17 Useful Command Prompt Tricks You Should Know 2018

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There are some things you can only do from the command line, even on Windows.
Some of these tools don’t have graphical equivalents, while others are just plain faster
to use than their graphical interfaces.
We can’t possibly cover all the useful commands you can use in the Command Prompt
or PowerShell here. We’ll be focusing on commands that should be useful even if you’re
not a command-line person.

Comment / Remark
Commands marked • are Internal commands only available within the CMD shell.
All other commands (not marked with) are external commands.
External commands may be used under the CMD shell, PowerShell, or directly from
START-RUN.

Final Words About Most Useful Command Prompt Tricks:

Share your experience with these most important command prompt tricks to be a
smart tech guys.You must use all the above tricks if you want to be a
programmer, ethical hacker or cyber security expert.
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1.Change the fonts of the color in Command Prompt

Like below screenshot, you can change your command prompt fonts too. If you want
green fonts type COLOR A command in command prompt. This my favorite
command prompt tricks.
2.ipconfig – Quickly Find Your IP Address
This my another favorite and funny command prompt tricks. You can find your IP
address from the Control Panel, but this takes quite a few clicks. The ipconfig command
is a fast way of determining your computer’s IP address and other information, such as
the address of its default gateway — useful if you want to know the IP address of your
router’s web interface.
To use the command, just type ipconfig into a Command Prompt window. You’ll see a
list of all the network connections your computer is using. Look under Wireless LAN
adapter if you’re connected to Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection if you’re
connected to a wired network.
3.Tree: View Directory Structure
If you’ve created a virtual spiderweb of files and directories on your computer, it can get
pretty confusing to remember where everything is. Sometimes it would be nice to have
a diagram showing directories and sub-directories. Using the Tree command, you can
do just that. This my another favorite and funny command prompt tricks
First, navigate to the directory you want to get the file structure of, and then type “tree >
myfile.txt“. The text file can be called anything you like.

The command writes the entire directory structure, completed with all folders, into the
text file, which you can print out for easy viewing.

The formatting may look a little bit funky, but if you look closely you’ll see that the
directories are all there, they just might be prefaced with some weird symbols.
4.File Search & Comparison
If you ever have two text files – particularly two very large text files – the file compare
(fc) command is all you need to identify and synchronize file differences.
The usage is about as easy as it can get. Just type “fc” followed by the names of the
two files.

The system will respond by showing the lines from both files where there are
differences. This command can become pretty handy when you’re collaborating with
people and trying to sync up differences between files that several people are working
on.If you only need to find a file on your system, and you know the name of the file, the
“find” command is far faster than any point and click operation you can do. Just do a
“dir” command to the directory you want to search, and then “|” followed by the name of
the file.

The system will respond with the directory where the file is stored.
5.flushdns – Flush Your DNS Resolver Cache
If you change your DNS server, the effects won’t necessarily take place immediately.
Windows uses a cache that remembers DNS responses it’s received, saving time when
you access the same addresses again in the future. This my another favorite and funny
command prompt tricks
To ensure Windows is getting addresses from the new DNS servers instead of using
old, cached entries, run theipconfig /flushdnscommand after changing your DNS
server.
6.ping, tracert – Troubleshoot Network Connection Issues
If you’re experiencing issues connecting to a website or other network connection
issues, Windows and other operating systems have some standard tools you can use to
identify problems.
First, there’s the ping command. Type ping google.com and Windows will send
packets to Google.com. Google will respond and let you know it’s received them. You’ll
be able to see if any packets didn’t make it to Google.com — perhaps you’re
experiencing packet loss — and how long it took you to hear back — perhaps the
network is saturated and packets are taking a while to reach their destinations.

