file(s) explorer Open Windows Explorer extract Uncompress one or more Windows cabinet file(s) F fc Used to compare two files find Used to search a specified text string in a file findstr Used to find string patterns in files finger Display information about user(s) on a specified remote computer flattemp Used to enable/disable flat temporary folders For Run a command in a loop for a file(s) for defined parameter forfiles Used for batch processing of selected file(s) format Used to format a disk freedisk Used to check free space on a disk fsutil File system utility to manage file and drive properties ftp Use FTP service to transfer files from one PC to another ftype Display/ Modify file extension type associations G getmac Used to display the MAC address of your network adapter goto Used to direct a batch program to a line identified by a label gpresult Display Group Policy Settings and Resultant Set of Policy for a user gpupdate Update local and active directory based on group policy settings graftabl Turn on the ability to display an extended character in graphics mode H help Display a list of commands and see online information for them hostname Used to display host name of the computer I icacls Used to change permissions of files and folders iexpress Used to create a self-extracting zip archive if Used for conditional processing in batch programs ifmember Display the group(s) an active user belongs to inuse Replace the files which the OS is currently using (restart required) ipconfig Display and change Windows IP configuration ipseccmd Used to configure IP Security policies ipxroute Display and modify routing table information used by IPX protocol irftp Used to send files over an infrared link (infrared functionality required) L label Used to change the name of a disk lodctr Update registry values with latest performance counters logman Used to manage performance monitor logs logoff Log a user off logtime Add the date, time, and a message to a text file lpq Displays print queue status lpr Used to send a file to a computer running the Line Printer Daemon service M macfile Manage files server for Mackintosh makecab Used to create .cab files mapisend Used to send email from command line mbsacli Microsoft Baseline Security Analyser mem Used to show memory usage md Used to create directories and sub-directories mkdir Used to create directories and sub-directories mklink Used to create symbolic link to a directory mmc Access Microsoft Management Console mode Configure COM, LPT, CON system devices more Display one screen of output at time mountvol Create, list, or delete a volume mount point move Used to move files from one folder to another moveuser Move user account to a domain or between machines msg Used to send a pop-up message to a user msiexec Install, modify, configure using Windows Installer msinfo32 Display system information mstsc Create a remote desktop connection N nbstat Display NetBIOS over TCP/IP information net Used to manage network resources and services netdom Network Domain Manager utility netsh Display or modify network configuration netstat Display active TCP/IP connections nlsinfo Used to display locale information nltest List domain controllers, force remote shutdown, etc now Display date and time nslookup Check IP address on a Name Server ntbackup Backup data to tape using CMD or batch file ntcmdprompt Runs cmd.exe instead of command.exe in an MS-DOS application ntdsutil Manage Active Directory Domain Services ntrights Used to edit user account privileges ntsd Only for system developers nvspbind Used to modify network bindings O openfiles Queries or displays open files P pagefileconfig Display and configure Virtual memory settings path Set PATH environment variable for executable files pathping Latency and Packet loss info for each node in the network path pause Used to stop processing of a batch file pbadmin Starts Phone Book Administrator pentnt Detect Floating Point Division error in the Pentium chip perfmon Access performance monitor in CMD perms Display a user\’s ACL permissions for a file ping Test network connection to a computer popd Go to the latest path/folder stored by PUSHD command portqry Display TCP and UDP port status powercfg Used to configure power settings and know battery health print Used to print a text file(s) from CMD printbrm For backup/recovery/migration of the print queue prncnfg Used to configure/rename a printing device prndrvr List/add/delete printer drivers prnjobs List/pause/resume/cancel print jobs prnmngr List/add/delete printers, display/set default printer prnport List/create/delete TCP printer ports, display/change port configuration prnqctl Clear printer queue, print a test page procdump Monitor system for CPU spikes, generate a crash report during a spike prompt Used to change the Prompt in CMD psexec Run a CMD process on a remote computer psfile Display remotely opened