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What Would Be Displayed if a User Executes This Program and Answered Blue When Prompted

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The beginner's guide to starting applications from the Windows Command Prompt

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This wikiHow teaches you how to start a program on your Windows computer from within the Command Prompt app. You can only run programs that are installed in Windows-created folders (e.g., the Desktop), though you can add a program's folder to the Command Prompt list in order to run the program from within Command Prompt.

  1. 1

    Open Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen, or find the Windows logo key on your computer's keyboard and press it.

    • If you're using Windows 8, instead place your mouse cursor in the top-right side of the screen and then click the magnifying glass icon in the pop-out window.

  2. 2

    Type command prompt into Start. Doing so will search your computer for the Command Prompt program.

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  3. 3

    Click Command Prompt . It's the black box at the top of the Start window. Command Prompt will open.

    • If you're using a computer with restricted privileges, you may not be able to open Command Prompt.

  4. 4

    Type start into Command Prompt. Make sure you place a space after start.

  5. 5

    Type the program's name into Command Prompt. This must be the file's system name, not its shortcut name (for example, Command Prompt's system name is cmd). Common program names include the following:

    • File Explorer - explorer
    • Calculator - calc
    • Notepad - notepad
    • Character Map - charmap
    • Paint - mspaint
    • Command Prompt (new window) - cmd
    • Windows Media Player - wmplayer
    • Task Manager - taskmgr

  6. 6

    Press ↵ Enter . Once your command resembles start program_name, doing so will run the "start" command for your selected program. You should see the program open within a few seconds of entering the command.

    • If your selected program won't run, it is most likely in a folder that isn't in the Command Prompt's search path. You can add the program's folder to the Command Prompt path to fix this problem.

    EXPERT TIP

    Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

    Luigi Oppido

    Luigi Oppido
    Computer & Tech Specialist

    Did You Know? Running programs from the command prompt allows you to use switches and flags that will do specific things within the software, rather than just running the blind executable. You can also remove or rename files that you can't do from inside the Windows Explorer prompt.

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  1. 1

    Open Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. You can also press the Windows key on your computer's keyboard.

  2. 2

    Open File Explorer . Click the folder-shaped icon in the lower-left side of the Start window.

  3. 3

    Open the folder your program is in. Navigate to the folder that has the program you want to open by clicking on any folders needed to get to it.

    • When the icon for the program you want to open in Command Prompt displays in the middle of the File Explorer window, you're in the correct folder.
    • If you don't know the location of the program, many programs are often located in the "Program Files" folder on the hard drive, or you can search for it in the search bar at the top.

  4. 4

    Select the program's folder's path. Click the right side of the address bar that's at the top of the File Explorer window. You should see a blue box highlight the address bar's contents.

  5. 5

    Copy the path. Press Ctrl and C at the same time.

  6. 6

    Click This PC . This folder is on the left side of the File Explorer window.

  7. 7

    Click This PC again. Doing so will de-select any folders in the This PC folder, which will allow you to open the This PC folder's properties.

  8. 8

    Click Computer . It's a tab in the upper-left side of the page. A toolbar will appear.

  9. 9

    Click Properties . This icon resembles a white box with a red checkmark in it. Clicking it prompts a pop-up window to appear.

  10. 10

    Click Advanced system settings . It's a link in the upper-left side of the window. Doing so opens another pop-up window.

  11. 11

    Click the Advanced tab. It's at the top of the window.

  12. 12

    Click Environment Variables… . This option is at the bottom of the window. Another window will appear.

  13. 13

    Click Path . It's in the "System variables" window near the bottom of the page.

  14. 14

    Click Edit… . This option is at the bottom of the page.

  15. 15

    Click New . It's in the top-right side of the Edit page.

  16. 16

    Paste in your program's path. Press Ctrl and V at the same time to paste the path into the Path window.

  17. 17

    Click OK . This will save your path.

  18. 18

  19. 19

    Open your path. Type cd into Command Prompt, type one space, press Ctrl+V to enter your program's path, and press ↵ Enter .

  20. 20

    Type start into Command Prompt. Make sure you leave a space after start.

  21. 21

    Enter your program's name. Type in the name of the program exactly as it appears in the folder, then press ↵ Enter . The program will run.

    • If there are spaces in the program's name, place an underscore ("_") where a space should go (e.g., system_shock rather than system shock).
    • Alternatively, you can enclose the path in double quotes. (eg: start "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe")

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Add New Question

  • Question

    When would I need to run a program on Command Prompt?

    Luigi Oppido

    Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

    Luigi Oppido

    Computer & Tech Specialist

    Expert Answer

    You might run specialty or legacy software on Command Prompt, or you may need to do some type of manipulation of files.

  • Question

    How do use other functions?

    Community Answer

    Type "Help" in the command prompt window to see a list of commands. Type "Help [command name]" to see a description and syntax usage of a specific command (just remember to replace "[command name]" with the command you want to learn about). For example, "Help xcopy" will display a description of the command along with the syntax and descriptions of each switch.

  • Question

    How would I know that your computer is ready to add a paste?

    Community Answer

    Right click. If 'paste' is highlighted, then you have something copied ready to paste.

  • Question

    How do you change your user password?

    Community Answer

    Click the Start menu, click your user icon at the top right corner of the start menu, then click "change your password."

  • Question

    How do I move to another folder in command prompt?

    Community Answer

    Use "cd" (for change directory), a space, then type the folder path of the folder you want to change to. To move up one level, type "cd .."

  • Question

    How can I quickly learn how to create a program?

    Suchy Fried

    Suchy Fried

    Community Answer

    Start with codeacademy.com. They have courses in different languages including Java, Python and Ruby, as well as scripting and markup languages. The tutorials are very comprehensible, hands-on and immersive.

  • Question

    I have written a .jsh file in atom, which I had opened through my folder through cmd. How do I run it on cmd?

    Community Answer

    Type Start "{path to the associated program}" "{Path to the .jsh file}". Replace {path to the associated program} with the full path of the program that you specified to open and run .jsh files, and replace {Path to the .jsh file} with the full path to the jsh file. it's best that you enclose both in double quotes, just in case there is a space somewhere in the path. be sure to add a space after the associated program closing quote. eg: Start "C:\Program Files\Jaws for windows" "C:\Users\Im So Awesome\Documents\Example.jsh"

  • Question

    How do I specify parameters for the program?

    Community Answer

    Add your parameters after the file path. If you used double quotes, then add your parameters after the closing double quotes. If a parameter contains a space, enclose that parameter in double quotes. (eg: start "c:\program files\my app\launch.exe" "a parameter with space" ParameterWithoutSpace)

  • Question

    What do I do if command prompt is blocking future commands when I run the program?

    Community Answer

    Click on "Run as administrator" in the right click menu or, for the search button page for Windows 10, click on the arrow to expand the list of actions under the list of actions already there.

  • Question

    How do I run Discord on command prompt?

    Community Answer

    You can copy the Absolute Path of the Discord.exe file, then follow what the article above says.

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  • One way to ensure that you can open any program in Command Prompt is by installing all of your programs in the Documents folder.

  • Command Prompt is a good place to run legacy or specialty software.[1]

  • You can also use Command Prompt to manipulate files.[2]

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  • If you don't have administrator access on your computer, you may not be able to open Command Prompt or make changes to the Path defaults.

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About This Article

Article Summary X

1. Open Start
2. Type command prompt into Start.
3. Click Command Prompt
4. Type start and the name of the program into Command Prompt.
5. Press ↵ Enter .

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Run-a-Program-on-Command-Prompt

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