I'm trying to run regedit /c reg.txt from within a CygWin bash script to grab the registry contents after which I'll process them with the remainder of the script (yes, I know Powershell is one option but I'd rather stick with the tools I know).
However, when doing this, the regedit program pops up a dialog box complaining about trying to read c:\ and I think this is because CygWin magically converts the /c into the actual drive c:\, similar to the way that cat /h/xyzzy/plugh.txt will show me the file h:\xyzzy\plugh.txt. The dialog box is as follows, you can see the errant parameter underlined:
Is there a way I can stop this translation from happening so that regedit gets the parameters as intended? I've thought of running the regedit separately in a .cmd file but it's a real pain having to maintain two separate files to do a single job (a).
I've also tried running it with cmd /c but that appears to suffer from a similar problem - it just opens up a new command interpreter and waits for input, presumably because the /c is being translated to c:\. While cmd /k dir will list the directory and remain, cmd /c dir does nothing in the cmd.exe instance.
(a) It will work if I use cmd /k otherscript.cmd and then explicitly exit at the end of that script. However, as I said, it's a bit kludgy and I'm pretty certain it would break the second I mount a network share on the k: drive and CygWin starts translating /k into k:\ :-)
As per this MSYS page (upon which MinGW is based, upon which your Git for Windows is based), MSYS will automagically convert POSIX paths to Windows paths for executables not linked to the MSYS DLL.
This includes translating /c into c:\, which is what you're seeing. This explains why both regedit /c reg.txt and cmd /c dir aren't working since the former is attempting to use c:\ as an input to regedit (prompting the warning you see) and the latter is simply starting cmd without executing the arguments.
The method used to prevent translation is to double up the slash, with something like:
regedit //c reg.txt
cmd //c dir
MSYS will remove the leading / and refuse to translate the remainder of the argument, so you'll end up with the /c argument.
You'll still have issues with the first command above since the correct command-line switch to export the registry is /e rather than /c. Change that (and use //e from within MinGW, of course) and it will do what you want.
Related
I would like to be able to open the windows bash terminal from windows explorer with a context menu. Much like you can do in Ubuntu. I have created a subkey in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Directory/Background/shell with the command:
powershell -c start -verb runas cmd '/c start /D "%V" bash.exe'
This works well for opening the bash as admin in most directories, but it crashes if the directory has a space in it. It seems to be that bash only takes part of the string, and then can't find the directory to navigate to. I've tried escape quotes around the %V, e.g """%V""" but that didn't help. Any ideas?
Here's an alternate approach that avoids PowerShell. Create a key named "HKLM\Software\Classes\Directory\background\shell\runas" and give it a default value like "Open in bash as administrator". Create a subkey named "command" and give it a default value of "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" /c start /B /D "%V" bash.exe. Change the path to cmd.exe if you have a different system directory. It has to be the fully-qualified path to cmd.exe. – eryksun
EDIT
If you want to perform any task at computer startup or based on an
event this is very helpful
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/how-to-schedule-computer-to-shut-down-at-a-certain/800ed207-f630-480d-8c92-dff2313c193b
Back to the question
I have two questions:
I want some specific commands to be executed when I start command prompt.
e.g. cls to clear my command prompt.
I want to execute some commands in a batch file and wait for the user to enter new commands (if any).
e.g. A batch file which will take the user to some specified folder and then wait for the user to rename/delete a file from the command prompt.
How can I do it?
If you want a defined set of commands to run every time you start a command prompt, the best way to achieve that would be to specify an init script in the AutoRun registry value. Create it like this (an expandable string value allows you to use environment variables like %USERPROFILE%):
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun ^
/t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "%"USERPROFILE"%\init.cmd" /f
Then create a file init.cmd in your profile folder:
#echo off
command_A
command_B
...
cls
To remove these changes, delete the registry key:
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun
Make a shortcut
Go to the properties
The bit where it says: C:\Users\<Your username>\Desktop\cmd.exe, you put: -cmd /K <your command here>
e.g.
C:\Users\Lewis\Desktop\cmd.exe -cmd /K color 1f
This is the way to launch 1 command without having to mess about with the registry.
Run multiple commands
You can also use & (and) operator to execute multiple commands.
Eg.
C:\Users\Lewis\Desktop\cmd.exe -cmd /K color 1f & H: & <your command>
Credits: user6589073
I found my answer: I should use the /K switch, using which I can enter a new command on the opened command prompt.
E.g. cmd /K cls will open a command prompt for me and clear it. (Answer for question 1)
and
cmd /K MyBatchFile.bat will start a command prompt, execute the batch file and stay on the command prompt and will not exit. (Answer for question 2).
First, you need to press Windows Key + R.
In the box that appears, type "regedit" (without the quotes).
The Windows Registry Editor should open.
Now, locate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Command Processor.
Once you have clicked on Command Processor on the left side, click Edit on the top bar.
Then go to New > String Value in the Edit menu.
