How to open a terminal quickly from a file explorer at a folder in Windows 7?

Question

This can be done easily in Ubuntu, just right click and open Terminal. It is very inconvenient to open cmd.exe then cd to the folder.

So, how do I open a terminal quickly from a file explorer at a folder?

Answer 1

1. Hold Shift + Right Click the folder you want it opened on, and click "open command window here". That should do the trick!

OR

2. You can also type cmd into the Windows File Explorer address bar (use Ctrl+L to focus the address bar) and press Enter to open the shell.

Answer 2

You can type cmd in Windows Explorer's location bar (which you can edit with the keyboard shortcut Alt+D); it will open a terminal upon pressing Enter.

---

Personally I use a voice command in Dragon NaturallySpeaking that takes care of it:

Code:

Sub Main
    SendKeys "%d"
    Wait(0.1)
    SendKeys "cmd"
    Wait(0.1)
    SendKeys "{ENTER}"
End Sub

Answer 3

Press Ctrl+L. This will allow you to edit the location bar address of the file explorer. Type cmd and press Enter. This will open command prompt in current folder.

Answer 4

You can use Andrew Richards' Enhancing the “Open Command Prompt here” Context Menu experience tweak

Just import the below *.reg file (or copy from the MSDN blog above)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Command Prompt

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\01MenuCmd]
"MUIVerb"="Command Prompts"
"Icon"="cmd.exe"
"ExtendedSubCommandsKey"="Directory\\ContextMenus\\MenuCmd"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\background\shell\01MenuCmd]
"MUIVerb"="Command Prompts"
"Icon"="cmd.exe"
"ExtendedSubCommandsKey"="Directory\\ContextMenus\\MenuCmd"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\open]
"MUIVerb"="Command Prompt"
"Icon"="cmd.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\open\command]
@="cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\runas]
"MUIVerb"="Command Prompt Elevated"
"Icon"="cmd.exe"
"HasLUAShield"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuCmd\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\""


; PowerShell

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\02MenuPowerShell]
"MUIVerb"="PowerShell Prompts"
"Icon"="powershell.exe"
"ExtendedSubCommandsKey"="Directory\\ContextMenus\\MenuPowerShell"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\background\shell\02MenuPowerShell]
"MUIVerb"="PowerShell Prompts"
"Icon"="powershell.exe"
"ExtendedSubCommandsKey"="Directory\\ContextMenus\\MenuPowerShell"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\open]
"MUIVerb"="PowerShell"
"Icon"="powershell.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\open\command]
@="powershell.exe -noexit -command Set-Location '%V'"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\runas]
"MUIVerb"="PowerShell Elevated"
"Icon"="powershell.exe"
"HasLUAShield"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ContextMenus\MenuPowerShell\shell\runas\command]
@="powershell.exe -noexit -command Set-Location '%V'"


; Ensure OS Entries are on the Extended Menu (Shift-Right Click)

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
"Extended"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\background\shell\cmd]
"Extended"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Powershell]
"Extended"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\background\shell\Powershell]
"Extended"=""

Answer 5

As I don't have access to any Win7 machine right now i'll give you 2 answers, one that I know that works in winXP and one that I found but don't know if it works in Win7.

• WinXP Solution - Registry Option http://www.petri.co.il/add_command_prompt_here_shortcut_to_windows_explorer.htm
• Win7 Solution http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/27778-open-command-window-here.html

Answer 6

Update for Windows 10 when CMD was replaced by PowerShell:

For quite some time, there is a PowerShell module called OpenHere that gives you granular options to control this functionality.

All you need is to copy paste this into PowerShell with elevated rights:

Install-Module -Name OpenHere; Import-Module -Name OpenHere

and start to explore the Set-OpenHereShortcut function.

Disclosure:

I'm a developer of this module.