Is there anyway to create an alias to cd PATH command in cmd?
For example, instead of typing cd C:\John\Pictures I'd like to type just pictures in cmd and press Enter and it should simply take me to C:\John\Pictures.
Is that possible and how?
Here is an alternative for Windows 10:
1. Create a file called init.cmd and save it to your user folder
C:\Users\YourName\init.cmd
#echo off
doskey c=cls
doskey d=cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
doskey e=explorer $*
doskey jp=cd C:\John\Pictures
doskey l=dir /a $*
2. Register it to be applied automatically whenever cmd.exe is executed
In the Command Prompt, run:
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "%"USERPROFILE"%\init.cmd" /f
3. Restart the Command Prompt
Now close/open the Command Prompt and the aliases will be available.
To unregister, run:
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun
You will need to use the doskey command which creates aliases. For example:
doskey note = "C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe"
note
creates a macro to open Notepad, then calls it. The macro (note in the above example) must be valid (e.g. no spaces are allowed).
You can also use parameters:
doskey note = "C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe" $1
note "C:\Users\....\textfile.txt"
By default, doskey macros are only saved for the current session. You can work around this limitation in two ways:
Save the macros in a text file, then load them each time you need them:
A command like:
doskey /macros > %TEMP%\doskey-macros.txt
Will save all the current macro definitions into a text file.
Then to restore all the macros at a later date:
doskey /macrofile=%TEMP%\doskey-macros.txt
After saving the macros in a text file as shown above, instead of loading them every time, run:
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v Autorun /d "doskey /macrofile=\"%TEMP%\doskey-macros.txt\"" /f
so that the macros are set each time you open the cmd.
See this SuperUser answer for more information.
Note: You cannot use command aliases in a batch file.
I am trying to create a batch file that runs a command.
The first part of the command checks to see if a particularly named window is open on my desktop. If it is it then closes that window (by sending a command to the program with the window open - Virtual Audio Cable).
#For /f "Delims=:" %A in ('tasklist /nh /v /fi "WINDOWTITLE eq Headphones"') do #if %A==INFO (echo Prog not running) else (start /min "audiorepeater_ks" "c:program files\Virtual Audio Cable\audiorepeater_ks.exe" /CloseInstance: Headphones)
Now this command seems to work fine when I execute it via the command line.
But it does nothing when I try to put it in a batch file
I have tried a .bat file and a .cmd file and also created a shortcut to the .cmd file where i have prepended the target field in properties with "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c"
Any ideas on how I can get this to run via batch?
You will have to escape "%A" with "%%A" as CristiFati pointed out. For more escape characters, please visit https://www.robvanderwoude.com/escapechars.php
I am making a batch script and I am having trouble with this line
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v AUOptions /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f
When that line runs, the command prompt window closes suddenly. This line is supposed to turn on automatic updates. Thanks for your help.
The command you've shown should work okay, at least in the meaning of any syntas error.
The problem, as per you described in the comments, maybe is that you are not taking into account that when a script has finished, the window has any reason to still open. Or in other words, when all the sentences of you're script are done, the window closes "suddenlly" (the program ends execution).
To pause the batch execution, just use the PAUSE command as follows:
#Echo Off
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v AUOptions /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f
PAUSE
Exit /B 0
I have a .vbs file called test.vbs. And this is running test.bat file silently.
In test.bat file,
CD.>"C:\folder\empty.srt"
dir /b /s "C:\folder" | findstr /m /i "\.srt$" > C:\old.txt
CD.>C:\new.txt
.
.
echo for /f "delims=" %%a in ('findstr /G:%new% /I /L /B /V %old%') do (#echo %%~nxa >> C:\added.txt)
.
.
CD.>C:\added.txt
del "C:\folder\empty.srt"
When I run test.vbs manually .bat file works fine.
But when I run test.vbs from Windows' Scheduled Tasks (command is: C:\test.vbs (tried wscript test.vbs) )
Only creates empty.srt and removes empty.srt. The other commands are not working.
I don't understand why (maybe administrator priviliges (Account is administrator too).
I thought running as administrator would solve the problem. Or is there another way to do this? How can I do that?
edit: Also working when I run this command from CMD --> wscript C:\test.vbs
Also its working fine on Windows 8
I also ran into this issue a while back, as well as have answered a variation of this issue before.
If it's a 64 bit operating system, then you need to open the script via "C:\windows\syswow64\cscript.exe your_vbs_code.vbs" if not, just use "C:\windows\system32\cscript.exe".
