The most important CMD commands: An overview
Related Videos: 15 CMD Commands Every Windows User Should Know (May 2024).
The Command Prompt (CMD) offers a variety of functions - but each has its own command. You can find out which are the most important CMD commands in this practical tip.
Important CMD commands for the file system
You can access your file system and manage files and folders via the CMD.
- When you start the command prompt, you are usually in your user folder or in the system32 folder if you start CMD as an administrator.
- To open another file path, you can use the "CD" commands.
- With the command "cd [folder]" you can access a subfolder of the currently selected folder. To do this, replace "[Folder]" with the desired folder name. You do not have to enter the quotes.
- The command "cd .." takes you up one level.
- "md [folder]" creates a new folder with a name of your choice in the currently selected path.
- "dir" gives you an overview of all subfolders in the currently selected folder.
Call up system information
With a simple command you get an overview of all relevant information about your device.
- All you have to do is enter the "systeminfo" command.
- This gives you information about your device, your system, free space and other details.
Information about an external address
You can also examine IP addresses and URLs using the command prompt.
- "ping [website]" gives you ping statistics about a website.
- This allows you to send and receive packets to an address of your choice to examine the speed of the server.
- "nslookup [website]" also gives you more information about a website.
- This is how you can find out the IP address behind a website.
IP Configuration
If you are looking for information about your own IP address and the status of your Internet connections, you can do this quickly and easily with the command prompt.
- "ipconfig" gives you all information about your network.
- This will show your IPv4 address and the address of your network.
- As soon as you have already called the ipconfig, you have the option of executing further commands.
- "ipconfig / all" gives detailed information.
- "ipconfig / renew" renews all adapters.
End processes with CMD
You can get an overview of running processes not only via the Task Manager. You can display a list in the command prompt and end processes.
- "tasklist" lists all currently running processes. In contrast to the Task Manager, you can copy the list here and save it in a text document if you wish.
- Each of the processes listed in "tasklist" has its own ID. You can also use these to end the processes.
- With "taskkill / pid [xyz]" you can end a process with a specific process ID. ("[xyz]" replace here with the displayed process ID.)
- With "taskkill / im chrome.exe" you can also end processes based on your name.
Safely delete a file path with Cipher
While the files are no longer displayed with the "Delete" function in the file explorer, the data remains on the hard disk until it is overwritten by new data. Cipher enables direct deletion.
- So if you want to securely delete or overwrite a file path such as "C: //", you can do so with "cipher".
- The "cipher" command cleans up the entire file path by storing arbitrary data on the file path.
- With "cipher / w: c" you can, for example, delete the entire empty memory on the selected hard disk (in this example C).
- Your existing files will not be deleted, only the empty memory will be overwritten.
System shutdown
With the command prompt you have almost infinite possibilities to control the shutdown.
- "shutdown" enables many different options via additional parameters.
- "shutdown -s" shuts down your computer directly.
- "shutdown -s -t 600" will shutdown your computer at the appropriate time. The time is to be specified in seconds. In this example, the computer shuts down after 10 minutes.
- "shutdown -a" cancels the planned shutdown. For example, if a program wants to shutdown your device, you can quickly prevent the shutdown.
- The same commands also work with an "-r", which not only shuts down the device but also restarts it.
Shutdown via cmd: these are the most important commands
Do you want to get started right away and try out the commands? Then read in the next practical tip how to start the command prompt.
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