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Very often I have to make following steps in command line (to identify correct worker process in IIS for debugging):
Run cmd as an administrator
cd %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv
appcmd list wp
I want to make a shortcut on the desktop to do it in one click.
How can I achieve that?
P.S. I tried to specify it like on the picture but it doesn't work, just opens cmd in inetsrv folder
I assume you set up the shortcut to run as admin, so I do not go into details on that.
What is missing in your Target line is the switch to tell cmd.exe that there are strings following which should be interpreted and executed as command. You can chose /C for execute and quit (cmd window disappears) or /K for execute and show prompt (cmd window stays open). So the result would be something like: "%windir%\system32\cmd.exe" /K "appcmd list wp". See cmd.exe /? for details.
GL, HF :)
I'm trying to do the following:
Open a CMD prompt
Activate a virtual environment
Change the current directory to my project folder
In essence, I need to execute the following commands sequentially:
C:\Envs\djangorocks\Scripts\activate
cd "D:\GitHub\steelrumors"
I've found this link, but creating a shortcut as follows gives me nothing (just a plain CMD prompt in the currently active directory):
cmd \k "C:\Envs\djangorocks\Scripts\activate" & "cd "D:\GitHub\steelrumors""
After quite a while of searching I'm still doing it manually, any help is appreciated.
"creating a shortcut as follows gives me nothing (just a plain CMD prompt in the currently active directory):"
cmd \k "C:\Envs\djangorocks\Scripts\activate" & "cd "D:\GitHub\steelrumors""
Observations:
cmd \k should be cmd /k.
& should be && when using a shortcut.
You dont need all the " characters.
Try the following as the shortcut target:
cmd /k C:\Envs\djangorocks\Scripts\activate && cd D:\GitHub\steelrumors
Consider creating a batch file (e.g. c:\scripts\launchEnv.cmd) that does something like the following:
#echo off
C:\Envs\djangorocks\Scripts\activate
cd /d "D:\GitHub\steelrumors"
Then create a shortcut that invokes cmd /k c:\scripts\launchEnv.cmd .
Some notes:
the #echo off will prevent the commands from showing up in the cmd windows. If you do want to see the commands, then omit that line from your batch file
you'll need the /d param when changing directories to make sure you actually change and navigate there, independent of where the script is currently executing from.
As an extension to the great answer from #DavidPostill I've added an additional step to run a command from the newly created python env.
In my example below, I'm launching a new instance of the awesome data mining program, orange, from an anaconda env called orange. I've also cd'ed to the directory containing my orange data files. Note that I had to use the quotation marks "" to make it work.
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k "F: && cd \Dropbox\IT\Python\Orange && C:\Users\dreme\Anaconda3\Scripts\activate.bat orange && python -m Orange.canvas"
Is it possible to create a desktop shortcut that, when pressed, will open command prompt and run a pre-defined command?
Create A Shortcut That Opens The Command Prompt & Runs A Command:
Yes! You can create a shortcut to cmd.exe with a command specified after it. Alternatively you could create a batch script, if your goal is just to have a clickable way to run commands.
Steps:
Right click on some empty space in Explorer, and in the context menu go to "New/Shortcut".
When prompted to enter a location put either:
"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k your-command" This will run the command and keep (/k) the command prompt open after.
or
"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c your-command" This will run the command and the close (/c) the command prompt.
Notes:
Tested, and working on Windows 8 - Core X86-64 September 12 2014
If you want to have more than one command, place an "&" symbol in between them. For example: "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k command1 & command2".
Yes, make the shortcut's path
%comspec% /k <command>
where
%comspec% is the environment variable for cmd.exe's full path, equivalent to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe on most (if not all) Windows installs
/k keeps the window open after the command has run, this may be replaced with /c if you want the window to close once the command is finished running
<command> is the command you wish to run
The solutions turned out to be very simple.
Open text edit
Write the command, save as .bat.
Double click the file created and the command automatically starts running in command-prompt.
Create new text file on desktop;
Enter desired commands in text file;
Rename extension of text file from ".txt" --> ".bat"
Yes. One option you have is to create a batch file containing the command
cmd -c {your command}
or
cmd -k {your command}
The shortcut will then be to this batch file.
This is an old post but I have issues with coming across posts that have some incorrect information/syntax...
If you wanted to do this with a shorcut icon you could just create a shortcut on your desktop for the cmd.exe application. Then append a /K {your command} to the shorcut path.