files, close an open file psinfo List system information about a local/remote machine pskill Kill a process(es) using its name or process ID pslist Display process status and info about active processes psloggedon See active users on machine psloglist Display event log records pspasswd Used to change account password psping Used to measure network performance psservice Display and control services on a machine psshutdown Shutdown/restart/logoff/lock a local or remote machine pssuspend Used to suspend a process on a local or remote computer pushd Change current folder and store previous folder for use by POPD Q qgrep Search file(s) for a given string pattern query process or qprocess Display information about processes R rasdial Display Remote Access Service Status rasphone Manage RAS connections rcp Copy files to a computer running remote shell service recover Recover readable data from a defective disk reg Display/add/change registry keys and values in Windows registry regedit Import/export/delete settings from a .reg text file regsvr32 Used to register/unregister a DLL file regini Used to change registry permissions relog Export performance counters to other formats like TSV, CSV, SQL rem Add comments in batch file ren Used to rename a file(s) replace Used to replace a file with another file of same name reset session Used to reset a remote desktop session rexec Run commands on remote machines running Rexec service rd Used to delete a folder(s) rmdir Used to delete a folder(s) rmtshare Manage file and printer shares local or remote servers robocopy Used to copy files and folders that have changed route Display/change the local IP routing table rsh Run commands on remote servers running RSH service rsm Manage media resources using Removable storage runas Run a program as a different user rundll32 Used to run a DLL program S sc Use Service Controller to manage Windows services schtasks Schedule command(s) to run at a specific time secedit Configure system security set Display/set/remove environment variables in CMD setlocal Control visibility of environment variables in a batch file setspn Manage Service Principal Names for an Active Directory service account setx Set Environment Variables permanently sfc System File Checker share List/edit a file share or print on any computer shellrunas Used to run a command as a different user shift Change the position of the batch parameters in a batch file shortcut Create a Windows shortcut shutdown Shutdown the computer sleep Put computer to sleep for specified number of seconds slmgr Software Licensing Management tool for activation and KMS sort Used to sort and display a redirected or piped input start Start a program, command, or batch file strings Find ANSI and UNICODE strings in binary files subinacl Display/modify ACEs for file and folder permissions subst Associate a path with a drive letter sysmon Monitor and log system activity to Windows event log systeminfo Display detailed configuration information about the computer T takeown Used to take the ownership of a file taskkill Used to terminate on or more running processes tasklist Display a list of running apps and services. tcmsetup Enable/disable TAPI client telnet Communicate with a remote machine using TELNET protocol tftp Transfer files to and from a remote machine running TFTP protocol time Display/change system time timeout Delay a batch file execution for specified seconds title Change the text on top of CMD window touch Change file timestamps tracerpt Process event trace logs and generate trace analysis report tracert Trace route to a remote host by sending ICMP request messages tree Display a folder structure in the form of a graphical tree tsdiscon Terminate a remote desktop connection tskill Terminate a running process on a RD Session Host server tssutdn Shutdown/reboot a terminal server remotely type Show contents of a text file typeperf Write performance data to a CMD window or a log file tzutil Time Zone Utility U unlodctr Remove performance counter names and explain text for a service from the registry V ver Show version number of installed OS verify Verify whether files are saved correctly on the disk vol Show disk volume label and serial number vssadmin Show shadow copy backups, installed shadow copy writers and providers W w32tm Access Windows Time Service Utility waitfor Used to synchronize events between networked computer(s) wevtutil Retrieve information about event logs and publishers where Find and display file(s) in the current directory whoami Display information about the active user windiff Compare contents of two files or sets of files winrm Windows Remote Management winrs Windows Remote Shell wmic Windows Management Instrumentation Command wuauclt Windows Update Agent to download new update files X xcalcs Change ACLs for files and folders xcopy Copy files or directory trees to another folder :: Comment

