280
votes

The aim for this Wiki is to promote using a command to open up commonly used applications without having to go through many mouse clicks - thus saving time on monitoring and troubleshooting Windows machines.

Answer entries need to specify

  • Application name
  • Commands
  • Screenshot (Optional)

Shortcut to commands

6
  • 11
    If you find this stuff interesting, take a look at commandlinefu: commandlinefu.com It's basically like digg for CLI
    – username
    May 11, 2009 at 6:47
  • great list, very usefull
    – Adyt
    May 20, 2009 at 8:56
  • 1
    Try putting each command as a separate answer. Then we can vote and comment on each one.
    – lamcro
    Jun 26, 2009 at 12:22
  • 1
    This is a great question, super useful info, and the stackexchange engine made it trivial to find. I agree with @lamcro, however, that structuring each command as an individual answer would likely provide more value, however then the wouldn't be sorted alphabetically? hmmm... Jul 29, 2009 at 22:00
  • 1
    This is a great example, across all SE, of a well-executed poll. I especially like combining separate answers (for voting) and alphabetical index to them!
    – Jonik
    Sep 17, 2010 at 14:16

160 Answers 160

2
votes

"| more" is an essential sub-command. It pauses at each screen, making large amounts of text easier to read.

Examples:

dir | more
help | more
type filename.txt | more

It saves from scrolling back up to find what you want, and losing your place.

2
  • more is already listed in the "question", but it's useful to have it described. However, it's unnecessary for dir because it has /p. Also, it's unnecessary to pipe type into more, just do more filename.txt (congratulations, you receive the Windows/DOS equivalent of the Useless Use of cat Award). Jul 28, 2010 at 20:54
  • Yes, I checked before posting and noticed that more was mentioned, but it didn't summarize how. While there are alternative ways to pause the screen, 'more' is consistent across all outputs ... and works with other OSes too (including non-Windows). To me, it's an essential subtool to add to any arsenal of command line syntax lists. Jul 29, 2010 at 19:28
2
votes

sqlwb Starts Microsof SQL Server Management Studio. Handy when you can't find it listed in the start menu, but you know it's installed on that server. :)

2
votes

Amazing Shutdown timer:

shutdown -s -t 7200 -c "shutting down in 120 mins, please type 'shutdown -a' in a command prompt to cancel" -f
2
votes

System Properties

The command

sysdm.cpl

opens

alt text

1
  • also available through [windowsbutton]+[break].
    – Yuval
    Jun 30, 2009 at 4:54
2
votes

cls clears the command line screen.

It is very useful when you want to run a new command and clear the current screen.

2
votes

If you're on one of the more professional Windows distributions (XP Professional, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate), use

gpedit.msc

to do Group Policy editing.

2
votes

The command

powercfg.cpl

launches the power management control panel applet.

1
  • This looks awefully useful on my laptpo!
    – dance2die
    May 27, 2009 at 14:42
2
votes

DIRCMD is an environmental variable that the DIR command reads its switches from.

Order directory listing by sub-directories, file extension, and name, including hidden and system files:

set DIRCMD=/ogen/a

dir
2
votes

If you have pstools installed in the root of drive C;

c:\pstools\psexec \\\\computername -u username -p password cmd

opens the command prompt on a remote machine. From there you can do whatever you want.

2
  • to get to backslashes you need to escape each of the backslashes, thus you'll need to enter 4 :) Jun 12, 2009 at 17:01
  • I have a /bin folder in my home dir, and I configure my profile to include h:/bin in my path. I drop pstools, gnu32utils, wrktools, etc. into here. If you have roaming profiles, you have all your utils available in the path across the entire network.
    – Bryan
    Dec 11, 2011 at 20:40
2
votes

Run dxdiag, a DirectX diagnostic tool. Apart from giving DirectX components installed on your system it also gives a system information summary. All information can be exported as a text file.

CIPHER: this is a good one to permanently delete files off the computer. Once a file is deleted, it is only marked as deleted and it won't truly be delted off the hard drive until it's overwritten with the information or you can run cipher and the location of where the file used to be to truly delete it from the hard drive.

