Nircmd is a impressive command line tool considering its size of just 29 Kilobytes. It can be used to launch an incredible amount of commands from the Windows command line or by utilizing the program from a batch file. The best option would be to copy it into a system path folder so that the command line tool could be executed from any directory.
The website of the developer contains the download link but also samples of the functionality of the command line tool. The basic command for the tool is nircmd command parameters. There are more than 80 commands to chose from very specific ones like changing the system volume to advanced commands that manipulate Registry entries or are execute on remote computer systems.
A practical example that shows the complexity of the command tool would be the command to turn off the computer system which can be done with nircmd.exe exitwin poweroff. An advanced version in the form of multiremote copy “c:\temp\computers.txt” exitwin poweroff force of this exists that can turn off all remote computer systems specified in the text file computers.txt
Some of the more common uses for the nircmd command line tool are writing and deleting values in the Windows Registry, writing values to ini files, connecting to a VPN network or Internet account, changing file attributes, turning off the monitor or working with remote computers.
A selection of useful commands:
- nircmd regedit “~$clipboard$” – Will open the Registry key that has been copied to the Windows Clipboard
- nircmd.exe service restart [servicename] – Will restart the service specified in [servicename]. Works also with start, stop, pause and setting startup types.
- nircmd.exe setprocesspriority [processname] high / nircmd.exe setprocessaffinity [processname] 0 1 – Change the process priority or process affinity of a selected process.
- nircmd.exe killprocess [processname] – Kills the specified process
The help file that is supplied with the download of the command line tool is containing all commands and their possible parameters. This is a great tool especially for users who write batch files but also for those who like to work from the command line.
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I’ve used this program for a long time. Its got loads of features like connecting your dial-up or pppoe connection, ejecting and loading the cd drive etc.