There’s also the tracert command, which traces the route it takes for a packet to reach a
destination. For example, run tracert google.com and you’ll see the path your packet
takes to reach Google. If you’re having issues connecting to a website, tracert can show
you where the problem is occurring.This my another favorite and funny command
prompt tricks.
7.shutdown – Create Shutdown Shortcuts on Windows 8
The shutdown command is particularly useful on Windows 8. You can use it to create
your own shortcuts and place them on your Start screen or desktop, allowing you to
more easily shut down Windows without digging through the charms bar or logging out
first.
This command can also be used to restart your computer. On Windows 8, you can even
use a special switch to restart your computer into the advanced startup options menu.
 Shut Down:shutdown /s /t 0
 Restart:shutdown /r /t 0
 Restart Into Startup Options:shutdown /r /o
8.recimg – Create Custom Recovery Images
The Refresh Your PC feature on Windows 8 allows you to restore your computer’s
system state to its original state — either from a clean Windows install or as the
computer came from its manufacturer. You can create your own custom recovery
images, but this feature is hidden — you have to do it with the recimg command from a
command line. This allows you to remove manufacturer-installed bloatware or add your
favorite desktop programs to your recovery image.

9. Dir
This command will list the contents of the current directory you are in. It takes a lot of
parameters like /t and /p which will list the files according to a particular criteria. You can
get the list of options to use with this command by typing dir /?
Examples:
dir /t :lists file according to the time it was created
‘Dir’ command helps to know which directories have been created on specified disk. It
also shows the last modified content date, time and file size.
10.SystemInfo
This is one of my much-loved and common dos command. It gives you a detailed
description about your system components like processor, memory and much more.
You can also use it to check whether your system is 32 bit or 64 bit.
systeminfo is one of the most amazing commands in command prompt. With the help
of this command, you can know everything about your computer.
systeminfo : displays a report about your system’s components.

11.wbadmin start backup – Create System Recovery Images

Windows 8.1 removes the Windows 7 backup interface, which allowed you to create
system backup images. These system images contain a complete snapshot of every
single file on the system, so they’re different from Windows 8’s recovery images.
While the graphical interface has been removed, system administrators and geeks can
still create system image backups by running the wbadmin start backup cmdlet in a
PowerShell window. Unlike all the other commands here, this command-line tool must
be run from within PowerShell, not the Command Prompt.
12.sfc /scannow – Scan System Files for Problems
Windows includes a system file checker tool that scans its system files and looks for
problems. If system files are missing or corrupted, the system file checker will repair
them. This may fix problems with some Windows systems.
To use this tool, open a Command Prompt window as Administrator and run the
sfc /scannow command.
13.telnet – Connect to Telnet Servers
The telnet client isn’t installed by default. You’ll have to install it from the Control Panel.
Once installed, you can use the telnet command to connect to telnet servers without
installing any third-party software.
This my another favorite and funny command prompt tricks
You should avoid using telnet if you can help it, but if you’re connected directly to a
device and it requires that you use telnet to set something up — well, that’s what you
have to do.
14.cipher – Permanently Delete and Overwrite a Directory
The cipher command is mostly used for managing encryption, but it also has an option
that will write garbage data to a drive, clearing its free space and ensuring no deleted
file can be recovered.Deleted files normally stick around on diskunless you’re using a
solid state drive. The cipher command effectively allows you to “wipe” a drive without
installing any third-party tools.
To use the command, specify the drive you want to wipe like so: ciper /w:C:\

15. Chkdsk
Chkdsk stands for ‘check disk’. It checks your disks drives and finds errors. You can
alsorepair your affected disk drives with this command using the “/f “ options, which
will fix your drive.
Before that, you need to have administrative privileges to use this command. For that,
run cmd as administrator, by right clicking it on start and selecting “run as administrator”
[windows 7]. Follow same procedure on Windows 8, i.e. search for cmd and right click
on it.
chkdsk drive name:
Example: chkdsk c: – This will check the C drive for errors and gives you a tiny report.
You may follow another process – From the start menu – search for command prompt,
click right and choose the option “ run as administrator”. You will get to see
administrator command prompt, where you can type – chkdsk and enter.
By default chkdsk operates on current disk, if you want to check your D drive type –
chkdsk D: and press enter.
If you want chkdsk to also fix the error in a drive – type chkdsk D: /F , ‘F’ here means
‘Fix’ parameter.
Usability of Chkdsk – Primary use of chkdsk command is to check that all the
information stored in files, folders on the disk is correct and repair the disk for errors.
16.netstat -an – List Network Connections and Ports
The netstat command is particularly useful, displaying all sorts of network statistics
when used with its various options. One of the most interesting variants of netstat
isnetstat -an, which will display a list of all open network connections on their computer,
along with the port they’re using and the foreign IP address they’re connected to.
17.Windows Utilities
This my another favorite and funny command prompt tricks Finally, there are a
multitude of DOS commands that are invaluable as system troubleshooting tools. For
example, to view a list of active processes, just open up a command prompt and type
“tasklist“.

