Command Prompt Navigation

by Adrian Fanjoy, Technical Services Manager, CATI

This month we are going to demonstrate a method for simplifying your entry into the command prompt.  Getting to the command prompt is actually extremely simple.  However, with increasingly complex folder structures navigating to the folder you need can be difficult and a strain on your typing finger.

Setup:

Open Windows Explorer

Select Tools|Folder Options… from the Pull Down Menus.

Open the File Types Tab and select Folder from the Registered File Types List.

Select Advanced.

This will bring you to the Edit File Type Window.  explore and open should already be shown in the Actions: List.

Select New…

This will bring you to the New Action Window.

Enter Command for the Action:

Enter C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CMD.EXE %1” as the Application used to perform action:

Note:  The path to the CMD.EXE file may be different on your machine but you should be able to find it in your OS Loadpoint\system32 directory.

Select OK in the New Action Window.

Select OK in the Edit File Type Window.

Select Close in the Folder Options Window.

Use:

Now in your Windows Explorer drill deep into a directory structure and right click a folder.  You will notice that this pull down now has a Command option.

Select Command from the pop out menu.

The Command Prompt Window is automatically brought up in the directory you selected the option from in the Windows Explorer.

Caution:

If the syntax of this command is entered incorrectly the only way to remove the option from the pop up menu is to edit the registry.  The option can be removed from the registry in the following location:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell

You can either delete the Command key under the shell key to remove the option all together or you can change the value data as shown in the above picture.