Usage:

cipher /w:"drive letter":"folder name"  

Example:

 cipher /w:C: (to do all the C: drive.) 
2
votes
ODBC Data Source Administrator
odbcad32.exe

Opens
enter image description here

2
  • Is it wrong to be happy not to have seen this screen in years?
    – p.campbell
    May 4, 2009 at 22:28
  • @Philoushka I had to see that screen everyday while setting up some 3rd party Mail application that interacts with Accounting system...
    – dance2die
    May 4, 2009 at 22:36
2
votes
Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
InetMgr.exe - IIS 7
InetMgr6.exe - IIS 6
  • IIS 7
    enter image description here

  • IIS 6
    enter image description here

2
  • God´s home is on Vista?
    – Decio Lira
    May 4, 2009 at 12:59
  • @Decio: Beh, it's all capitalized ;)
    – dance2die
    May 4, 2009 at 13:27
1
vote

Task Manager | taskmgr.exe

1
  • 8
    Ctrl-Shift-Esc uses fewer keys to open Task Manager. May 4, 2009 at 5:29
1
vote
desk.cpl

opens the display properties. (Sorry, no image)

1
  • @Yuval: Don't worry. When I get enough rep to be able to edit wiki, I will add a screenshot
    – dance2die
    May 4, 2009 at 13:25
1
vote

Best way to avoid clicks is to stay on the command line. A directory in your path with the GNU tools and the sysinternals tools will go a long way to making your life simpler. Nothing that a good grep can't fix. :-)

0
1
vote

My favorites:

ipconfig
tracert
ping
telnet
1
vote

Notepad or something similar

notepad
1
vote
dsa.msc

is a nice quick way to open up Active Directory Users and Computers.

1
vote
firewall.cpl

Opens the Windows Firewall settings.

1
vote

System Configuration

msconfig

It is very useful to see what runs at startup

1
vote

To allow user to log on without pressing ctrl-alt-delete, or log on without entering a password:

control userpasswords2
1
1
vote

Years ago I started using sync.exe (for file cache flushing) from the NTinternals guys. I've been migrating that binary around for maybe a decade, and it still works. Their company got assimilated by Microsoft, but the binaries are still hanging around on the net if you search.

1
vote

I've found Launchy to be a very useful tool for Windows. It lets you launch many programs that would normally be launched by clicking icons by typing a few keystrokes. There's also a version for Linux. It can be found at www.launchy.net, and is free and open-source.

For example, to open an Explorer window from anywhere, type Alt-space (the default Launchy hot-key) followed by "c:\" followed by Enter. You can run any program for which you have a Windows shortcut by typing a few characters from the name of the shortcut. For example: Alt-space "co" Enter brings up Control Panel. You can also do Google searches, open URLs in the browser, and many other things without taking your fingers from the keyboard.

1
vote

Here is a VBScript that will do elevation when you RUNAS in Vista:

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
app = wscript.arguments(0)
args = ""
for i = 1 to (WScript.Arguments.length - 1)
   args = args + wscript.arguments(i)
next
objShell.ShellExecute app, args, "", "runas"

Use like so: runas.exe /user:domain\user "wscript.exe runas_script.vbs mmc.exe"

1
vote

The following web site shows how to create command line shortcuts to anything using the Windows registry key, "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths".

Customizing Windows Run Command
http://weblogs.asp.net/whaggard/archive/2004/04/11/111232.aspx

1
vote
at

Gives you a way to schedule tasks either locally or remotely without using Scheduled Tasks.

Running a command every Friday

AT 23:30 /EVERY:f c:\backups\weekly.cmd
1
vote

When starting the services control panel for the first time, on a fresh install;

services.msc /a

then choose the "standard"-tab, move the description column all the way to the right, and then File -> Save the new layout.

1
vote

Query Domain Controllers @ netdom /query /domain:MyDomainName fsmo

1
vote
  • pushd/popd to move around directories in a stack style
  • ldp.exe - all the LDAP/AD power at your fingertips
  • nltest.exe - the swiss army knife of domains and trusts
1
  • pushd/popd proved to be quite useful...
    – dance2die
    Aug 10, 2009 at 22:13

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