Ways to open Command Prompt in a folder in Windows and New Shell Commands in Windows 7

The Command Prompt is Windows feature of Windows that lets you execute MS-DOS and other computer commands and perform tasks on your computer without using the Windows graphical interface. There are various ways how you can open the CMD windows.

Open a command prompt window in any folder

In this post we will see two very simple ways to open a command prompt window in any folder or on the desktop, without having to navigate the menu. The first is using the context menu.

Hold down Shift key and use context menu

To open a command prompt window in any folder, simply hold down the Shift key and right click on the desktop. In the context menu, you will see the option to Open command window here. Clicking on it will open a CMD window.

You can also do the same inside any folder. The prompt takes the path of the folder from where it is opened.

Type CMD in the address bar

There is another trick to do the same thing. navigate to the folder and then simply type CMD in the address bar and hit Enter to open the command prompt window there.

You will see the CMD taking the path of this folder.

Speaking of the command prompt, there are several Command Prompt tricks you may not know, including how to open an elevated command prompt using a CMD. Check them out!

New Shell Commands in Windows 7

Shell commands are used when you want to access relatively inaccessible locations in Windows. They can also be used to create desktop shortcuts.

Windows 7 New Shell Commands

Windows 7 has a few new shell commands. Some of the useful ones are:

shell:CommonRingtones
shell:Device Metadata Store
shell:DocumentsLibrary
shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts
shell:Libraries
shell:MusicLibrary
shell:OtherUsersFolder
shell:PublicSuggestedLocations
shell:User Pinned
shell:PicturesLibrary
shell:Ringtones
shell:UsersLibrariesFolder
shell:VideosLibrary

Open your Run box and run these shell commands from there.

If you know of more, please feel free to add them.

Windows has a set of certain folders which are identified by unique strings referred to as CLSID or Windows Class Identifiers. These folders can be accessed by using the CLSID identifier codes that Windows assigns to each individual folder in the Windows Registry. If you know the codes, you can launch these with ease. Apart from the exisiting shell commands, shortcuts and CLSID’s, which are present in Windows 7, Windows 8 offers some new shortcuts, shell commands and CLID’s.