If you see any process you want to kill, just type “taskkill” follwoed by the image name.
Nervous about whether a particular system file became corrupted after a recent virus
infection? Just type “sfc /VERIFYFILE=” followed by the full path of the file.

Windows will check to be sure it is the original. You can also scan all system files like
this at once by typing “sfc /scannow”
Finally, probably one of the most useful DOS commands available – the AT command.
With “AT”, you have the ability to schedule tasks to run on a regular routine, all from a
simple command prompt.
Setting up the AT commands can be a little tricky, so type “at help” if you need
parameter help. In the command above I set up the computer to automatically archive
all files in the temp directory to the archive folder. You could do similar jobs to routinely
back up important files on your computer to a mapped external drive.
As you can see, there’s still plenty that you can do with the command prompt. Having
these resources at your fingertips can really make it a lot easier to troubleshoot,
maintain and repair computer systems.
Were any of these commands new to you? Do you know of any other useful DOS tips?
Share your insights in the comments section below.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of all the commands you might find useful, but we hope
it’s given you some idea of the many powerful tools lurking under the surface. Linux isn’t
the only operating system where users can benefit from learning some commands.
An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line

A
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
ASSOC Change file extension associations•
ASSOCIAT One step file association
AT Schedule a command to run at a specific time
Add Hardware hdwwiz.cpl
Add / Remove Programs appwiz.cpl
Accessibility Options access .cpl
Administrative Tools control admintools
Automatic Updates wuaucpl.cpl
AC3 Filter (if installed) ac3filter.cpl
ADDUSERS Add or list users to/from a CSV file
ADmodcmd Active Directory Bulk Modify
B
BCDBOOT Create or repair a system partition
BCDEDIT Manage Boot Configuration Data
BITSADMIN Background Intelligent Transfer Service
BOOTCFG Edit Windows boot settings
BROWSTAT Get domain, browser and PDC info
C
Calculator calc
CHDIR – Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHKDSK – Checks a disk and displays a status report.
CLS – Clears the screen.
COMP – Compares two groups of files to find information that does not match.
COPY – Copies and appends files.
CACLS Change file permissions
CALL Call one batch program from another•
CERTREQ Request certificate from a certification authority
CERTUTIL Utility for certification authority (CA) files and services
CD Change Directory – move to a specific Folder•
CHANGE Change Terminal Server Session properties
CHKDSK Check Disk – check and repair disk problems
CHKNTFS Check the NTFS file system
CHOICE Accept keyboard input to a batch file
CIPHER Encrypt or Decrypt files/folders
CleanMgr Automated cleanup of Temp files, recycle bin
CLIP Copy STDIN to the Windows clipboard
CLS Clear the screen•
CMD Start a new CMD shell
CMDKEY Manage stored usernames/passwords
COLOR Change colors of the CMD window•
COMP Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
COMPACT Compress files or folders on an NTFS partition
COMPRESS Compress one or more files
CONVERT Convert a FAT drive to NTFS
COPY Copy one or more files to another location•
Coreinfo Show the mapping between logical & physical processors
CSCcmd Client-side caching (Offline Files)
CSVDE Import or Export Active Directory data
D
DATE Display or set the date•
DEFRAG Defragment hard drive
DELPROF Delete user profiles
DELTREE Delete a folder and all subfolders
DevCon Device Manager Command Line Utility
DIR Display a list of files and folders•
DIRQUOTA File Server Resource Manager Disk quotas
DIRUSE Display disk usage
DISKPART Disk Administration
DEL – Deletes files from disk.
DELTREE – Deletes a directory including all files and subdirectories that are in it.
DIR – Displays directory of files and directories stored on disk.
DISKCOMP – Compares the contents of two diskettes.
DISKSHADOW Volume Shadow Copy Service
DISKUSE Show the space used in folders