So a default shorcut target path may look like "%windir%\system32\cmd.exe", just change it to %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /k {commands}
example: %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /k powercfg -lastwake
In this case i would use /k (keep open) to display results.
Arlen was right about the /k (keep open) and /c (close)
You can open a command prompt and type "cmd /?" to see your options.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/cmd.mspx?mfr=true
A batch file is kind of overkill for a single command prompt command...
Hope this helps someone else
I tried this, all it did was open a cmd prompt with "cmd -c (my command)"
and didn't actually run it. see below.
C:\windows\System32>cmd -c (powercfg /lastwake)
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\windows\System32>
***Update
I changed my .bat file to read "cmd /k (powercfg /lastwake)" and it worked.
You can also leave out the () and it works too.
You can also create a shortcut on desktop that can run a specific command or even a batch file by just typing the command in "Type the Location of Item" bar in create shortcut wizard
Right click on Desktop.
Enter the command in "Type the Location of Item" bar.
Double click the shortcut to run the command.
Found detailed Instructions here
Using the Drag and Drop method
From the windows search bar type in cmd to pull up the windows bar operation.
When the command line option is shown, right click it and select Open File Location.
The file explorer opens and the shortcut link is highlighted in the folder. If it is not highlighted, then select it.
Hold down the Control key and using the mouse drag the shortcut to the desktop. If you don't see Copy to Desktop while dragging and before dropping, then push down and hold the Control key until you see the message.
Drop the link on the desktop.
Change properties as needed.
How do I change default startup directory for command prompt in Windows 7?
I usually do the following to start command prompt from C:\
WIN-R (Run Prompt)
cmd /K cd C:\
I want to do the following to start command prompt from C:\
WIN-R (Run Prompt)
cmd
Make a shortcut pointing to cmd.exe somwhere (e.g. desktop) then right-click on the copy and select "properties". Navigate to the "Shortcut" menu and change the "Start in:" directory.
The following solution worked well for me. Navigate to the command prompt shortcut in the start menu:
C:\Users\ your username \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Command Prompt
Right click on the shortcut file to open the properties dialog. Inside the "Start in:" textbox you should see %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%. If you want the prompt to start in C:\ just replace the variables with "C:\" (without quotes).
update
It appears that Microsoft has changed this behavior recently and so now an additional step is required. After performing the steps above copy the modified shortcut "Command Prompt" and rename it to "cmd". Then when typing "cmd" in the start menu it should once again work.
Open regedit and browse to this path
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
Create new string vale named Autorun. Set its value to cd /d C:\.
Run cmd again. Voila!
While adding a AutoRun entry to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor like Shinnok's answer is the way to go it can also really mess things up, you really should try to detect a simple cmd.exe startup vs a script/program using cmd.exe as a child process:
IF /I x"%COMSPEC%"==x%CMDCMDLINE% (cd /D c:\)
Easiest way to do this
Click "Start" and type "cmd" or "command prompt".
Select Top most search application named exactly same "cmd" or "command prompt".
Right Click on it and select "Send To"=>"Desktop".
On Your Desktop New "cmd" Shortcut will appear
Right Click on that icon and choose "properties"
Popup will appear, In "Shortcut" Tab Type the new location in "Start In" option (e.g D:\xyz)
Drag that icon and add/pin it in "Task Bar"
On Windows Start Menu, right click on Command Prompt.
Click on "Properties".
"Command Prompt Properties" dialog box opens.
Edit the field "Start in " to a location where you want to start the command prompt.
Example: Chand %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% to D:\PersonalPrograms.
Next time when you start command prompt the start up directory will be D:\PersonalPrograms
Bit late but ignore the registry mods.
Simply change the shortcut target to:
cmd /k "command"
i.e.
cmd /k "cd\myStartUpFolder"
Voila!
This doesn't work for me. I've tried this both under Win7 64bit and Vista 32.
I'm using the below commandline to add this capability.
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun /t REG_SZ /d "IF x"%COMSPEC%"==x%CMDCMDLINE% (cd /D c:)"
I think the easiest way is to make a cmd shortcut, then change the shortcut's "Start in" directory to the one you want to start with.
On windows 7:
Do a search for "cmd" on your Windows computer
right-click cmd and left click "Pin to start menu" (Alternatively, right-click cmd - click copy and then paste to your desktop )
right-click the cmd in your start menu or on your desktop (depending on choice 2 above) - left click properties
inside the "start in" text box paste the location of your default start directory
Press Apply and OK
Every time you click on the cmd in your start menu or your desktop shortcut, the CMD will open in your default location
changing shortcut under Windows System on 8.1 worked for me - another thing I found is that 'Start In:' WORKS when Advanced -> Run as admin is UNCHECKED, however, if CHECKED, it does not work
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
string: Autorun
value: cd /d %~dp0
all bat files will run from the bat file location
One easy way to do it + bonus.