When I open cmd on my laptop it is defaulting to the F: drive. This is troubling me does anyone know how it got that way or how to get it back to where it opens to the C: drive by default?
Use the command
C:
To change to the drive C. It would of course work for any drive letter.
Very minor nit: if you're using Windows 7 you don't need the cmdhere powertoy, it's built in to Explorer.
You just navigate to a directory in Windows Explorer then hold down the shift key and right click. "Open command window here" is one of the selections on the context menu.
When it comes to opening cmd.exe in a specific directory, I just create a shortcut to cmd.exe and then in the shortcut properties I set "Start in:" to the drive/directory I want it to start in.
Using a shortcut allows me to customize the cmd.exe windows depending on what I'm using it for. For normal file editing/viewing I use a 180x60 window and appropriate font, but when I want to read/search log files I have a shortcut that opens a 260x100 window with a smaller font. That way I can view most long log file lines without having to use the horizontal scroll.
http://blog.stevienova.com/2007/04/08/change-your-default-cmd-prompt-path/
Sometimes, your path when you go to start->run, CMD will be something
you don’t want. In active directory or on an NT domain, sometimes your
default home path might be a network drive. This isn’t so good when
you are offline or drop offline after being online. The CMD prompt is
set to a place where you can’t get to.
To change the path, you can edit the registry (at your own risk)
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftCommand Processor] “Autorun”=”c:”
This will change the path to your c: drive.
I believe it defaults to %HOMEDRIVE%\%HOMEPATH% so if you can muck about with those environment variables that might be an option. I can't edit these environment variables on my company's network, so I had to use the AutoRun to change it to something sane.
quick answer: cmd /k c:
long answer to make it "automagical":
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/autoruncmd.htm
In RegEdit.exe I created a String:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
The value I used for AutoRun was "D:"
On the start screen / menu, type in "cmd", right-click it and select "Open File - Location".
In the opened window, right-Click on "Command Prompt" icon, select "Properties", and edit the "Start In" property to your desired path. I used "C:\" as an example
If you are opening it from a shortcut change the working dir for the shortcut.
In addition to the other answers, there's a nice powertoy for XP called "open command window here." It adds an option to your right-click context menu when you click inside a folder to open a command window using that directory as the starting path.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
I ran into a similar issue where cmd would always open up in a particular directory (annoying when running scripts which invoke cmd). The best way to deal with this is to edit your autorun settings. Raymond Chen has a nice article about this here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2007/11/21/6447771.aspx
The summary is that when you start a command shell, it checks the autorun registry key, and executes the commands stored there. The registry keys it checks are:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
and/or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
Some answers already mentioned AutoRun as a solution.
But that can be very dangerous, as the AutoRun entry will be executed for any new cmd.exe instance (only pipes ignore the AutoRun).
A simple expample that fails:
cd /d E:\myPath
FOR /F "delims=" %%Q in ('dir') do echo - %%Q
With AutoRun=C:, this shows the content of the current path of drive C:
You can still use AutoRun, but it should be a batch script, that checks if it was called interactive, by FOR/F or by drag&drop.
#echo off
REM *** To enable this script, call it by <scriptName> --install
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
REM *** ALWAYS make a copy of the complete CMDCMDLINE, else you destroy the original!!!
set "_ccl_=!cmdcmdline!"
REM *** The check is necessary to distinguish between a new cmd.exe instance for a user or for a "FOR /F" sub-command
if "!_ccl_:~1,-2!" == "!comspec!" (
REM ***** INTERACTIVE ****
REM *** %1 contains only data, when the script itself was called from the command line
if "%~1" NEQ "" (
goto :direct_call
)
endlocal
doskey /macrofile="%~dp0\cmdMacros.mac"
echo ********************************************************************
echo * AutoRun executed from "%~f0"
echo * Macros loaded from "%~dp0\cmdMacros.mac"
echo ********************************************************************
cd /d C:\myPath
) ELSE (
REM *** Called by a FOR command, by an explorer click or a drag & drop operation
REM *** Handle PROBLEMATIC Drag&Drop content, if necessary
endlocal
)
exit /b
:direct_call
if "%~1" == "--install" (
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v "AutoRun" /t REG_SZ /d "%~f0"
exit /b
)
if "%~1" == "--show" (
reg query "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun
exit /b
)
if "%~1" == "--remove" (
reg DELETE "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun /f
)
exit /b