You can quickly and easily perform a task using CMD commands. But learning all those commands is a tough task itself. So, we have compiled the list of all Windows CMD commands arranged alphabetically. You can also download Windows CMD commands PDF file. The download link is provided at the end of the post.

We have shared two download links at the end of the post. The first link contains the pdf with basic details of all Windows CMD commands. At the same time, the second link contains the PDF with detailed info about every Windows CMD command.

SEE ALSO: How to Set CMD as Default Shell in Windows Terminal?

How to Get Help for any Command in Command Prompt

This post provided basic information about Windows CMD commands. However, if you need more details about any command, type <command name> /? in the command prompt and press Enter.

For example, if you wish to see details about the ARP command, type ARP /? in the CMD window and press Enter and you will see details about switches used in the command and how to use the command. You can also download Windows CMD commands PDF with detailed information about every cmd command at the end of the post.

Cmd Commands Pdf Download Command Prompt Help

Get Help in Command Prompt

Here, we have grouped the commands alphabetically. It is done to make it easy to find the command you are looking for.

1. Commands Starting with A, B, C

A
ADDUSERS Add or list users to/from a CSV file
ADmodcmd Active Directory Bulk Modify
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
ASSOC Change file extension associations•
ASSOCIAT One-step file association
AT Schedule a command to run at a specific time
ATTRIB Change file attributes
B
BCDBOOT Create or repair a system partition
BCDEDIT Manage Boot Configuration Data
BITSADMIN Background Intelligent Transfer Service
BOOTCFG Edit Windows boot settings
BROWSTAT Get domain, browser, and PDC info
C
CACLS Change file permissions
CALL Call one batch program from another•
CERTREQ Request certificate from a certification authority
CERTUTIL Utility for certification authority (CA) files and services
CD Change Directory – move to a specific Folder•
CHANGE Change Terminal Server Session properties
CHKDSK Check Disk – check and repair disk problems
CHKNTFS Check the NTFS file system
CHOICE Accept keyboard input to a batch file
CIPHER Encrypt or Decrypt files/folders
CleanMgr Automated cleanup of Temp files, recycle bin
CLIP Copy STDIN to the Windows clipboard
CLS Clear the screen•
CMD Start a new CMD shell
CMDKEY Manage stored usernames/passwords
COLOR Change colors of the CMD window•
COMP Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
COMPACT Compress files or folders on an NTFS partition
COMPRESS Compress one or more files
CONVERT Convert a FAT drive to NTFS
COPY Copy one or more files to another location•
Coreinfo Show the mapping between logical & physical processors
CSCcmd Client-side caching (Offline Files)
CSVDE Import or Export Active Directory data

SEE ALSO: How to Uninstall Programs using Command Prompt?


2. List of Commands Starting with D, E, F, G, H

D
DATE Display or set the date•
DEFRAG Defragment hard drive
DEL Delete one or more files•
DELPROF Delete user profiles
DELTREE Delete a folder and all subfolders
DevCon Device Manager Command Line Utility
DIR Display a list of files and folders•
DIRQUOTA File Server Resource Manager Disk quotas
DIRUSE Display disk usage
DISKPART Disk Administration. You can use it to format your corrupt USB disk.
DISKSHADOW Volume Shadow Copy Service
DISKUSE Show the space used in folders
DOSKEY Edit command line, recall commands and create macros
DriverQuery Display installed device drivers
DSACLs Active Directory ACLs
DSAdd Add items to the active directory (user group computer)
DSGet View items in the active directory (user group computer)
DSQuery Search for items in the active directory (user group computer)
DSMod Modify items in the active directory (user group computer)
DSMove Move an Active Directory Object
DSRM Remove items from Active Directory
E
ECHO Display message on screen•
ENDLOCAL End localization of environment changes in a batch file•
ERASE Delete one or more files•
EVENTCREATE Add a message to the Windows event log
EXIT Quit the current script/routine and set an error level•
EXPAND Uncompress CAB files
EXTRACT Uncompress CAB files
F
FC Compare two files
FIND Search for a text string in a file
FINDSTR Search for strings in files
FOR /F Loop command: against a set of files•
FOR /F Loop command: against the results of another command•
FOR Loop command: all options Files, Directory, List•
FORFILES Batch process multiple files
FORMAT Format a disk
FREEDISK Check free disk space
FSUTIL File and Volume utilities
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FTYPE File extension file type associations•
G
GETMAC Display the Media Access Control (MAC) address
GOTO Direct a batch program to jump to a labeled line•
GPRESULT Display Resultant Set of Policy information
GPUPDATE Update Group Policy settings
H
HELP Online Help
HOSTNAME Display the hostname of the computer