DOSKEY Edit command line, recall commands, and create macros
DriverQuery Display installed device drivers
DSACLs Active Directory ACLs
DSAdd Add items to active directory (user group computer)
DSGet View items in active directory (user group computer)
DSQuery Search for items in active directory (user group computer)
DSMod Modify items in active directory (user group computer)
DSMove Move an Active directory Object
E
ECHO – Displays messages or turns on or off the display of commands in a batch file.
EDIT – Starts the MS-DOS editor, a text editor used to create and edit ASCII text files.
EXIT – Exits a secondary command processor.
EXPAND – Expands a compressed file.
FASTHELP – Displays a list of DOS commands with a brief explanation of each.
ENDLOCAL End localisation of environment changes in a batch file•
ERASE Delete one or more files•
EVENTCREATE Add a message to the Windows event log
EXPAND Uncompress CAB files
EXPLORER Open Windows Explorer
EXTRACT Uncompress CAB files
F
FIND – Finds and reports the location of a specific string of text characters in one or
more files.
FOR – Performs repeated execution of commands (for both batch processing and
interactive processing).
FORMAT – Formats a disk to accept DOS files.
FC Compare two files
FIND Search for a text string in a file
FINDSTR Search for strings in files
FOR /F Loop command: against a set of files•
FOR /F Loop command: against the results of another command•
FOR Loop command: all options Files, Directory, List•
FORFILES Batch process multiple files
FORMAT Format a disk
FREEDISK Check free disk space
FSUTIL File and Volume utilities
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FTYPE File extension file type associations•
G
GRAPHICS – Provides a way to print contents of a graphics screen display.
GETMAC Display the Media Access Control (MAC) address
GOTO Direct a batch program to jump to a labelled line•
GPRESULT Display Resultant Set of Policy information
GPUPDATE Update Group Policy settings
H
HELP Online Help
HOSTNAME Display the host name of the computer
I
IF – Allows for conditional operations in batch processing.
IFMEMBER Is the current user a member of a group
IPCONFIG Configure IP
INUSE Replace files that are in use by the OS
L
LODCTR Load PerfMon performance counters
LOGMAN Manage Performance Monitor logs
LOGOFF Log a user off
LOGTIME Log the date and time in a file
LABEL – Creates or changes or deletes a volume label for a disk.
M
MEM – Displays amount of installed and available memory, including extended,
expanded, and upper memory.
MKDIR – Creates a new subdirectory.
MORE – Sends output to console, one screen at a time.
MOVE – Moves one or more files to the location you specify. Can also be used to
rename directories.
MAKECAB Create .CAB files
MAPISEND Send email from the command line
MBSAcli Baseline Security Analyzer
MEM Display memory usage
MD Create new folders•
MKLINK Create a symbolic link (linkd) •
MODE Configure a system device COM/LPT/CON
MORE Display output, one screen at a time
MOUNTVOL Manage a volume mount point
MOVE Move files from one folder to another•
MOVEUSER Move a user from one domain to another
MSG Send a message
MSIEXEC Microsoft Windows Installer
MSINFO32 System Information
MSTSC Terminal Server Connection (Remote Desktop Protocol)
N
NET Manage network resources
NETDOM Domain Manager
NETSH Configure Network Interfaces, Windows Firewall & Remote access
NBTSTAT Display networking statistics (NetBIOS over TCP/IP)
NETSTAT Display networking statistics (TCP/IP)
NLSINFO Display locale information (reskit).
NLTEST Network Location Test (AD)
NOW Display the current Date and Time
NSLOOKUP Name server lookup
NTBACKUP Backup folders to tape
NTDSUtil Active Directory Domain Services management
NTRIGHTS Edit user account rights
NVSPBIND Modify network bindings
O
OPENFILES Query or display open files
P
PATHPING Trace route plus network latency and packet loss
PAUSE Suspend processing of a batch file and display a message•
PERMS Show permissions for a user
PERFMON Performance Monitor
PING Test a network connection
PATH – Sets or displays directories that will be searched for programs not in the current
directory.
POPD Return to a previous directory saved by PUSHD•
