Basic Command Prompt Knowledge
Command prompt is as a tool or a communication passage with your computer OS in a command based method. Imagine that if your computer is having an error which you are not able to logon to your windows system or you cannot see your desktop after you have started up your computer, by then what is the method or passage you can actually use to communicate with your windows OS to perform repair or backup of your computer system? Command prompt is the way for you to backup or repair your windows OS system.
How do we get to command prompt if we are not able to load the windows OS by typing cmd or command at the RUN in start menu? Legacy is that we use diskette for older pc, and now we have other communication port called USB, or even we can use DVD drive (optical drive) to load the system to command prompt in order for us to repair the OS errors. In other way to define is to diagnose the instability of the system. As far as you are able to load to the command prompt before you load to windows, the chance to repair the windows OS is greater and also to chance to backup your files is greater than none.
To load to command prompt using DVD disc, first we input the DVD disc to the optical drive before we turn on the pc, press F12 key on the keyboard to select which start up option to load, choose your DVD drive for startup, the DVD might come with your purchase of your windows OS, while it loads the repair part, kindly select command prompt to start up the command prompt in windows 7. The X:> drive is not the drive of your computer hard disk, it is the drive of the loaded DVD itself.
For previous version of Windows 95, 98, ME, it loads you to the command prompt of A:> where A: is the diskette drive. There are many different commands available in different OS version. The best diagnostics for scan and repair of you hard disk is to type in “scandisk c:” without quotes, after you have loaded to A:> in older Windows 95, 98, ME versions of Windows. This command is good enough for you to diagnose the errors and perform the repair. For Windows 7 the diagnostics will be performed using command “chkdsk c: /f” without quotes, these two commands are very useful whenever you have encountered unsuccessful loading to Windows OS. It is important for you to understand the real meaning of how to use the command prompt as an option to perform some tasks.
When you are able to load to Windows OS, run the cmd or command to perform more tasks, which is easier for user to refer to the existing problems and repair directly. In other OS like Linux, “Terminal” is the option to use command based communication with Linux OS. We will discuss more about CMD in the later topics.
The Command Prompt or the Windows Command Line is a text-based interface used to interact with the Windows operating system. Here are some basic Command Prompt commands:
dir: Displays a list of files and subfolders in the current directory.
cd: Changes the current directory to the specified path.
cls: Clears the Command Prompt screen.
copy: Copies one or more files from one location to another.
del: Deletes one or more files.
md: Creates a new directory.
rd: Removes a directory.
type: Displays the contents of a file.
ping: Tests connectivity to a network host by sending packets and receiving replies.
ipconfig: Displays the network configuration settings, including IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway.
tasklist: Displays a list of running processes.
netstat: Displays active network connections, including TCP and UDP connections.
shutdown: Shuts down the computer.
systeminfo: Displays system information, including operating system version and hardware configuration.
help: Displays help information about Command Prompt commands.
These are just a few basic Command Prompt commands, and there are many more advanced commands available. To learn more about specific commands and their usage, you can use the “help” command followed by the command name.
The Windows Command Line provides several network commands that can be used to manage and troubleshoot network connections. Here are some commonly used network commands:
ipconfig: Displays the IP configuration settings of the network adapters on the system, including IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS servers.
ping: Tests network connectivity by sending packets to a specified host and measuring the response time.
tracert: Traces the route packets take from the local computer to a remote host, showing the number of hops and the time it takes for each hop.
netstat: Displays active network connections, including the protocol, local and remote addresses, and state of each connection.
nslookup: Resolves a domain name to an IP address or vice versa.
arp: Displays the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache, which maps IP addresses to physical addresses.
nbtstat: Displays NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) protocol statistics and current connections.
route: Displays and modifies the local IP routing table, which determines how network traffic is routed.
netsh: A command-line tool used to configure and monitor network settings, including interfaces, routing, and firewall rules.
These are just a few of the network commands available in the Command Line. To learn more about specific commands and their usage, you can use the “help” command followed by the command name, or consult the Microsoft documentation for the Command Line.