Get back “Open command window here” context menu option in Windows 10 Creators Update

Windows 10 Creators Update Insider Preview Build 14986 removes the “Open Command Prompt here” context menu entry and replaces it with “Open PowerShell window here”. Microsoft, in an effort to bring the best command line experiences to the forefront for all power users, has made PowerShell as the de facto command shell.

You may also be knowing that in the Preview Build 14971, “Command Prompt” and “Command Prompt (Admin)” entries in the Win+X menu (the menu which appears when you right-click Start) were replaced with PowerShell links.

Quoting Microsoft:

It (PowerShell) replaces Command Prompt (aka, “cmd.exe”) in the WIN + X menu, in File Explorer’s File menu, and in the context menu that appears when you shift-right-click the whitespace in File Explorer. Typing “cmd” (or “powershell”) in File Explorer’s address bar will remain a quick way to launch the command shell at that location. For those who prefer to use Command Prompt, you can opt out of the WIN + X change by opening Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, and turning “Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the Start button or press Windows key+X” to “Off”.

For more information, check out the 14971 Preview Build announcement post.

Although you’re able to run the old commands in the PowerShell window, you need to use the “.exe” suffix when running certain commands. For instance, running the “SC” command under PowerShell window gives different results than what you get when running the same command from a regular Command Prompt shell.

“SC” is understood as the alias for “Set-Content” PowerShell cmdlet. So to manage services using the SC (SC.EXE) command in the PowerShell window, you’ll need to type the file extension — .EXE. Whereas the regular Command Prompt (CMD.exe) shell knows SC is nothing but SC.EXE, assuming no file of the same name and with a .COM extension exists in the path.

Add Command Prompt to the Context menu

If you’re fond of the old Command Prompt (cmd.exe), you can add the traditional “Open Command window here” option back in the context menu for file system folders and drives, using a Registry edit.

Copy the following lines to Notepad, and save it with a .REG extension, say cmdhere.reg. Double-click the file to apply the registry settings.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmdprompt]
@="@shell32.dll,-8506"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmdprompt\command]
@="cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\cmdprompt]
@="@shell32.dll,-8506"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\cmdprompt\command]
@="cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmdprompt]
@="@shell32.dll,-8506"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmdprompt\command]
@="cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\""

Alternately, you can download the REG file.

Download cmd-here-windows-10.zip

This adds the “Open command window here” option to the right-click menu for folders and drives, which when clicked, opens a Command Prompt window at the current drive or directory path.