Internal and External Commands

   There are two types of commands that we can run from a command prompt, and they were,

1. Internal commands 2. External commands.

Internal Commands

Internal commands are nothing but the built-in commands that are shipped along with the operating system, for example, echo, cls, del, dir were few of the well known internal commands.

External Commands

External commands are the commands that are often created while installing a new application and these commands mostly have no use except calling that application and support files. Few external

commands can only be executed in the ‘Run’ dialog box (start ? Run), but not on the command prompt,and those commands include ‘firefox’. The ‘firefox’ command can be executed only from the run line, that too if the firefox application is installed on that machine and it won’t work on the command prompt. Likewise the ‘firefox’ there are various other external commands such as the “PsTools” which includes commands like, PsExec, PsFile, PsGetSid, PsInfo, PsKill, PsList, PsLoggedOn and so on.

Run Line commands

As said earlier batch file is comprised of sequence of run line commands, hence it’s a must to know at least few useful run line commands for constructing a good batch program. Here I am going to

list out the useful run line commands with a brief description. Commands-Descriptions

access.cpl-Accessibility Controls accwiz-Accessibility Wizard appwiz.cpl-Add/Remove Programs ciadv.msc-Indexing Service control-admintools Administrative Tools cleanmgr-Disk Cleanup Utility control-color Display Properties compmgmt.msc-Computer Management Console control folders Folder Options cliconfg-SQL Client Configuration certmgr.msc- Certificate Manager charmap-Character Map chkdsk-Check Disk Utility clipbrd-Clipboard Viewer calc-Opens calculator cmd-Opens command prompt devmgmt.msc-Device Manager dfrg.msc-Disk Defragmenter diskmgmt.msc-Disk Management dcomcnfg-Component Services ddeshare-DDE Shares diskpart-Disk Partition Manager desk.cpl-Display Properties drwtsn32-Dr. Watson directx.cpl- Direct X Control Panel dxdiag-Direct X Troubleshooter eudcedit- Private Character Editor eventvwr.msc- Event Viewer ( Maintaining System Logs ) explorer-Opens My Documents freecell-FreeCell Game fsquirt-Bluetooth Transfer Wizard fsmgmt.msc-Shared Folders gpedit.msc-Group Policy Editor hdwwiz.cpl-Add Hardware Wizard iexpress-Iexpress Wizard (Package creator) iexplore-Internet Explorer inetcpl.cpl-Internet Explorer Properties ipconfig-Windows IP Configuration intl.cpl-Regional Settings joy.cpl-Game Controllers lusrmgr.msc-Local Users and Groups logoff-Logs out current user magnify-Open Magnifier makecab-Cabinet Maker, file compressor. msconfig-Open System Configuration Utility mshearts-Opens Hearts game msinfo32-System Information mspaint-Opens Mspaint msmsgs-Windows Messenger mstsc-Remote Desktop mmsys.cpl-Sounds and Audio mqbkup-Message Queue Backup\Restore Utility notepad-Opens a New Notepad ntmsmgr.msc-Removable Storage ntmsoprq.msc-Removable Storage Operator Requests ncpa.cpl-Network Connections netsetup.cpl-Network Setup Wizard openfiles-Used to view Files Opened Remotely via localshare points odbccp32.cpl-ODBC Data Source Administrator osk-On Screen Keyboard proxycfg-Proxy configuration packager-Object Packager perfmon.msc-Performance Monitor powercfg.cpl-Power Options pentnt-Checks for Floating point error in Intel based processors qappsrv-Displays the available application terminal servers on the network. qprocess-Displays information about processes qwinsta-Display information about Terminal Sessions rcp-Copies files to and from computer running the RCP service recover-Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk. relog-Used for Logging. replace-Replaces files rexec-Runs commands on remote hosts running the REXEC-service route-Manipulates network routing tables rsh-Runs commands on remote hosts running the RSH service rsm-Manages media resources using Removable Storage runas-Allows a user to run specific tools and programs with different permissions than the user’s current logon provides. regedit-Opens Registry Editor rsop.msc-Resultant Set of Policy rwinsta-Reset the session rasphone-Remote Access Phonebookservices. msc-Used for Managing all the services on the computer. sigverif-File Signature Verification Tool secpol.msc-Local Security Settings shutdown-Shutdown Windows syskey-Windows System Security Tool sc-Communicates with the service controller and installed services. schtasks-Replaced with at. setver-Sets the version number that MS-DOS reports to a program shadow-Helps in remote connection & network used to monitor-another Terminal Services session shrpubw-Shared Folder Wizard sndvol32-Volume Control sysedit-Windows.ini, system.ini, config.sys, autoexec.bat sol-Opens up Solitaire Game timedate.cpl-Date and Time Properties telephon.cpl-Phone and Modem Options telnet-Telnet Client tftp-Transfers files to and from a remote computer running the TFTP service tlntadmn-Telnet Administration. Used to start, stop, and send msg-to a terminal session connected to via telnet. tscon-Attaches a user session to a terminal session. tsdiscon-Disconnects a session from a terminal server. tskill-Ends a process. Even can terminate a process running on a remote session. tourstart-Windows XP Tour Wizard tsshutdn-shutdown in 60 sec typeperf-Very useful in login events. Used to monitor Processor-threads and writes into a specified log file. userinit-My Documents verifier-Driver Verifier Utility winchat-Microsoft Chat winmine-Minesweeper Game wuaucpl.cpl-Automatic Updates wscui.cpl-Security Center wmplayer-Windows Media Player wmimgmt.msc-Windows Management Infrastructure w32tm-Tool used to diagnose problems occurring with Windows-Time. register to run as a service and add default configuration to the registry winmsd-System Information. wupdmgr-Windows Update Launches winver-Displays Windows Version write-Opens WordPad