Change the default Command Prompt directory

Posted by Martin in Knowledge, Operating Systems, Windows  Tags: ,

16

Nov



Whenever you open the Command Prompt in Windows you are taken to a default directory which is usually your Documents and Settings \ Username directory. Most of the time you navigate away from it because you need to access files that cannot be accessed from there.

I decided to go a step further and change the default Command Prompt directory to c:\windows\system32. That is my choice, you can set it to any directory that you want. To change the default Command Prompt directory open the Registry by pressing Windows R, typing regedit and hitting enter.

Navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Command Processor and search for the String Autorun in the left window. If that string is not existing yet create it. Double-click it afterwards and add the new directory path in the following way:

CD /d c:\windows\system32

Changes take effect immediately which means you can test right away. The default directory for the Command Prompt is changed before it is displayed which means that you already start in the new folder that you have selected.


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12 Users Commented In This Post

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Obi-Wahn says:

Well I’m not sure if this hack was on ghacks allready, but to get a Shell-Context-Menu entry to open the command prompt in a choosen folder, just save this:

;start here
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
@=”Open Command &Promt here…”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\command]
@=”cmd.exe /k \”cd %L\”"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
@=”Open Command &Promt here…”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
@=”cmd.exe /k \”cd %L\”
; end here

into a file (commandprompt.reg) and add it to your registry.

Martin says:

No it has not yet Obi, thanks for mentioning it.

Vivek says:

Nice hack! That’s really clever :)

anubhav says:

no this does not work

Manju says:

Hey anubhav, that does work.
Thanks Martin.

Tim says:

anubhav, it does work. You’ve got to create the key if it isnt there, create it as a string then edit it to the path.

pk says:

xp wont let me add to reg.
can not import, not a reg script, only import binary reg. files.

del says:

then do it manually

Daniel says:

sorry im pretty newb. whats this thing that obi posted do? if its complicated then either dont worry or link me to something. thx.

Hank says:

I actually had a different starting directory and wanted to get back to c:\

This regedit definitely worked for me.

Does anyone know how to do it from the command prompt w/o regedit though?

Rarst says:

>Does anyone know how to do it from the command prompt w/o regedit though?

Well, cmd help points to those registry settings… If you really want to play around it you can just make .bat (.cmd) file that runs console and goes to directory needed. Something like this:

cmd /k cd “c:\”

Kent says:

Hi Rarst
You can open command prompt from a drive by shift right clicking the drive and clicking on the open command prompt here on the popup menu
Kent

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