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
Related
I have a batch file that is in the same directory as the file I want to xcopy. But for some reason the file is not being found.
I thought that current directory was always where the batch file was located.
I run batch file as administrator. This occurs on a Windows 7 64-bit desktop computer.
Batch file:
#ECHO OFF
XCOPY /y "File1.txt" "File2.txt"
PAUSE
Error:
File not found - File1.txt
0 File(s) copied
Which directory is current working directory on starting a batch file with context menu item Run as administrator depends on User Account Control (UAC) setting for the current user.
This can be demonstrated with following small batch file C:\Temp\Test.bat:
#echo Current directory is: %CD%
#pause
With having selected in User Account Control Settings
Default - Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer
Don't notify me when I make changes to Windows settings
and using Run as administrator, Windows uses registry key
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\runasuser\command
This registry key does not contain a default string for executing the batch file. Instead there is the string value DelegateExecute with the CLSID {ea72d00e-4960-42fa-ba92-7792a7944c1d}.
The result is opening a dialog window with title User Account Control and text:
Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?
Program name: Windows Command Processor
Verified publisher: Microsoft Windows
After confirmation by the user, Windows opens temporarily a new user session like when using on command line RunAs.
In this new user session the current working directory is %SystemRoot%\System32 on executing now the command defined in Windows registry with default string of key
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\runas\command
which is:
%SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe /C "%1" %*
Therefore a console window is opened with title C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe and the 2 lines:
Current directory is: C:\Windows\System32
Press any key to continue . . .
After hitting any key, batch execution finishes which results in closing cmd.exe which results in closing the user session.
But with having selected in User Account Control Settings
Never notify me when
Programs try to install software or make changes to my computer
I make changes to Windows settings
the behavior is different as the user has already elevated privileges.
Now Windows uses directly the command
%SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe /C "%1" %*
according to default string of key
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\runas\command
in current user session.
The result is opening a console window also with title C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe, but displayed in window is:
Current directory is: C:\Temp
Press any key to continue . . .
The current working directory of the parent process (Windows Explorer as desktop) is used for executing of the batch file because no switch to a different user session was necessary in this case.
PA has posted already 2 possible solutions in his answer which I replicate here with a small improvement (pushd with directory in double quotes) and with adding a third one.
Change current directory to directory of batch file using pushd and popd:
pushd "%~dp0"
%SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "File1.txt" "File2.txt" /Y
popd
This works also for UNC paths. Run in a command prompt window pushd /? for an explanation why this also works for UNC paths.
Use directory of batch file in source and destination specifications:
%SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "%~dp0File1.txt" "%~dp0File2.txt" /Y
Change working directory to directory of batch file using cd:
cd /D "%~dp0"
%SystemRoot%\System32\xcopy.exe "File1.txt" "File2.txt" /Y
This does not work for UNC paths because command interpreter cmd does not support a UNC path as current directory by default, see for example CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories for details.
The error message is very self explanatory. The file file1.txt is not found.
Because the file name does not include an absolute path, the system tries to find it on the current directory. Your current directory does not contain this file.
Your misconception is that the current directory is not the directory that contains the bat file. Those are two unrelated concepts.
You can easily check by adding this two commands in your bat file
echo BAT directory is %~dp0
echo Current directory is %CD%
you can notice they are different, and that there is a subtle difference in the way the last backslash is appended or not.
So, there are esentially two ways to cope with this problem
either change the current directory to match the expected one
pushd %~dp0
XCOPY /y "File1.txt" "File2.txt"
popd
or specify the full path in the command
XCOPY /y "%~dp0File1.txt" "%~dp0File2.txt"
For the sake of completeness and obscurity, I add another workaround, confirmed as working under Windows 8.1 and expected to work elsewhere, as it relies on documented functionality:
You can change the runas command definition keys
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\runas\command and
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\cmdfile\shell\runas\command into
%SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe /S /C "(for %%G in (%1) do cd /D "%%~dpG") & "%1"" %*
Which results in the bat or cmd file starting in its containing directory when started using the runas verb, respectively the "Run as Administrator" menu entry.
What the additions to the original command exactly do:
cmd /S strips away first and last (double) quote in command string after /C
for %%G in (%1) do enumerates its single entry, the %1 argument,
making it available for expansion as %%G in the loop body; the letter is arbitrary but some may be "reserved"
%%~dpG expands to the drive and path of %%G, the ~ tilde stripping away quotes if present, which is why we add them back explicitly
cd /D changes both the drive and directory to its argument, and finally
& runs the second command "%1" %* regardless of success of the first one.
You can use pushd which will even support UNC paths, but a stray popd would land any script in the system32 directory, not a behavior I would be fond of.
It should be possible to do this for the exefile entry as well, but frankly, I'd rather live with the inconsistency than to attempt this on my system, as any error there could break a lot.
Enjoy defeating the security mechanics of your operating system :)
I'm trying to make a CMD script that will do CD Desktop\Crunchyroll\pyscripts and enter it, then I want to be able to type a command. Is there a way I can make a script to start in the Desktop\Crunchyroll\pyscripts directory on my computer?
Put this into a blank text file called MyScript.CMD
Double click it.