INFO: The download link for CMD commands pdf is provided at the end of the post. You can download a-to-z list of CMD commands from there.


3. All CMD Commands Starting with I, K, L, M, N, O

I
iCACLS Change file and folder permissions
IEXPRESS Create a self-extracting ZIP file archive
IF Conditionally perform a command•
IFMEMBER Is the current user a member of a group
IPCONFIG Configure IP
INUSE Replace files that are in use by the OS
L
LABEL Edit a disk label
LODCTR Load PerfMon performance counters
LOGMAN Manage Performance Monitor logs
LOGOFF Log a user off
LOGTIME Log the date and time in a file
M
MAKECAB Create .CAB files
MAPISEND Send email from the command line
MBSAcli Baseline Security Analyzer
MEM Display memory usage
MD Create new folders•
MKLINK Create a symbolic link (linkd) •
MODE Configure a system device COM/LPT/CON
MORE Display output, one screen at a time
MOUNTVOL Manage a volume mount point
MOVE Move files from one folder to another•
MOVEUSER Move a user from one domain to another
MSG Send a message
MSIEXEC Microsoft Windows Installer
MSINFO32 System Information
MSTSC Terminal Server Connection (Remote Desktop Protocol)
N
NET Manage network resources
NETDOM Domain Manager
NETSH Configure Network Interfaces, Windows Firewall & Remote access. You can also use this command to view saved Wifi passwords on Windows.
NBTSTAT Display networking statistics (NetBIOS over TCP/IP)
NETSTAT Display networking statistics (TCP/IP)
NLSINFO Display locale information (reskit).
NLTEST Network Location Test (AD)
NOW Display the current Date and Time
NSLOOKUP Name server lookup
NTBACKUP Backup folders to tape
NTDSUtil Active Directory Domain Services management
NTRIGHTS Edit user account rights
NVSPBIND Modify network bindings
O
OPENFILES Query or display open files

SEE ALSO: How to Make Bootable USB using CMD?


4. List of all CMD Commands Starting with P, Q

P
PATH Display or set a search path for executable files•
PATHPING Trace route plus network latency and packet loss
PAUSE Suspend processing of a batch file and display a message•
PERMS Show permissions for a user
PERFMON Performance Monitor
PING Test a network connection
POPD Return to a previous directory saved by PUSHD•
PORTQRY Display the status of ports and services
POWERCFG Configure power settings
PRINT Print a text file
PRINTBRM Print queue Backup/Recovery
PRNCNFG Configure or rename a printer
PRNMNGR Add, delete, and list printers and printer connections
ProcDump Monitor an application for CPU spikes
PROMPT Change the command prompt•
PsExec Execute process remotely
PsFile Show files opened remotely
PsGetSid Display the SID of a computer or a user
PsInfo List information about a system
PsKill Kill processes by name or process ID
PsList List detailed information about processes
PsLoggedOn Who’s logged on (locally or via resource sharing)
PsLogList Event log records
PsPasswd Change account password
PsPing Measure network performance
PsService View and control services
PsShutdown Shutdown or reboot a computer
PsSuspend Suspend processes
PUSHD Save and then change the current directory•
Q
QGREP Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern
Query Process / QPROCESS Display processes
Query Session / QWinsta Display all sessions (TS/Remote Desktop)
Query TermServer /QAppSrv List all servers (TS/Remote Desktop)
Query User / QUSER Display user sessions (TS/Remote Desktop)

SEE ALSO: How to Burn Disc using Command Prompt?