Start cmd with administrator rights, the default directory for the prompt will be C:\WINDOWS\system32.
I created a bat file in that directory (notes.bat)
Opened it with notepad and wrote the following lines. Each line is followed with a comment which should not be added to the bat file.
#echo off
prompt $S$CYourNamel$F$S$G$S
/* This is a comment, do not include it in the bat file - above line will make the prompt look like (YourName) > */
cd C:\Your_favorite_directory
/* This is a comment, do not include it in the bat file - above line will navigate you to your desired directory */
Saved the file and that was it.
Now when You open cmd with admin rights, just write: notes or notes.bat
and it will execute the notes.bat file with desired changes.
go to regedit ( go to search and type regedit)
expand "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" node
under HKEY_CURRENT_USER node expand "software" node
under software node expand "microsoft" node
under microsoft node click on "Command Processor"
path looks like this : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor"
it looks something like this :
if you do not see "Autorun" String Value
Right Click - New - Expandable String Value, and rename it to Autorun
double click on "Autorun"
10.enter this value path format:
"CD/d C:\yourfoldername\yoursubfoldername"
Edit: It actually seems that editing the file shortcut breaks the Win+x, c key shortcut. (Moral of the story: only change system files you know how to fix! Eventually after a Windows update it repaired itself.)
What I ended up doing is creating a new customized Command Prompt shortcut in the start folder and pinned to the taskbar that I launch instead of cmd.exe
As other answers point out, changing the registry Autorun cmd start location is a bad idea because it silently will break other programs that shell out for tasks, like Visual Studio Code.
You should just change whatever shortcut you use to open cmd to have a Start In entry.
If you use Win+x, c to launch cmd, you can edit the Start In for
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX\Group3\02 - Command Prompt.lnk"
type
cmd.exe /k cd c:/
in a text file and save as cmd.bat Clicking this file does the trick. You can pin it to the start menu as well.
To start in a partitioned drive (e.g. D), use
cmd.exe /k d:
My default dir was system32 when starting CMD.
I then created a batch file in that directory to change dir to the one I was after.
This caused me to always call that bat when starting CMD every time.
So I made a reg file & put this inside:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"Autorun"="cd C:\\Users\\Me\\SomeFolder"
After saving it, I opened the file, clicked ok to merge with registry, and since then every time I open CMD, I get my dir
In the new Windows Terminal, you can click Settings and edit the line "startingDirectory" to achieve something similar.
Please note, however, that this changes the default startup directory only in Windows Terminal, and not for the command prompt globally.
Use Windows Terminal and configure a starting directory.
Partial settings.json:
{
// Make changes here to the cmd.exe profile.
"guid": "{0caa0dad-35be-5f56-a8ff-afceeeaa6101}",
"name": "Command Prompt",
"commandline": "cmd.exe",
"hidden": false,
"startingDirectory": "C:\\DEV"
},
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor is no longer valid.
The new key is here:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor
Change "Autorun" to "CD /d C:\YourFolder" (without double quotes)
Keep the opening of the command prompt clean. Avoid editing the registry key and adding an Autorun, it may come back to bite you.
Create a simple batch file and save it in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder. I call mine !.bat (exclamation mark). It has the following commands:
#echo off
c:
cd \
cls
whoami
It goes to the folder where I need to work, clears the screen and tells me what security context I'm in.
"start in directory" command
cmd /K cd C:\WorkSpace
but if WorkSpace happens to be on different than C drive, console will be launched in default folder and then you still need to put D: to change drive
To avoid this use cd with -d parameter
cmd /K cd -d D:\WorkSpace
create a shortcut and your fixed ;)
hi if you want cmd to automatically open when the machine starts up you can place the cmd.exe executable in the startup folder(just search for startup and place a shortcut of cmd.exe there)
regedit worked great. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Command Processor, all you have to do is change the AutoRun key value, which is already set to wherever you are currently getting dumped into to a new value in the format of:
cd /d <drive:path>
for c:\, that would be cd /d c:\
for junk, that would be cd d/ c:\junk
its very simple, even a novice thats never used regedit should be able to figure it out. if not, go to the c:\prompt and just type in regedit, then follow the path to the key.
