YOU’LL NEED THIS ANY WINDOWS PC WILL DO Windows 10 release 20H1 (or later) to use the Windows Terminal; otherwise, tips should all work in the old Command Prompt console.

ONCE UPON A TIME, Microsoft’s operating system, MS-DOS, was solely based on the Command Prompt. It remained a fundamental part of early versions of Windows but, these days, you have to dig deep to find it. Not only has it been supplanted by the more user-friendly Windows desktop, it’s not even the only command-line shell available. In addition to adding support for Linux, Microsoft has also unveiled PowerShell. Despite this, however, the Command Prompt remains a valuable tool in anyone’s armory.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to focus on using the Command Prompt in Windows itself to examine your system, perform key checks and fix various problems. Even if you prefer to use PowerShell, you can still read along, because PowerShell supports everything in the Command Prompt—and then some. We’ll examine its unique tools in more depth in a future issue, but by focusing on the Command Prompt now, you can ensure you have all the fundamentals should you need to get to those essential troubleshooting tools. –

NICK PEERS

1CHOOSE YOUR CONSOLE While the Command Prompt retains its own dedicated console (type ‘cmd’ into the Search box, then click ‘Run as administrator’ to launch it), you can also access it through the new Windows Terminal application by right-clicking the Start button and choosing ‘Windows Terminal (Admin)’.

>> Windows Terminal works with all command-line tools in Windows, but creates a PowerShell instance by default. Click the down arrow next to its tab and you’ll reveal options to open further tabs using other shells, including Command Prompt (press Ctrl + Shift + 2 as a shortcut) and any Linux shells you’ve installed as part of the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

>> The good news is that you can choose which shell is the default when opening Windows Terminal: click ‘Open Settings’ followed by the ‘Default profile’ dropdown under Startup to select Command Prompt from the list [Image A]. Click Save and the next time you open Windows Terminal (or a new tab via the + button), it will open a Command Prompt console by default.

>> The Command Prompt console is also accessible outside of Windows via the Advanced Start Options menu, typically when Windows fails to boot. Should you need to reboot to it from Windows for a spot of deep-seated troubleshooting, type shutdown /r /o into Windows Terminal and hit Enter.