5. All CMD Commands Starting with R, S, T

R
RASDIAL Manage RAS connections
RASPHONE Manage RAS connections
RECOVER Recover a damaged file from a defective disk
REG Registry: Read, Set, Export, Delete keys and values
REGEDIT Import or export registry settings
REGSVR32 Register or unregister a DLL
REGINI Change Registry Permissions
REM Record comments (remarks) in a batch file•
REN Rename a file or files•
REPLACE Replace or update one file with another
Reset Session Delete a Remote Desktop Session
RD Delete folder(s)•
RMTSHARE Share a folder or a printer
ROBOCOPY Robust File and Folder Copy
ROUTE Manipulate network routing tables
RUN Start | RUN commands
RUNAS Execute a program under a different user account
RUNDLL32 Run a DLL command (add/remove print connections)
S
SC Service Control
SCHTASKS Schedule a command to run at a specific time
SET Display, set, or remove session environment variables•
SETLOCAL Control the visibility of environment variables•
SetSPN Edit Service Principal Names
SETX Set environment variables
SFC System File Checker
SHARE List or edit a file share or print share
ShellRunAs Run a command under a different user account
SHIFT Shift the position of batch file parameters•
SHORTCUT Create a windows shortcut (.LNK file)
SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer
SLEEP Wait for x seconds
SLMGR Software Licensing Management (Vista/2008)
SORT Sort input
START Start a program, command, or batch file•
STRINGS Search for ANSI and UNICODE strings in binary files
SUBINACL Edit file and folder Permissions, Ownership, and Domain
SUBST Associate a path with a drive letter
SYSMON Monitor and log system activity to the Windows event log
SYSTEMINFO List system configuration
T
TAKEOWN Take ownership of a file
TASKLIST List running applications and services
TASKKILL End a running process
TELNET Communicate with another host using the TELNET protocol
TIME Display or set the system time•
TIMEOUT Delay processing of a batch file
TITLE Set the window title for a CMD.EXE session•
TLIST Task list with full path
TOUCH Change file timestamps
TRACERT Trace route to a remote host
TREE Graphical display of folder structure
TSDISCON Disconnect a Remote Desktop Session
TSKILL End a running process
TSSHUTDN Remotely shut down or reboot a terminal server
TYPE Display the contents of a text file•
TypePerf Write performance data to a log file
TZUTIL Time Zone Utility

SEE ALSO: How to Open CMD or PowerShell in Current Folder in Windows 10?


6. List of All CMD Commands Starting with V, W, X

V
VER Display version information•
VERIFY Verify that files have been saved•
VOL Display a disk label•
W
W32TM Time Service
WAITFOR Wait for or send a signal
WEVTUTIL Clear event logs, enable/disable/query logs
WHERE Locate and display files in a directory tree
WHOAMI Output the current Username and domain
WINDIFF Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
WINRM Windows Remote Management
WINRS Windows Remote Shell
WMIC WMI Commands (you can uninstall programs using this command)
WUAUCLT Windows Update
X
XCACLS Change file and folder permissions
XCOPY Copy files and folders
:: Comment / Remark•

The commands that are marked with • are Internal commands i.e. these can be run in the CMD window only. All other commands are External commands, which can be run in the CMD shell, PowerShell, or directly from Start > RUN. You can also download the list of CMD commands in a pdf file from down below.


Download Windows CMD Commands PDF

  • CMD commands PDF with Basic info 
  • CMD commands PDF with Detailed Info

Download All Windows CMD Commands in PDF Format

In this post we have shared the list of all Windows CMD commands arranged alphabetically from A to Z. It was not possible to provide detailed information about each command in this post. So, you can get help directly from the command prompt. Just type /? after the command and press Enter.

Hope you liked this article. Comment below your thoughts and ideas about this article and command prompt. You can get the latest posts by email by subscribing to our newsletter.

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