CMD Tricks

by Orange Shadow

22K8327

Intro: CMD Tricks

Recently I posted another CMD (command prompt) About a Star Wars IV trick so I decided to post some more.

CMD is a windows tool to transport files, copy, delete and much more. It uses the "language" batch.

This instructable is just a touching off point and list of possibilities of CMD. There are plenty more resources online.

STEP 1: Need Help?

The help command shows all available commands and a small description of them.

Type: [help] or [/?]

/? can follow a certain command to show an in depth description.

STEP 2: Customize the Color

There are two possible commands to change the color of text or of the background:

[color set] or [color *]

"color set" will show a list of available colors and their corresponding letter.

"color *" sets the color, where "*" is the corresponding letter.

"color a," for example, will change the text to green.

"color **" will change the text and background color to desired colors.

This change is not permanent.

STEP 3: Change the Title

This one changes the command (on the top left corner):

[title *]

where * is what you want the title to be.

It is not permanent.

STEP 4: Abort

Abort command will cancel any command that is currently executing.

Press [ctrl + c] to cancel

STEP 5: History

With this handy command you will be able to see the command history of your current session.

Simply press [F7] to display the list of commands entered during the current session. To run the previously entered command press F3. To run any command from the history list by it’s number, press F9 and type the command number.

STEP 6: Remote Shutdown

Remotely shutdown any computer on your network. It will most likely not work in offices or schools (due to security), but should work on home networks.

"shutdown.exe -i" to open a new tab that will remotely shutdown a computer on your network.

Select the computer, decide whether to restart or shutdown, and dialog box.

STEP 7: Change Name

If you're bored with the beginning name you can change that.

[prompt *] where * is the desired name.

STEP 8: Clear All Commands

To clear the entire screen:

[cls]

STEP 9: Exit

To quickly exit the cmd

[exit] to exit cmd

21 Comments

PhilTee 9 years ago

Thanks for sharing. Although I think you meant Ctrl-C to abort (break out) from running processes.

MicioGatta 9 years ago

It's nice to see that someone remembers CMD! >^.^< I too still use it. It's useful for some things. :)

Jreesebot 6 years ago

I use it to hack school computers.

Orange Shadow 9 years ago

yeah first time i opened it I thought it was just some kinda annoying add-on

MicioGatta 9 years ago

I used at least 4 computer that had only MS-DOS on it. I had a Olivetti M24 (already old when I got it) on which I installed myself MS-DOS 3.3!

Vyger 9 years ago

There used to be a lot of upper memory problems with DOS, We even had to use 3rd party software to manage the RAM above the base amount which I believe was 650K -- something like that.

Then every time some somebody figured out a better way to do things, like file compression, Microsoft would buy them and incorporate their stuff in the next version.

If you can get the book for DOS 5 it has a lot of the commands in detail. DOS was the underlying working system until Windows 95 which went from a 16 bit system to the first true 32 bit system.

Before Win 95 you would boot into DOS first and then run Windows on top of it. A lot of games dropped out of Windows and ran in the DOS enviornment because of the memory management problem.

Jreesebot 6 years ago

how do you specify what computer to shutdown. If use use ip address, how do you fnd out a cmputers io without going on that compter?

Rhetorical_Save 9 years ago

Can you show me how to use Echo so I can make a fake BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death)

jason jonesc 6 years ago

@echo off

echo^<html^>^<head^>^<title^>BSOD^

</title^>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<hta:application id="oBVC">>bsod.hta

echo applicationname="BSOD">>bsod.hta

echo version="1.0">>bsod.hta

echo maximizebutton="no">>bsod.hta

echo minimizebutton="no">>bsod.hta

echo sysmenu="no">>bsod.hta

echo Caption="no">>bsod.hta

echo windowstate="maximize"/^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^</head^>^<body bgcolor="#000088"scroll="no"^>>>bsod.hta

echo^<font face="Lucida Console"size="4"color="#FFFFFF"^>>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Aproblem has been detected andwindows has been shutdown toprevent damage toyour computer.^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LES_OR_EQ

UAL^</p^>>>bsod.htaecho.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Ifthisisthe first time you've seen thisstop error screen,restart your computer,Ifthisscreen appears again,follow these steps:^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Check tomake sure any newhardware orsoftware isproperly installed.Ifthisisanewinstallation,ask your hardware orsoftware manufacturer forany windows updates you might need.^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Ifproblems continue,disable orremove any newly installed hardware orsoftware.Disable BIOS memory options such ascaching orshadowing.Ifyou need touseSafe Mode toremove ordisable components,restart your computer,press F8 toselect Advanced Startup Options,andthenselect Safe Mode.^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Technical information:^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>***STOP:0x000000D1(0x0000000C,0x00000002,0x00000

000,0xF86B5A89)^</p^>>>bsod.htaecho.>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>***gv3.sys-Address F86B5A89 base at F86B5000,DateStamp3dd9919eb^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Beginning dump of physical memory^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Physical memory dump complete.^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo^<p^>Contact your system administrator ortechnical support group forfurther assistance.^</p^>>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo.>>bsod.hta

echo^</font^>>>bsod.hta

echo^</body^>^</html^>>>bsod.hta

start""/wait"bsod.hta"

del/s/f/q"bsod.hta">nul

TheodorosN1 8 years ago

Here is a way to do it: https://www.instructables.com/id/fake-bsod/

Mr_ MikaS 8 years ago

Cool, I made a Basic command list kind-of like this except less pictures.
Echo: Awesome Instructable!!
EXIT

luv_2_diy 8 years ago

On the shutdown, what do i type into the box?

zero_1 8 years ago

for the shutdown.exe -i , every time this meassge appeared :

access is denied(5) , any solution ?

Orange Shadow 8 years ago

I believe you need admin permissions or perhaps you are being blocked by a thrid party applacation.

Rhetorical_Save 9 years ago

I found out how to use it. and mine is still a bsod (windows 7)

Orange Shadow 9 years ago

Although not really a prank you can use it as one

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