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I'm studying IT and in my current class am learning the basic MS-DOS commands (CD, DIR, TREE, etc...). At the school, I'm using Windows 7, and I don't know how, but I'm still able to run the old EDIT command in DOS.

However, in my Windows 8 (64-bit version) laptop I'm not able to run this command. I know that it's kind of silly to ask for that once I can use a common text editor like Notepad or Notepad++, but only as a way to recreate the environment hat I have in class I'm looking for a way to use the EDIT command.

I've heard some people talking about DOSBox or ExDOS as a solution, but I don't know them.

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5 Answers 5

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While it will work differently (definitely the EDIT utility will not be the same), you can download a ready-made FreeDOS virtual machine and run in VirtualBox.

Or, if you have the access, install a 32-bit Windows in a virtual machine and run it there.

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You can use echo command in windows 10

Example: 1: If you want to edit C:/test/now.txt file Command below
Command: >> cd c:/test

echo This is a line what adding in now file >> now.txt

2: You can make a file using cmd
Command: >> cd c:/test

echo this is a text file >text.txt

3: You can view a file using cmd
command: >> cd c:/test

type now.txt

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    Uh, edit does come with a little bit more than overwriting, appending and viewing of file content (e.g. editing it) :)
    – zagrimsan
    Nov 25, 2015 at 13:05
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There IS an edit.com in Windows 10.

This is the way to get it:

  • Open a DOS window and click at the top to get a menu: As I am French, the menu is in French.

  • Click "Properties" (the last line); You get another menu.

  • Just tick the box at the bottom (in French: "Utiliser l'ancienne console", in English probably "Use the old console")

That's all. Click OK. Close the window and re-open a DOS. It looks slightly different. Type "Edit" and there it is.

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    This doesn't seem to work for me on Windows 10 1607 x64. This other answer seems to say that it's only there on 32-bit installations; is that what you have?
    – Ben N
    Jan 15, 2017 at 21:19
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    I have Windows 10 - 64 bits Roger Jan 16, 2017 at 12:58
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    Doesn't work for me either Jun 11, 2018 at 9:26
  • In a 64-bit version of Windows 10, the option/checkbox is "Use legacy console (requires relaunch)" (in tab Options). But after opening a new command prompt, edit is still not found ('edit.com' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.). Jul 25, 2018 at 13:24
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The MS-DOS editor (edit.exe) is not present in modern 64 bit Windows. The only option is Notepad. So I did this in the following way.

  1. Press Windows key + R → type cmd and hit Enter → in the taskbar right click on the Command prompt icon → click pin to task bar → close command prompt. Now again right click on the Command prompt icon (that, you have recently pinned) → right click on Command Prompt → click Properties → in Shortcut tab write "%windir%\system32\" (without quotes) in the Start in box → click OK.

  2. Open Command Prompt from the task bar (you have recent pinned the command prompt icon in the task bar)

    ********To View Command prompt (CMD) in full screen Start CMD → right click on the Name bar of CMD → click Layout → increase Window Buffer Size width and height***********

  3. Type "notepad" without quotes.

  4. Write your text and save

You have successfully written, saved and editd a text file on x64 bit Windows using the command prompt".

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The ‘use legacy console’ option has nothing to do with the ability to run 16-bit applications, it only controls the new terminal. In particular, it will not make EDIT work on 64-bit Windows. Roger Bassaber is either running 32-bit Windows 10 (possibly on 64-bit hardware), or using a different 32-bit or 64-bit editor that also happens to be called EDIT, or lying.

To get EDIT to work on 64-bit Windows, the easiest way is this:

First, download EDIT.COM, it's very easy to find and get online.

Second, download DOSBox.

Third, place a batch file next to the DOSBox executable with the following contents:

%0\..\dosbox -noconsole -forcescaler hq2x -c "mount a \"%~dp1\"" -c "mount c \"C:\Program Files (x86)\DOS\"" -c "c:edit /64 a:%~nxs1" -c exit

This assumes that you placed EDIT.COM in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\DOS. You can change the settings as you like. The settings shown here will hide the annoying DOSBox console, enlarge the text to avoid eye-strain when using modern displays, load the file as a binary file with 64 characters per line, and quit DOSBox when EDIT is closed. You could for example remove the /64 to load the file as a text file or add /H to get more rows of text on screen.

You can now drop a file on this batch file to open it in EDIT or invoke the batch file from the command line with the file to edit as the argument.

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