Rename the String Value that appears to Autorun.
Right click on Autorun and select Modify.
Under the "Value Data" area, type in the commands you want to run. You can run multiple by typing && between them.
Expanding a bit, here is an alternative for Windows 10 where multiple aliases can be defined and applied to the Command Prompt upon execution.
Create a file called init.cmd containing aliases on your %USERPROFILE% folder:
init.cmd
#echo off
doskey c=cls
doskey d=cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
doskey e=explorer $*
doskey g=git status
doskey l=dir /a $*
Register it to be applied whenever the Command Prompt 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
Done
Now the contents of init.cmd will run for executions of cmd.exe namely from:
Taskbar shortcut
WIN+R cmd
By typing cmd in the File Explorer address bar
By running cmd.exe directly from C:\Windows\System32
After registering these settings just remember to close/open:
The Command Prompt so the settings are applied
The File Explorer, if you use to launch the cmd via File Explorer address bar
To unregister it, run:
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun
I have a command to run a python program. I do not want to run this command manually after login, I want this command should run automatically after I logged in to my ubuntu. I am using Ubuntu 16.04.
Here is the command.
sh demo_darknet_yolov3.sh , this shell is placed in this directory littro#littro-System-Product-Name:~/MobileNet-YOLO-master/MobileNet-YOLO-master
Depending on your script, you may want to use the cmd.exe /k <input script> method instead of the registry entry Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor\autorun
I have found with the latter, that other programs that launch cmd are affected by the registry entry. For example, I cannot get Visual Studio Native Tools prompt to work properly because my script gets in the way. In my case, the script is a menu with 5 options including to launch various programs manually (I like to minimize my auto-run programs) and set various environment variables (ie., printers, proxy settings, default versions of programs, etc).
If you are doing something static I think either method works fine.
I would have commented on the question or an applicable answer, but I do not have the reputation to comment.
I'm terribly new to scripting on windows. Using windows 7 64.
I'm trying to make a .bat file that I can double click, and have it open a command prompt and automatically cd me to a certain directory.
I tried making a .bat file with
#ECHO OFF
cmd "cd C:\my\destination"
Which opens what looks like a command prompt, but doesn't seem to let me type any commands.
I then tried:
#ECHO OFF
start cmd "cd C:\my\destination"
But this just sent me into a loop opening tons and tons of prompts until my computer crashed :) The .bat file was located in the destination directory if that matters.
This works for me:
#ECHO OFF
cmd.exe /K "cd C:\my\destination && C:"
The quoted string is actually two commands (separated by a double ampersand): The first command is to change to the specified directory, the second command is to change to the specified drive letter.
Put this in a batch (.BAT) file and when you execute it you should see a Command Prompt window at the specified directory.
Use the /K switch:
#ECHO OFF
start cmd.exe /K "cd C:\my\destination"
But IMHO, the most useful switch is /?.
Starts a new instance of the Windows XP command interpreter
CMD [/A | /U] [/Q] [/D] [/E:ON | /E:OFF] [/F:ON | /F:OFF] [/V:ON | /V:OFF]
[[/S] [/C | /K] string]
/C Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates
/K Carries out the command specified by string but remains
/S Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/Q Turns echo off
...
And only if it does not work, then Google it, as #Neeraj suggested :D
This could be done like that:
#ECHO OFF
cd /D "C:\my\destination"
cmd.exe
If you need to execute a file or command after you open the cmd you can just replace the last line with:
cmd.exe /k myCommand
#ECHO OFF
%comspec% /K "cd /D d:\somefolder"
The /D will change folder and drive and works on 2000+ (Not sure about NT4)
If you take a look at Vista's open command here, it uses cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\" but I don't think %V is documented. Using pushd is a good idea if your path is UNC (\\server\share\folder) To get UNC current directory working, you might have to set the DisableUNCCheck registry entry...
Why so complicated? Just create an alias to cmd.exe, right click on the alias and navigate to its settings. Change the "execute in" to the path you want to have as standard path. It will always start in this path.
just open a text editor and type
start cmd.exe
cd C:\desired path
Then save it as a .bat file. Works for me.
You can create a batch file "go-to-folder.bat" with the following statements:
rem changes the current directory
cd "C:\my\destination"
rem changes the drive if necessary
c:
rem runs CMD
cmd
Is there a way for a batch file (in this case, running on Windows XP) to determine whether it was launched from a command line (i.e. inside a console window) or launched via the shell (e.g. by double-clicking)?
I have a script which I'd like to have pause at certain points when run via the shell, but not when run at a command line. I've seen a similar question on SO, but am unable to use the same solution for two reasons: first, whether or not it pauses needs to be dependent on multiple factors, only one of which is whether it was double-clicked. Second, I'll be distributing this script to others on my team and I can't realistically ask all of them to make registry changes which will affect all scripts.
Is this possible?
Found one :-) – After desperately thinking of what cmd might do when run interactively but not when launching a batch file directly ... I finally found one.
