10 Useful Windows Commands You
Should Know
There are some things you can only
do from the command line, even on Windows. Some of these tools don’t have
graphical equivalents, while others are just plain faster to use than their
graphical interfaces.
We can’t possibly cover all the
useful commands you can use in the Command Prompt or PowerShell here. We’ll be
focusing on commands that should be useful even if you’re not a command-line
person.
ipconfig
– Quickly Find Your IP Address
You can find your IP address from
the Control Panel, but this takes quite a few clicks. The ipconfig command is a
fast way of determining your computer’s IP address and other information, such
as the address of its default gateway — useful if you want to know the IP
address of your router’s web interface.
To use the command, just type ipconfig
into a Command Prompt window. You’ll see a list of all the network connections
your computer is using. Look under Wireless LAN adapter if you’re connected to
Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection if you’re connected to a wired
network.
ipconfig
/flushdns – Flush Your DNS Resolver Cache
If you change your DNS server, the
effects won’t necessarily take place immediately. Windows uses a cache that
remembers DNS responses it’s received, saving time when you access the same
addresses again in the future.
To ensure Windows is getting
addresses from the new DNS servers instead of using old, cached entries, run
the ipconfig /flushdns command after changing your DNS server.
ping,
tracert – Troubleshoot Network Connection Issues
If you’re experiencing issues
connecting to a website or other network connection issues, Windows and other
operating systems have some standard tools you can use to identify problems.
First, there’s the ping command.
Type ping google.com and Windows will send packets to Google.com. Google
will respond and let you know it’s received them. You’ll be able to see if any
packets didn’t make it to Google.com — perhaps you’re experiencing packet loss
— and how long it took you to hear back — perhaps the network is saturated and
packets are taking a while to reach their destinations.
There’s also the tracert command,
which traces the route it takes for a packet to reach a destination. For
example, run tracert google.com and you’ll see the path your packet
takes to reach Google. If you’re having issues connecting to a website, tracert
can show you where the problem is occurring.
For more information about using
these commands
shutdown
– Create Shutdown Shortcuts on Windows 8
The shutdown command is particularly
useful on Windows 8. You can use it to create your own shortcuts and place them
on your Start screen or desktop, allowing you to more easily shut down Windows
without digging through the charms bar or logging out first.
This command can also be used to
restart your computer. On Windows 8, you can even use a special switch to
restart your computer into the advanced startup options menu.
- Shut Down: shutdown /s /t 0
- Restart: shutdown /r /t 0
- Restart Into Startup Options: shutdown
/r /o
recimg
– Create Custom Recovery Images
The Refresh Your PC feature on
Windows 8 allows you to restore your computer’s system state to its original
state — either from a clean Windows install or as the computer came from its
manufacturer. You can create your own custom recovery images, but this feature
is hidden — you have to do it with the recimg command from a command
line. This allows you to remove manufacturer-installed bloatware or add your
favorite desktop programs to your recovery image.
wbadmin
start backup – Create System Recovery Images
Windows 8.1 removes the Windows 7
backup interface, which allowed you to create system backup images. These
system images contain a complete snapshot of every single file on the system,
so they’re different from Windows 8′s recovery images.
While the graphical interface has
been removed, system administrators and geeks can still create system image
backups by running the wbadmin start backup cmdlet in a PowerShell window.
Unlike all the other commands here, this command-line tool must be run from
within PowerShell, not the Command Prompt.
sfc
/scannow – Scan System Files for Problems
Windows includes a system file
checker tool that scans its system files and looks for problems. If system
files are missing or corrupted, the system file checker will repair them. This
may fix problems with some Windows systems.
To use this tool, open a Command
Prompt window as Administrator and run the sfc /scannow command.
telnet
– Connect to Telnet Servers
The telnet client isn’t installed by
default. You’ll have to install it from the Control Panel. Once installed, you
can use the telnet command to connect to telnet servers without
installing any third-party software.
You should avoid using telnet if you
can help it, but if you’re connected directly to a device and it requires that
you use telnet to set something up — well, that’s what you have to do.
cipher
– Permanently Delete and Overwrite a Directory
The cipher command is mostly used
for managing encryption, but it also has an option that will write garbage data
to a drive, clearing its free space and ensuring no deleted file can be
recovered. Deleted files normally stick around on disk unless you’re using a
solid state drive. The cipher command effectively allows you to “wipe” a drive
without installing any third-party tools.
To use the command, specify the
drive you want to wipe like so:
ciper /w:C:\
netstat
-an – List Network Connections and Ports
The netstat command is particularly
useful, displaying all sorts of network statistics when used with its various
options. One of the most interesting variants of netstat is netstat -an,
which will display a list of all open network connections on their computer,
along with the port they’re using and the foreign IP address they’re connected
to.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of
all the commands you might find useful, but we hope it’s given you some idea of
the many powerful tools lurking under the surface. Linux isn’t the only
operating system where users can benefit from learning some commands.