#echo off
CMD /K CD /D "%userprofile%\Desktop\Crunchyroll\pyscripts"
To create a symbolic link on Windows, open Command Prompt (as an Administrator). Let's say your username is Jason. And the symlink we will name 'code'.
cd \Users\Jason
mklink /D code Desktop\Crunchyroll\pyscripts
cd code
dir
All your files in pyscripts will be listed. You basically have created a shortcut to your pyscripts.
Personally, I'd simply create a shortcut to cmd.exe and set Properties/shortcut/Startin to Desktop\Crunchyroll\pyscripts.
If you really want to jump to pyscripts from within an existing cmd instance, then create a textfile named 'pyscripts.bat' containing
#echo off
CD "%userprofile%\Desktop\Crunchyroll\pyscripts"
and store it somewhere in your PATH.
Then executing pyscripts from within a cmd instance will jump to the indicated directory and
....
PUSHD
call pyscripts
{do some python}
POPD
...
should allow you to execute python from that directory within a batch file.
This seems like it should be ridiculously simple but I cannot find the answer online or in these forums.
I want to run a command from a batch file, leave the command window open and end at a particular file location.
I can't seem to get both to happen in the same window. This is for a script to run an automated task everytime and leave the window open to run a 2nd task that has a variable input.
start cmd /k c:\users\test\desktop\dmiwtool1.1\win64\dmiwtoolx64.exe & cd c:\users\test\desktop\dmiwtool1.1\win64\
If I run either by itself, they work (runs the exe, ends at /desktop prompt), but in this sequence only the first runs.
this works here:
#ECHO OFF
START /b "" "path\program.exe" "parameter"
CD %UserProfile%\Desktop
Do not use setlocal in your Batch or put endlocal in the line before the CD command.
This should work:
start cmd /k "c:\users\test\desktop\dmiwtool1.1\win64\dmiwtoolx64.exe & cd c:\users\test\desktop\dmiwtool1.1\win64\"
If you leave out the quote marks, the start command and the cd command are run separately.
I am trying to run a .cmd file on a remote server with PowerShell.
In my .ps1 script I have tried this:
C:\MyDirectory\MyCommand.cmd
It results in this error:
C:\MyDirectory\MyCommand.cmd is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or operable program.
And this
Invoke-Command C:\MyDirectory\MyCommand.cmd
results in this error:
Invoke-Command : Parameter set cannot be resolved using the specified named
parameters.
I do not need to pass any parameters to the PowerShell script. What is the correct syntax that I am looking for?
Invoke-Item will look up the default handler for the file type and tell it to run it.
It's basically the same as double-clicking the file in Explorer, or using start.exe.
Go to C:\MyDirectory and try this:
.\MyCommand.cmd
Try invoking cmd /c C:\MyDirectory\MyCommand.cmd – that should work.
To run or convert batch files to PowerShell (particularly if you wish to sign all your scheduled task scripts with a certificate) I simply create a PowerShell script, for example, deletefolders.ps1.
Input the following into the script:
cmd.exe /c "rd /s /q C:\#TEMP\test1"
cmd.exe /c "rd /s /q C:\#TEMP\test2"
cmd.exe /c "rd /s /q C:\#TEMP\test3"
*Each command needs to be put on a new line, calling cmd.exe again.
This script can now be signed and run from PowerShell outputting the commands to command prompt / cmd directly.
It is a much safer way than running batch files!
First you can reach till that folder:
cd 'C:\MyDirectory'
and then use:
./MyCommand.cmd
I am trying to switch to a directory using cmd and then execute a batch file
e.g.
cmd /k cd "C:\myfolder"
startbatch.bat
I have also tried (without success)
cmd cd /k cd "C:\myfolder" | startbatch.bat
Although the first line (cmd /k) seems to run ok, but the second command is never run. I am using Vista as the OS
Correct syntax is:
cmd /k "cd /d c:\myfolder && startbatch.bat"
ssg already posted correct answer. I would only add /d switch to cd command (eg. cd /d drive:\directory). This ensures the command works in case current directory is on different drive than the directory you want to cd to.
cmd cd /k "cd C:\myfolder; startbatch.bat"
or, why don't you run cmd /k c:\myfolder\startbatch.bat, and do cd c:\myfolder in the .bat file?
I can't see an answer addressing this, so if anyone needs to access a directory that has space in its name, you can add additional quotes, for example
cmd.exe /K """C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"" & powershell.exe"
From PowerShell you need to escape the quotes using the backquote `
cmd.exe /K "`"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat`" & powershell.exe"
Notice the escaped quotes
`"
inside the path string:
"`"C:\my path\`""
This will execute the proper command in cmd, i.e. the path surrounded with quotes which should work.
The example command above will initialise the MSVC developer command prompt and go back to PowerShell, inheriting the environment and giving access to the MSVC tools.
You can use & or && as commands separator in Windows.
Example:
cmd cd /K "cd C:\myfolder && startbatch.bat"
I give this as an answer because I saw this question in a comment and cannot comment yet.
cmd /k "cd c:\myfolder & startbatch.bat"
works, and if you have spaces:
cmd /k "cd "c:\myfolder" & startbatch.bat"
As I understand it, the command is passed to cmd as "cd "c:\myfolder" & startbatch.bat", which is then broken down into cd "c:\myfolder" & startbatch.bat at which point the remaining " " takes care of the path as string.
You can also use &&, | and || depending on what you want to achieve.