Take an excruciatingly simple batch file:
echo hi
pause
Save that as test.bat. Now, make a shortcut to test.bat. The shortcut runs the batch file, which prints "hi" and then waits for a keypress as expected. Now, add some argument to the target of the shortcut. Now you have a shortcut to:
%path%\test.bat some args
The shortcut runs the batch file as before.
Now, run the shortcut as administrator. (This is on Windows 7 by the way.) You can use either right-click -> Run as Administrator, or go to the shortcut's properties and check the box in the advanced section. Tell UAC that it's okay and once again the shortcut runs the batch file as expected.
Now, change the arguments in the target of the shortcut to add double quotes:
%path%\test.bat "some args"
Now try the shortcut as administrator. It doesn't work this time! A command window pops up and and disappears too fast to see any error. I tried adding > test.log 2>&1 to the shortcut, but no log is created in this case.
Try running the same shortcut (with the double quotes) but not as Administrator. It runs the batch file fine. So, it seems the behavior is not because of the double quoted parameters, and it's not because it's run as Administrator. It's some weird combination of the two.
I also tried running the same command from an administrator's command window. This ran the batch file as expected without error. Running the shortcut from the command window spawned a new command window which flashed and went away. So apparently the issue is caused by a combination of administrator, the shortcut, and the double quotes.
I'm totally stumped, does anyone have any idea what's going on? I'd also like a workaround.
I just ran Process Monitor on this and here is what I saw:
Run as User:
cmd /c ""C:\Users\Sunbelt\Desktop\test.bat" "some args""
Run as Admin:
"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" /C "C:\Users\Sunbelt\Desktop\test.bat" "some args"
For some reason, the Run as Admin case is not quoting the entire command. It seems it is trying to run the command:
C:\Users\Sunbelt\Desktop\test.bat" "some args
I would guess that since the first space is quoted it actually trying to run the following command:
"C:\Users\Sunbelt\Desktop\test.bat some" args
And in Process Monitor logs there is a file system entry of "NO SUCH FILE" for "C:\Users\Sunbelt\Desktop\test.bat some". I don't know why it is different when run as Admin, but that's what appears to be happening.
To work around this, create another bat file on a path without spaces, and with a filename without spaces, that simply does this:
call "Long path to original bat file\Original bat file.bat"
This secondary bat file can be run as admin.
You can now create a shortcut to this secondary bat file and check run as admin in the shortcut's advanced options. The shortcut can be placed on a path with spaces and it can have a filename containing spaces.
In my case I just want to pass one filename as parameter, but the path has spaces.
I found a solution that worked for this case (if that's okay to truncate the file name).
Create another bat file (input_gate.bat) to remove the spaces in the path using the syntax of CALL.exe.
Assuming that the shortcut is named test.lnk and is on the same route as the input_gate.bat:
call %~sdp0test.lnk %~sf1
This pass as a parameter to test.bat the full file name in short format, with administrator privileges.
%~sdp0 -> Is the current path (for the input_gate.bat) in short format.
%~sf1 -> Is the first parameter passed to input_gate.bat (in my case the full filename with spaces)
This worked for me in Windows 7:
ShortcutTarget: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C myscript.bat Param1 "Param Two with spaces"
StartIn: "C:\Path containing\my script"
Not tried it yet as Admin. I don't think it would work if myscript.bat contained spaces
I finally figured it out, in a way that allows the use of long filenames (short filenames weren't adequate for my use case). My solution works on Win 7, 8, and 10. I think it was inspired by Luke's mention of the missing double-quote.
Here it is:
1.) For the shortcut you create to the batch file, which you set to run as admin, use the following command line:
cmd /s /c ""path_to_batch_file"
Note that there are 2 double-quote characters at the beginning of the command, and only 1 at the end, even though there should normally be 2 at the end also. But that is the trick in getting it to work!
2.) In your batch file, add back the missing double-quote character:
set user_file=%1"
That's it! Here's an example to let you see it in action:
1.) On your desktop, create "test.bat" with the following content:
#echo off
set user_file=%1"
echo The file is: %user_file%
pause
3.) Create a shortcut to the batch file. Set it to run as admin, and give it the following command line:
cmd /s /c ""%userprofile%\desktop\test.bat"
4.) Drag a file onto the shortcut. Success! (I hope...)
Answer here worked for me: https://superuser.com/questions/931003/passing-variables-with-space-to-the-command-line-as-admin
Which is...
Adding cmd /C before the target.
I also had to make sure my script's name and path didn't have spaces, and not quote the script's path in target.