How To Use DOS
Helping you use MS-DOS Command Prompt Window

How to Open Command Prompt

Step 1. Overview:

To open a Microsoft DOS command prompt shell window, first click the Start menu at the lower-left of your computer's desktop and select "Run...".

Then if you are using Windows XP or Vista or Windows 7, type "cmd" (without the quotation marks) into the Run box and click "OK".

Otherwise, if you are using an older version of Windows, type "command" (without the quotation marks) into the Run box and click "OK".

Step 2. The Window:

After you click "OK", a DOS command prompt window will appear. Depending upon which version of Windows you are using, the DOS command window will look similar to these images:

Step 3. Text/Background Colors:

The standard window displays white text on a black background. This color combination may make text difficult to read. To make the window display black text on a white background, type the command: color f0 (that's the letter f followed by the digit zero 0). To go back to the standard of white text on a black background, type: color

Step 4. DOS Commands:

See the DOS Commands index for a description of the commands that you can type into the DOS command prompt window.

To close the window, either type "exit" (without quotations marks) and press Enter, or click the X button in the top-right of the window frame.