Windows Command Prompt (CMD) Commands You Must Know
Windows tool. Here are the most useful CMD
commands every Windows user needs to
know.
The command prompt is slowly
disappearing from the Windows interface
and for good reasons: CMD commands are
an antiquated and mostly unnecessary tool
from an era of text-based input. But many
commands remain useful, and Windows 8
and 10 even added new features.
Windows Command Prompt
Commands
If you haven't poked around inside
Windows' command line, you're missing
out. There are lots of handy tools you can
use if you know the correct things to type.
1. Assoc
Most files in Windows are associated with
a specific program that is assigned to open
the file by default. At times, remembering
these associations can become confusing.
You can remind yourself by entering the
command assoc to display a full list of
filename extensions and program
associations.
In Windows 10, you can view a more user-
friendly interface that also lets you change
file type associations on the spot. Head to
Settings (Windows + I) > Apps > Default
apps > Choose default app by file type.
2. Cipher
Deleting files on a mechanical hard drive
doesn't really delete them at all. Instead, it
marks the files as no longer accessible and
the space they took up as free. The files
remain recoverable until the system
overwrites them with new data. which can
take some time.
The cipher command, however, lets you
wipe a directory on an NTFS-formatted
volume by writing random data to it. To
wipe your C drive, for example, you'd use
the cipher /wd command, which will wipe
free space on the drive. The command
does not overwrite undeleted data, so you
will not wipe out the files you need by
running this command.
When you run the cipher command by itself,
it returns the encryption state of the current
directory and the files it contains. Use
cipher /e:<filename> to encrypt a file,
cipher /c:«filename> to retrieve information
about encrypted files, and cipher /d:
filename> to decrypt the selected file.
Most of these commands are redundant
with the Windows encryption tool
BitLocker.
3. File Compare
You can use this command to identify
differences in text between two files. It's
particularly useful for writers and
programmers trying to find small changes
between two versions of a file. Simply type
fe and then the directory path and file name
of the two files you want to compare.
You can also extend the command in
several ways. Typing /b compares only
binary output, /c disregards the case of text
in the comparison, and /I only compares
ASCll text.
So, for example, you could use the
following:
fc /l"C: \Program Files (×86) \examp
The above command compares ASCII text
in two Word documents.
4. Ipconfig
This command relays the IP address that
your computer is currently using. However,
if you're behind a router (like most
computers today), you'll instead receive the
local network address of the router.
Still, ipconfig is useful because of its
extensions. ipconfig /release followed by
ipconfig /renew can force your Windows
PC into asking for a new IP address, which
is useful if your computer claims one isn't
available. You can also use ipconfig
/flushdns to refresh your DNS address.
These commands are great if the Windows
network troubleshooter chokes, which
does happen on occasion.
5. Netstat
Entering the command netstat -an will
provide you with a list of currently open
ports and related IP addresses. This
command will also tell you what state the
port is in; listening, established, or closed
This is a great command for when you're
trying to troubleshoot devices connected to
your PC or when you fear a Trojan infected
your system and you're trying to locate a
malicious connection.
6. Ping
Sometimes, you need to know whether or
not packets are making it to a specific
networked device. That's where ping comes
in handy.
Typing ping followed by an IP address or
web domain will send a series of test
packets to the specified address. If they
arrive and are returned, you know the
device is capable of communicating with
your PC; if it fails, you know that there's
something blocking communication
between the device and your computer.
This can help you decide if the root of the
issue is an improper configuration or a
failure of network hardware.
7. PathPing
This is a more advanced version of ping
that's useful if there are multiple routers
between your PC and the device you're
testing. Like ping, you use this command by
typing pathping followed by the IP address,
but unlike ping, pathping also relays some
information about the route the test
packets take.
8. Tracert
The tracert command is similar to
pathping. Once again, type tracert followed
by the IP address or domain you'd like to
trace. You'll receive information about each
step in the route between your PC and the
target. Unlike pathping, however, tracert
also tracks how much time (in
milliseconds) each hop between servers or
devices takes.
9. Powercfg
Powercfg is a very powerful command for
managing and tracking how your computer
uses energy. You can use the command
powercfg hibernate on and powercfg
hibernate off to manage hibernation, and
you can also use the command powercfg
/a to view the power-saving states currently
available on your PC.
Another useful command is powercfg
/devicequery s1_supported, which displays
a list of devices on your computer that
support connected standby. When enabled,
you can use these devices to bring your
computer out of standby, even remotely.
You can enable this by selecting the device
in Device Manager, opening its properties,
going to the Power Management tab, and
then checking the Allow this device to
wake the computer box.
Powercfg /lastwake will show you what
device last woke your PC from a sleep
state. You can use this command to
troubleshoot your PC if it
You can use the powercfg/energy
command to build a detailed power
consumption report for your PC. The report
saves to the directory indicated after the
command finishes.
This report will let you know of any system
faults that might increase power
consumption, like devices blocking certain
sleep modes, or poorly configured to
respond to your power management
settings.
Windows 8 added powercfg/batteryreport,
which provides a detailed analysis of
battery use, if applicable. Normally output
to your Windows user directory, the report
provides details about the time and length
of charge and discharge cycles, lifetime
average battery life, and estimated battery
capacity.
10. Shutdown
Windows 8 introduced the shutdown
command that, you guessed it, shuts down
your computer.This is,of course, redundant
with the already easily accessed shutdown
button, but what's not redundant is
the shutdown /r /0 command, which
restarts your PC and launches
the Advanced Start Options menu, which
is where you can access Safe Mode and
Windows recovery utilities. This is useful
if you want to restart your computer for
troubleshooting purposes.
11.SFC (System File Checker)
System File Checker is an automatic scan
and repair tool that focuses on Windows
system files.
You will need to run the command
prompt with administrator privileges
and enter the command sf /scannow.
If SF finds any corrupt or missing files,
it will automatically replace them using
cached copies kept by Windows for this
purpose alone. The command can require a
half-hour to run on older notebooks.
12.Task list
You can use the tasklist command to
provide a current list of all tasks running
on your PC. Though somewhat redundant
with Task Manager, the command may
sometimes find tasks hidden from view in
that utility.
There's also a wide range of modifiers.
Tasklist-sve shows services related to each
task, use tasklist-v to obtain more detail
on each task, and tasklist -m will locate
DLL files associated with active tasks.
These commands are useful for advanced
troubleshooting.
Our reader Eric noted that you can
"get the name of the executable associated
with the particular process ID you're
interested in." The command for that
operation is tasklist | find Lprocess id].
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