2 Easy Ways To Run A Program On Command Prompt In Windows

This method will allow you to start any program on your PC that’s in the C:\Windows\System32 folder, which are many of the built-in applications like File Explorer, Calculator, and Notepad. To run programs from other folders at the prompt, see this method.

File Explorer: explorer Calculator: calc Notepad: notepad Character Map: charmap Paint: mspaint Command Prompt (new window): cmd Task Manager: taskmgr

If you want to use Notepad or Paint to open a file from the prompt, just type the full path to the file after the program name. For example, start notepad C:\Users\Me\Documents\file. txt or start mspaint C:\Users\me\Pictures\picture. png.

Use this method to start any program on your PC. Most programs end with the . EXE file extension, but you can also run other program types like . bin, . bat, . msi, and . cab, as well as Visual Basic formats like . vbs, . vb, and . vbscript. [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source If the program you want to run requires administrator privileges, launch the command prompt as an administrator instead. Instead of clicking Command Prompt in the search results, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

If you already know the path to the program, skip to Step 5.

When the icon for the program you want to open in Command Prompt displays in the right panel of File Explorer, you’re in the correct folder. You can use this method to start a program from any location, not just the folders in your system path. For example, if you wrote and compiled a C program and saved it to your Documents folder, just open your Documents folder to find the program.

Click the address bar at the top of the window. Press Ctrl + C to copy.

For example, if your program is in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat, your command will be cd C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat.

If there are spaces in the program’s name, surround the file name with double quotation marks. For example, “system shock. exe” instead of system shock. exe). If you need to start the program with a specific switch, type a space after the program name, then type the switch. For example, to start Microsoft Word in Safe Mode, you’ll type start winword. exe /safe. [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

If you want the program you’re running to open a specific file at the prompt, you can usually just type the full path to the file name after the program name. For example, to open a PDF in Acrobat from the prompt, you’d use start acrobat. exe C:\Users\Me\Documents\file. pdf. If the file name has spaces (e. g. , My File. pdf), surround the entire path with double quotation marks. For example, start acrobat. exe “C:\Users\Me\Documents\My File. pdf”.