How to Access the Command Prompt

Command prompt or cmd.exe is the command line interpreter used for Windows operating systems. It was first developed and introduced for the non-graphical MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) operating system. The command prompt functionality was later retained for GUI based Windows operating systems (Windows 9x and Windows NT based operating systems).

With command prompt, the user is required to key in commands to run an application within windows, or it can be customized to run commands for a specific application. It can also be used to for directory creation, renaming of files, moving files from one directory to another, deletion of files and so on. It can also be used to change settings or preferences, execute utilities related to system control and for administrative tasks. Command prompt still exists as a feature with Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7.

Additionally, scripts can be executed from the command prompt. This is done by using batch files- a batch file is basically text file that lists a sequence of commands that can be executed by the command prompt. These batch files are read by the command prompt and the lines of code in them are run in succession. Batch files are recognized by the filename extension .bat.

Accessing the command prompt

To access the command prompt, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Start button located at the lower left-hand corner of your windows screen.
2. Click the Run option located in the lower right-hand corner of the start menu.
3. The Run dialog box appears.
4. Type CMD in the Open text box and click Ok.
5. The Cmd.exe window appears.

Alternatively, you can access command prompt by performing the following steps:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Click the All Programs option present on the start menu.
3. Click Accessories and then click Command Prompt.
4. The Cmd.exe window appears.