cmd.exe starting directory

[rubyquyen]

...

You're right, but I was replying to the very first message of this thread :

When I launch cmd.exe on my XP SP2 (via Start | Run), the current directory is my Home Directory; I get this :

            D:\Documents and Settings\Guillaume>

How can I set up Windows to open cmd.exe in another directory (C:\ or anything else) ?

(note that his %SystemDrive% is not C and C:\ was only given as an example)

so I was showing the way (= modify the default path and if needed the drive). IMHO, he would be capable of generalising himself the case.

The most important thing to my eyes was the registry key that, so far, nobody had pointed out. Once we got it, using .reg or reg.exe or any other ways were just a question of personal preference.

BTW, thanks for the switch /d that I didn't know. This scenario is certainly more elegant than && cd

[Yzöwl]

...

You're right, but I was replying to the original author of this thread :

When I launch cmd.exe on my XP SP2 (via Start | Run), the current directory is my Home Directory; I get this :

            D:\Documents and Settings\Guillaume>

How can I set up Windows to open cmd.exe in another directory (C:\ or anything else) ?

so I was giving the way (= modify the default path and if needed the drive), IMHO, he would be capable of finding himself any further customization.

The most important thing was the registry key, that so far, nobody had indicated. Afterthat, using .reg or reg.exe or any other ways were just upto your choice.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Editing your posts is sometimes not a good idea!

You have now realized that you were not replying to the thread starters most recent message.

However, please do not try to correct me with guessed information, the author has in no way stated that his %SystemDrive% is anything other than C:. From the information available, the most likely scenario is that the %SystemDrive% is C: and the ProfilesDir has been set to D:\Documents and Settings\ in their winnt.sif. This may in fact be incorrect, but it is more likely.

You gave your reply, I gave mine, both work, mine is more usable to the majority of the thread readers, as are my further replies.

[rubyquyen]

...

You're right, but I was replying to the original author of this thread :

When I launch cmd.exe on my XP SP2 (via Start | Run), the current directory is my Home Directory; I get this :

            D:\Documents and Settings\Guillaume>

How can I set up Windows to open cmd.exe in another directory (C:\ or anything else) ?

so I was giving the way (= modify the default path and if needed the drive), IMHO, he would be capable of finding himself any further customization.

The most important thing was the registry key, that so far, nobody had indicated. Afterthat, using .reg or reg.exe or any other ways were just upto your choice.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Editing your posts is sometimes not a good idea!

You have now realized that you were not replying to the thread starters most recent message.

However, please do not try to correct me with guessed information, the author has in no way stated that his %SystemDrive% is anything other than C:. From the information available, the most likely scenario is that the %SystemDrive% is C: and the ProfilesDir has been set to D:\Documents and Settings\ in their winnt.sif. This may in fact be incorrect, but it is more likely.

You gave your reply, I gave mine, both work, mine is more usable to the majority of the thread readers, as are my further replies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I edited my message (one of the most important reasons is to correct my bad English that I was afraid not to be enough clear to express my idea), but from the first version (of that message), I already said that I replied to the first post of the thread. That's the reality (see my post on May 14 2005, 02:18 AM).

I don't know if Guillaume's winnt.sif had been configured to move the profile folders to another partition, you're like right. I didn't think about this possibility because my current system drive is on E.

I insist that I gave the way (= modify the default path and if needed the drive) and don't impose any choice (one should be capable of replacing C with any drive of his choice, and \ with any directory). Your reply on May 16 2005, 02:30 PM is perfect (cd /d C:\mydir), but the previous one IMHO is much less (I don't thinks %SystemDrive% is a generic solution in this particular case).

You shouldn't take the fact that one says your reply is not a general solution as a personal attack (at least in this case) and be nervous for that. Keep cool ! We're here to exchange experience, that's all ! I could be forever a simple reader if somebody had given the answer to that question (note that the thread was opened on May 3rd). So I said to myself : I know it, why not contribute my little knowledge to express my thankfulness for many things I learnt from them ? I'm new to this forum that I discovered some days before, but that doesn't mean I never frequent any other one in other languages and don't know that many different solutions may resolve a single problem. I'm really being disappointed.