PORTQRY Display the status of ports and services
POWERCFG Configure power settings
PRINT Print a text file
PRINTBRM Print queue Backup/Recovery
PRNCNFG Configure or rename a printer
PRNMNGR Add, delete, list printers and printer connections
ProcDump Monitor an application for CPU spikes
PROMPT Change the command prompt•
PsExec Execute process remotely
PsFile Show files opened remotely
PsGetSid Display the SID of a computer or a user
PsInfo List information about a system
PsKill Kill processes by name or process ID
PsList List detailed information about processes
PsLoggedOn Who’s logged on (locally or via resource sharing)
PsLogList Event log records
PsPasswd Change account password
PsPing Measure network performance
PsService View and control services
PsShutdown Shutdown or reboot a computer
PsSuspend Suspend processes
PUSHD Save and then change the current directory•
Q
QGREP Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern
Query Process / QPROCESS Display processes
Query Session / QWinsta Display all sessions (TS/Remote Desktop)
Query TermServer /QAppSrv List all servers (TS/Remote Desktop)
Query User / QUSER Display user sessions (TS/Remote Desktop)
R
RENAME – Changes the filename under which a file is stored.
RMDIR – Removes a subdirectory.
RASDIAL Manage RAS connections
RASPHONE Manage RAS connections
RECOVER Recover a damaged file from a defective disk
REG Registry: Read, Set, Export, Delete keys and values
REGEDIT Import or export registry settings
REGSVR32 Register or unregister a DLL
REGINI Change Registry Permissions
REM Record comments (remarks) in a batch file•
REN Rename a file or files•
REPLACE Replace or update one file with another
Reset Session Delete a Remote Desktop Session
RD Delete folder(s)•
RMTSHARE Share a folder or a printer
ROBOCOPY Robust File and Folder Copy
ROUTE Manipulate network routing tables
RUN Start | RUN commands
RUNAS Execute a program under a different user account
S
SORT – Sorts input and sends it to the screen or to a file.
SC Service Control
SCHTASKS Schedule a command to run at a specific time
SET Display, set, or remove session environment variables•
SETLOCAL Control the visibility of environment variables•
SetSPN Edit Service Principal Names
SETX Set environment variables
SFC System File Checker
SHARE List or edit a file share or print share
ShellRunAs Run a command under a different user account
SHIFT Shift the position of batch file parameters•
SHORTCUT Create a windows shortcut (.LNK file)
SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer
SLEEP Wait for x seconds
SLMGR Software Licensing Management (Vista/2008)
SORT Sort input
START Start a program, command or batch file•
STRINGS Search for ANSI and UNICODE strings in binary files
SUBINACL Edit file and folder Permissions, Ownership and Domain
SUBST Associate a path with a drive letter
SYSMON Monitor and log system activity to the Windows event log
SYSTEMINFO List system configuration
T
TAKEOWN Take ownership of a file
TASKLIST List running applications and services
TASKKILL End a running process
TELNET Communicate with another host using the TELNET protocol
TIME Display or set the system time•
TIMEOUT Delay processing of a batch file
TITLE Set the window title for a CMD.EXE session•
TLIST Task list with full path
TOUCH Change file timestamps
TRACERT Trace route to a remote host
TREE Graphical display of folder structure
TSDISCON Disconnect a Remote Desktop Session
TSKILL End a running process
TSSHUTDN Remotely shut down or reboot a terminal server
TYPE Display the contents of a text file•
TypePerf Write performance data to a log file
TZUTIL Time Zone Utility
V
VER Display version information•
VERIFY Verify that files have been saved•
VOL Display a disk label•
W
W32TM Time Service
WAITFOR Wait for or send a signal
WEVTUTIL Clear event logs, enable/disable/query logs
WHERE Locate and display files in a directory tree
WHOAMI Output the current UserName and domain
WINDIFF Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
WINRM Windows Remote Management
WINRS Windows Remote Shell
WMIC WMI Commands
WUAUCLT Windows Update
X
XCOPY – Copies directories, subdirectories, and file

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Jugoexpress