Microsoft Vista is the new operating system which is going to released early next year. It is going to succeed Windows XP. I have been testing all the Beta versions. Recently Microsoft released Release Candidate 2 of this new OS. As RC 2 reflects almost the final form of what Vista will look like when it comes out, I thought of sharing few secrets of Vista. In windows we always look for few tweaks and shortcuts to make our life easier. There are thousands of such tweaks, hacks and secrets for Windows XP. I am going to explain few sectrets I found when trying out Windows Vista in subsequent blogs.
Let me start with my favorite one. Open Command Prompt here. Even though I use mouse a lot, I do switch from explorer to Command Shell. Previously Microsoft Powertoy which used to do the work of Opening Command Prompt from your folder location is now incorporated into Vista.
Here’s a trick that I don’t think many people are aware of. Right-click on any folder on your Windows Vista machine while holding down the shift key. You’ll see an extra context-sensitive menu item there: Open Command Prompt here. Just click on this menu and a command window will open with the current working directory set to the folder’s actual location.
What’s really cool about this is that if the target folder is a network location, Windows Vista silently maps a network drive to that location before opening the folder (so that your command prompt has a valid path containing a drive letter) and then deletes the network drive once the command prompt is closed.
However this only works on folders in the listview (right-side). It does not work for volumes (drives) or any folders in “Folders” (left-side).
If you want to have the Command Prompt in all the folder context menu copy the following text to notepad and save it as cmdprompt.reg file. Right click and Merge this file into Windows Registry. Make sure you have a valid system restore point before editing the registry.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Command Prompt Here]
@="Command Prompt Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Command Prompt Here\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd /D %L\""
After Merging this info with the Registry you will have a permanent Right Click menu ” Command Prompt Here” which helps to switch easily from Explorer to Command Shell.
educate me.