[spiritpyre]

not trying to get flamed or anything but IMHO that was a pretty pointless argument (both ways are valid and both can be modified by most people who are willing to actually look at the code)

... So I said to myself : I know it, why not contribute my little knowledge to express my thankfulness for many things I learnt from them ? I'm new to this forum that I discovered some days before...

Thanks you for posting and welcome

btw sorry for the late post (just remembered about the thread and thought i'd check back to see how weak everybody made my earlier post look.. )

Edited June 7, 2005 by spiritpyre

[matthewk]

I just made this from the above posts. Thanks for the info. I'm not sure if this will be helpful. I put in batch file then converted the batch to exe with http://www.computerhope.com/download/utility/bat2exe.com . Then, placed the cmd.com in %windir%\system32.

ex. start->run, cmd c:\xpcd

Here are the bat contents

call cmd.exe /k cd "%1"\

Here is the cmd.com http://onyx.cs.olemiss.edu/~makoosha/cmd.com

[Yzöwl]

@ matthewk

Quite a clever alternative.

I've now done something similar, it's essentially the same with my code and a little added error trapping

• If you type an invalid directory, it should open the prompt in the usual manner.
  

I was going to post it, but for some reason the attachment option appears to have left the forum!

[spiritpyre]

@ matthewk

Quite a clever alternative.

I've now done something similar, it's essentially the same with my code and a little added error trapping

• If you type an invalid directory, it should open the prompt in the usual manner.
  

I was going to post it, but for some reason the attachment option appears to have left the forum!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had a similar problem a while back and Alanoll recommended www.eazyshare.com. have to say works pretty good.

Edited June 16, 2005 by spiritpyre

[Yzöwl]

Well it appears that it's just an option not available in this particular forum area.

I wonder what would happen if I were to deliberately post it in a different forum area, and wait for the Mods to move it?

[2forza]

Maybe its offtopic:

How do you copy with mouse only? By selecting it and rightmouse button to copy

Like in the Linux,

Thought it was also added @ XPIZE CMD prompt,

greetings forzA,

[Yzöwl]

@ 2forza - Is this what you mean?

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console]
"QuickEdit"=dword:00000001

[2forza]

@ 2forza - Is this what you mean?

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console]
"QuickEdit"=dword:00000001

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice !!!!!!

Thats what I mean

[skay_baltimore]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="C: && cd \\"

Voilà

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That should read:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="C: && cd \"

Note the single backslash. Otherwise you get an error (surprise...). Thanks for this though! Very nice!

Cheers!

I know this is a newb question, but after navigating to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\CommandProcessor\AutoRun , I assume I then right click on AutoRun, choose modify, then type "AutoRun"="C: && cd \" into the value data box. Is that correct? (And if it is, do I use the quotation marks, or not?) TIA

[ophiel]

don't need the quotes, and hey u could always try it out...your computer won't break

[Yzöwl]

I assume I then right click on AutoRun, choose modify, then type "AutoRun"="C: && cd \" into the value data box. Is that correct? (And if it is, do I use the quotation marks, or not?) TIA

Well the quotation marks are not required, however, if you wish to explicitly start on the C: drive as opposed to the %SystemDrive%, then just type the following into the value data box.

• C:
  

Nothing more is required at all!

[HyperHacker]

I have

HOMEDRIVE=d:

HOMEPATH=\Documents and Settings\Guillaume

If I make

> set HOMEDRIVE="C:"

> set HOMEPATH="\"

The next time I'll launch cmd.exe my HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH will be "d:" and "\Documents ..."

So, how can I make my changes persistants ?

And won't there have any other effects ?

All you need to do is go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Environment Variables, find or create HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH, and edit them. At least, it should work, unless they're some sort of special variable.

BTW what I do is use the /k switch to run a batch file that does things such as show the system uptime, change to a specific directory, etc. Didn't know about that AutoRun key... *tries it* Hey, neat! Though I notice it runs before /k, so if you put in a cd command or drive letter (eg "F:") then run "cmd /k cd ..\Windows", it'll try to go to F:\Windows, not C:\Windows. That might interfere with the "Command prompt here" hacks people like to put on their context menus.

Edited April 23, 2006 by HyperHacker