Summary

Open Command Window Here context menu option helps users to quickly open a Command Prompt window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder. This article tells you how to use the option in Windows Vista.

"Open Command Window Here" is now a built-in option

Open Command Window Here, one of the most helpful menu items, is now included by default in Windows Vista. However, Microsoft decided to register the Open Command Window Here context menu item as an extended verb. This means that the user needs to right-click a file system folder, while pressing the SHIFT key, in order to view and access this context menu item.

How to display the option by default?

You can configure the registry such that the Open Command Window Here option is shown when you simply right-click on a file system folder, irrespective of the SHIFT key status. To do so, follow the steps below:

• Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
• Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd

• Backup the branch, in case you need to undo the setting later
• In the right-pane, delete the REG_SZ value named Extended
• Close Regedit.exe

The Open Command Window Here option should now appear whenever you right-click (with or without the SHIFT key pressed) on a file system folder.