The pseudo-variable %cmdcmdline% contains the command line that was used to launch cmd. In case cmd was started normally this contains something akin to the following:
"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe"
However, when launching a batch file it looks like this:
cmd /c ""C:\Users\Me\test.cmd" "
Small demo:
#echo off
for %%x in (%cmdcmdline%) do if /i "%%~x"=="/c" set DOUBLECLICKED=1
if defined DOUBLECLICKED pause
This way of checking might not be the most robust, though, but /c should only be present as an argument if a batch file was launched directly.
Tested here on Windows 7 x64. It may or may not work, break, do something weird, eat children (might be a good thing) or bite you in the nose.
A consolidated answer, derived from much of the information found on this page (and some other stack overflow pages with similar questions). This one does not rely on detecting /c, but actually checks for the name of the script in the command line. As a result this solution will not pause if you double-clicked on another batch and then called this one; you had to double-click on this particular batch file.
:pauseIfDoubleClicked
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set testl=%cmdcmdline:"=%
set testr=!testl:%~nx0=!
if not "%testl%" == "%testr%" pause
The variable "testl" gets the full line of the cmd processor call, stripping out all of the pesky double quotes.
The variable "testr" takes "testl" and further strips outs the name of the current batch file name if present (which it will be if the batch file was invoked with a double-click).
The if statement sees if "testl" and "testr" are different. If yes, batch was double-clicked, so pause; if no, batch was typed in on command line (or called from another batch file), go on.
Edit: The same can be done in a single line:
echo %cmdcmdline% | findstr /i /c:"%~nx0" && set standalone=1
In plain English, this
pipes the value of %cmdcmdline% to findstr, which then searches for the current script name
%0 contains the current script name, of course only if shift has not been called beforehand
%~nx0 extracts file name and extension from %0
>NUL 2>&1 mutes findstr by redirecting any output to NUL
findstr sets a non-zero errorlevel if it can't find the substring in question
&& only executes if the preceding command returned without error
as a consequence, standalone will not be defined if the script was started from the command line
Later in the script we can do:
if defined standalone pause
One approach might be to create an autoexec.nt file in the root of c:\ that looks something like:
#set nested=%nested%Z
In your batch file, check if %nested% is "Z" - if it is "Z" then you've been double-clicked, so pause. If it's not "Z" - its going to be "ZZ" or "ZZZ" etc as CMD inherits the environment block of the parent process.
-Oisin
A little more information...
I start with a batch-file (test.cmd) that contains:
#echo %cmdcmdline%
If I double-click the "test.cmd" batch-file from within Windows Explorer, the display of echo %cmdcmdline% is:
cmd /c ""D:\Path\test.cmd" "
When executing the "test.cmd" batch-file from within a Command Prompt window, the display of
echo %cmdcmdline% depends on how the command window was started...
If I start "cmd.exe" by clicking the "Start-Orb" and "Command Prompt" or if I click "Start-Orb" and execute "cmd.exe" from the search/run box. Then I execute the "test.cmd" batch-file, the display of echo %cmdcmdline% is:
"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe"
Also, for me, if I click "Command Prompt" from the desktop shortcut, then execute the "test.cmd" batch-file, the display of echo %cmdcmdline% is also:
"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe"
But, if I "Right-Click" inside a Windows Explorer window and select "Open Command Prompt Here", then execute the "test.cmd" batch-file, the display of echo %cmdcmdline% is:
"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" /k ver
So, just be careful, if you start "cmd.exe" from a shortcut that contains a "/c" in the "Target" field (unlikely), then the test in the previous example will fail to test this case properly.
I know using External Tools options i can run a batch script or a cmd prompt. But here is what i need to do
I want to be able to call a dos prompt inside visual studio, which must be interactive. That way i won't be outside visual studio and can run all my dos commands in it. Is it possible? Or can i extend the command window and capture the commands which are typed and process them using my custom code?
Thanks
There's the Tools.Shell command which may work for you. You use the /c switch to specify that the output for the executable is displayed in the Command window. Then you call cmd.exe with /C switch which instructs it to close after finishing the command. For example if you type:
Tools.Shell /c cmd.exe /C dir C:
This will print the output to the Command window. Unfortunately, unlike the output, the input doesn't work. So if you type:
Tools.Shell /c cmd.exe /C pause
The prompt will not wait for your input (pressing a key).
If that's OK for you, you can even define an alias for most of this. For example you define alias sh for Tools.Shell /c cmd.exe /C:
alias sh Tools.Shell /c cmd.exe /C
Then you simply use it as follows:
sh dir c:
If you install NuGet, then it adds Package Manager Console to Visual Studio which is essentially a Powershell command prompt. There should be ways of doing most DOS stuff via Powershell and heaps more functionality as well.
Not exactly what you are asking for, but I think you could manage to achieve your goal with StudioShell:
http://studioshell.codeplex.com/
Have to admit that I did not use it so far but it looks very interesting.