Windows has the program start.exe which somehow knows how to open programs by their lay-name like "firefox"
Typing start firefox into cmd.exe opens firefox assuming its installed.
Is there a similar command to start that will return the file path rather than starting the application?
Also open to any similar but proper solution
UPDATE:
Other answers suggest using where command, and this works for programs like ping which are in the system directories, but does not find firefox like start does.
Take a look at this registry key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
In it you will find something similar to this for firefox.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\firefox.exe]
#="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox"
and here is a bit that reads the value from Powershell. Same thing can be done from batch file with reg.exe.
$Firepath = get-item -path 'registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\firefox.exe'
$Firepath.GetValue('')
wmic product get name,version /format:csv > C:\testappu\Computername%.csv
Related
I can't figure out how to start the OneNote UWA from Windows command-line. The best I could do is find where it's installed. However, I don't know how to actually start it up from the command-line; as, the executables in that directory don't start OneNote UWA.
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Office.OneNote_16001.11901.20096.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS: I tried to use the same command-line that's in Windows TaskManager (below). However, the app doesn't startup nor does it give an error; even with elevated privileges.
"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Office.OneNote_16001.11901.20096.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\onenoteim.exe" -ServerName:microsoft.onenoteim.AppXxqb9ypsz6cs1w07e1pmjy4ww4dy9tpqr.mca
I'd really appreciate any help suggestions to do this. If this is not possible (or nobody knows the answer, I would also be happy if someone knows how to associate a global hotkey to OneNote UWA.
I followed this tutorial and it worked great for me:
Launch Metro app from command line
my resultant command was this:
explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.Office.OneNote_8wekyb3d8bbwe!microsoft.onenoteim
which launched into OneNote (metro/winrt/uwa version and not the desktop version)
There is a shortcut you can do that would have worked in my case. When you look at the target of the shortcut you create... instead use this command line tool to get the full target (since you can't copy from the target box in the shortcut properties window) and then use this instead:
explorer.exe shell:<target value>
get the command line tool here:
LNK file parser
careful though because the value wraps when you use the LNK file parser in a command window. You can output the result text from lnk_parser_cmd to a text file to ensure you get the correct value. Their example is:
lnk_parser_cmd.exe shortcut.lnk
you would simply use:
lnk_parser_cmd.exe shortcut.lnk > result.txt
and then you can easily copy and paste the non-wrapped text from result.txt.
I've been having trouble finding the cmder inside windows program files. I wanted to make a shortcut to it so that I can easily access it using windows docker but can't find the location. I only have cmder now pinned on my taskbar but I would like to know it's directory path. Thanks in advance.
I am using windows x64bit
Open a command line window.
Enter "dir Cmder.exe /s"
It's relative to where you installed it. To find out right-click cmder in your taskbar, and you will see that it says "cmder.exe - shortcut", right-click it again and access properties. In the target field you will see your path.
My goal is to add a few executables to my PATH (for example, chrome), so that I can call
> chrome
from the command prompt and it will launch Chrome.
I know I could add Chrome's containing directory to my path (set PATH=%PATH%<chrome_path_here>;), but since I have a few executables I want to add, I'd rather make a new bin directory that contains symbolic links to the actual executables and just add that single directory to my PATH.
The Chrome executable is located at
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
So I tried
> mklink chrome.exe "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
That successfully creates a symbolic link for the files (says so in output, and upon examining with > dir). I know my PATH is set up correctly, b/c when I run > where chrome it finds my new symbolic link.
However, when I try to execute chrome with my new link, nothing happens. A new empty window should appear, but nothing happens. No error message in the command prompt or anything.
What am I doing wrong? Am I misunderstanding symlinks in Windows? This is the approach I use in Linux all the time, but I'm new to Windows Cmd.
Thanks!
Most programs will not run from places other than they install location - which is exactly what happens when you try to run it from symlink.
It would be much easier to create CMD/BAT files in that folder with matching names which will launch programs from locations you want:
REM chrome.cmd
start /b cmd /c "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" %*
With Windows 7 I confirm that symlinks do not work, are simply ignored as reported in the original question.
As Harry states in his comment, shortcuts do work, and to me are simpler and easier than writing a separate script for each new command I want to enable under CMD.
He states that you need to add .lnk to your PATHEXT variable in order to do this. I affirm that this does work, and with .lnk added to PATHEXT I can simply enter the name portion of the shortcut to run the command. For example if my shortcut is named "sublime.lnk" and PATHEXT includes .lnk, I can execute the link with the simple command "sublime". Nice!
As an alternative I found that PATHEXT need not be modified if I simply type in the full name of the shortcut, including the .lnk, at my CMD prompt. E.g., I created a shortcut named "sublime.lnk" under %HOMEPATH%/bin, pointing to "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe".
Now by placing %HOMEPATH%\bin in my %PATH% I can run sublime via the command "sublime.lnk".
Either of the above are the best way I know of giving access to various commands from around Windows' filesystem from a CMD prompt. I'm not a Windows expert though, and welcome a better or more standardized solution to this problem.
P.S.: I just found out the hard way that you need to ensure the "Start in:" property of any shortcut you use in this fashion is blanked out, or your program will not start in the directory you invoke the shortcut from.
P.P.S.: On a related note, I discovered how to run Windows Explorer (or its replacement) on the directory your CMD session is logged in to: start ..
some bat files need to be launched at the start of the session, but they don't.
Actually, when trying to launch one from the explorer, it opens the Open with window instead of just runnig.
However, the bat files still run correctly from the command prompt.
I bet it has been caused by a virus, but the antivirus did not detect anything unfortunately.
Any idea?
Use the Open With command, select cmd.exe, then before you hit OK, check the box that says "always use this program to open this type of file" or something similar.
If cmd.exe is not in the choices, browse to c:\windows\system32, and cmd.exe should be in there.
You can re associate the extension by downloading the reg file for batch from the link below which should solve your problem.
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm
Whenever I go to my command prompt and type a "c:\temp" or any other file/directory, it takes me to the command prompt rather than the file explorer. Can somebody please tell me how I can fix this so that all file/directory access from cmd takes me to the file explorer.
I have a Win2k3 64bit machine. Has this got anything to do with the 32bit/64bit explorer ?
To run Windows Explorer from command prompt you must type name of the executable:
explorer.exe
or just
explorer
To open a certain folder, pass the path as an arguments. Details here:
Command-Line Switches for Windows Explorer (MSDN KB)
See examples.
To open Explorer at the directory where your cmd is operating you can use
start .
and at a parent directory you can use
start ..