WINDOWS 2000 PROFESSIONAL

OPEN A COMMAND CONSOLE FROM THE SHORTCUT MENU

Many power users, particularly those who've used computers since the early days of DOS, prefer to work from a command console. While you can easily open a command console in Windows, it offers no built-in mechanism to open a console in a target folder from Windows Explorer.

One way to add this capability is to install PowerToys, a set of add-on tools for Windows. This set of tools is available as a download from Microsoft's Web site.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

However, you can also add this capability without installing PowerToys by adding an entry to the registry. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Start | Run.

2. Enter Regedt32.exe, and click OK.

3. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory.

4. Go to Edit | Add Key, and name the new key Console.

5. In the Console key, create a subkey, and name it command.

6. Open the properties for the default value in the command subkey, set its value to cmd.exe /k "cd %L", and click OK.

7. Close the Registry Editor, and restart the system.

To open a command console within a folder, open My Computer, right-click the folder, and choose Console.

Windows uses the Console key name as the name of the command in the shortcut menu because you didn't set the default value for the Console key. If you edit the default value in the Console key, Windows will use that value for the command name in the shortcut menu instead.

NOTE: Editing the registry is risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before making any changes.