Open command terminal from right click menu

• Download CmdShellExtention_v1 - 522 B

(The installer and uninstaller registry script - content of the download)

Introduction

Did you ever wanted to open a cmd console directly from a folder in Windows Explorer. Nothing easier than that, but you need to Help Windows a little bit first. To do so you can use two registry entries under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and you come up with a context menu entry to open a console window from right where you are in Explorer.

On a Folder or drive	On a file

The solution works for 'right click' on files, folders, drives and some special folders like "Shared Documents" or "My Documents". It does not work for "Recycler", "Network", "System" and so on.

Using the code

The tool comes with two registry scripts - an installer and a uninstaller script so you easily can remove the extention from the registry if needed.

Installing the extention

Here you see the content of the installer script (CmdShellExtention_Install.reg)

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell\OpenPrompt]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell\OpenPrompt\Command]
@="cmd.exe /d cd %l"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Shell\OpenPrompt]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Shell\OpenPrompt\Command]
@="cmd.exe /d cd %l"

Uninstalling the extention

And here the content of the script for uninstalling the extention (CmdShellExtention_UnInstall.reg)

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell\OpenPrompt]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Shell\OpenPrompt]

That's the trick! Simple but handy. And all without writing a DLL for a shell extention.

Vista and Windows 7

Try "/t"

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@="cmd.exe /t cd %l"  

instead of "/d"

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@="cmd.exe /d cd %l"  

Points of Interest

With this registry entries you can easy create variouse simple but powerfull automation from within the Windows Explorer context menu

History

April 18. 2010 - Version 1.0
- Initial release with support for click on files, folders, drives and some special folders