How to Write a CMD Script

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If you have every used the Command Line, or CMD, interface in Windows, you probably have some idea of the powerful things it can do. Creating your own CMD scripts, you can do even more, but faster.

A CMD script does the same thing as if you typed commands into the CMD window. If you want to do something on a regular basis, such as telling Windows to turn off your computer after an hour, you can write a script and then you can activate the script whenever you want to run it.

Understanding CMD and Written Commands

In the early days of personal computing almost everything was done by typing command_s into a command line interface. If you wanted to open a program, you had to type the name of the program into the command line. Today, you can simply click or touch an icon on your screen to perform most actions. But Windows still accepts type-written commands in the CMD utility. You can write commands_ to open programs, add or change account permissions, back up files or get information about your computer using the CMD window.

Understanding CMD Scripts

The Command Prompt utility in Windows can be opened at any time, simply by typing «cmd» in the Windows Start menu. Here, you can type all sorts of commands to open programs, change settings and make tweaks to how Windows and its programs perform. In Microsoft’s long history of operating systems, CMD i_s a relative newcomer. In MS-DOS, before Windows was released, when you wanted to run a script, you would save it as a .bat file. While you can still save files with that extension today, most people use the .cmd extension._

Using a Script CMD to Open Notepad

To create and save a CMD switch, it’s best to use a basic text editor. Using a word processor like Microsoft Word makes saving the file a hassle. Notepad is much easier to use. So to demonstrate how CMD works, let’s open use it to open Notepad.

1. Type CMD in the Windows Start menu and press Enter to open CMD.exe.
2. Change the directory from your current username folder to the base directory by typing «cd\» and pressing Enter. It should now read «C:\>» before the blinking cursor.
3. Type the following line and pressEnter:start «c:\windows\system32» notepad.exe

As soon as you press Enter, you will see Notepad open. The command you entered has told Windows to start the notepad.exe program, which is located in the system32 folder, which is inside the Windows folder, on the C: drive. CMD commands are not case-sensitive so you can use lowercase or uppercase letters interchangeably.

Creating Your First Script CMD File

Now that Notepad is open, create your first CMD script file by typing the same line you used in the CMD window into notepad: start «c:\windows\system32» notepad.exe

Save the batch file to your desktop by selecting «Save As» from the File menu. Name the file «firstscript.cmd» and click «Save.» Notepad script commands must be saved with the .cmd extension, rather than the default .txt extension.

Double-click the new CMD file on your desktop. You will see the CMD window open for a fraction of a second and then close as Notepad is launched.

This is hardly a useful script, since a desktop shortcut does the same thing. To create something more useful, let’s edit the file so that it creates a new text file on your desktop listing all of your programs.

Using Echo and Echo Off

While the CMD window wasn’t open long enough to see it, by default it will always display the text that was entered in the CMD file when it runs. For longer scripts, this can be a nuisance, so it’s generally good form to turn this off by using the Echo Off command in the first line of the CMD file. By itself, Echo Off disables the display of any text that follows it. To make the Echo Off command apply to itself, put an @ symbol in front of it. Thus, your two-line CMD script would be:

@echo off

start «c:\windows\system32» notepad.exe

Creating a Text File Script

This CMD script will list all the files you have in your Program Files folder and put that list in a new text file.

1. Open Notepad. Type «@echo off«in the first line and press Enter.
2. In the second line, type: dir «C:\Program Files» > list_of_files.txt
3. Select «Save As» from the File menu and save the file as «program-list-script.cmd.»
4. Double-click the new text file on your desktop to see the list of files and folders.

The text file will appear in the same folder where the script file itself is. So if the script file is on your desktop, the list-of-files.txt file will also appear on your desktop.

If you want to change the folder where the text file is placed, you can specify its own folder in the script. For example, if you want it to be placed in your Documents folder, use: dir «C:\Program Files» > C:\Users\David\Documents\list_of_files.txt

Creating a Systems Information Script

If you want to use a script to give you needed information, it’s not always necessary to produce a text document with a script. You can have the information posted directly in the CMD window.

The example script below will give you basic information about your computer, including the operating system and version number, the BIOS version, the total physical memory and your computer’s network address. To use the script, type or copy the lines below into a new Notepad file and save it with the .cmd file extension, such as «my_computer_info.cmd.»

In this example, ECHO OFF is used to prevent the CMD window from displaying the script.

The ECHO command is used to display specific text, as well as some equal signs (===) as lines to organize the information in sections.

To insert a comment for your own use — without it affecting the script or appearing in the CMD window — type two colons first. Anything in the same line following » :: « will be commented out from the script.

The PAUSE command directs the CMD program to stay open. Pressing any key on your keyboard will close the window.

@ECHO OFF

:: This CMD script provides you with your operating system, hardware and network information.

TITLE My System Info

ECHO Please wait. Gathering system information.

ECHO OPERATING SYSTEM

systeminfo | findstr /c:»OS Name»

systeminfo | findstr /c:»OS Version»

ECHO BIOS

systeminfo | findstr /c:»System Type»

ECHO MEMORY

systeminfo | findstr /c:»Total Physical Memory»

ECHO CPU

wmic cpu get name

ECHO NETWORK ADDRESS

ipconfig | findstr IPv4

ipconfig | findstr IPv6

PAUSE

Using Scripts to Shut Down Your Computer

Normally, when you shut down your computer, it happens instantaneously. Suppose, however, that you’re listening to an audiobook or watching a training video — and you know that you will fall asleep after an hour. You can use a CMD script to tell your computer to shut itself down, after a specified period of time, using the shutdown command.

When you use the shutdown command, you need to include two additional switches, or subcommands. The first tells the computer to either shutdown or restart. You can use either -s or — r. The second tells the computer how many seconds to wait before performing the command. For this you use -t, followed by the number of seconds.

To shutdown the computer in one second, use: shutdown -s -t 01

To restart the computer in eight seconds, use: shutdown -r -t 08

To shutdown the computer in two hours use: shutdown -s -t 7200

Backing Up Files With a CMD Script

If you find it tedious to back up your files to a second storage device, using a CMD script makes the process a breeze. For this, use the Robocopy command. For example, if you want to back up all of the files in your Documents folder onto a removable storage device, you can write the command in a CMD file and then — at the end of the day — simply double click the file to activate it.

The Robocopy command needs to know, first — which folder you want to copy and, second — where you want the copy placed. Both the source and destination need to be in quotation marks.

If you’re not certain what your drive letters are, open File Explorer and click on «My Computer.»

For example, if your User name is MyName, your Documents folder is in your C: drive and your Backup folder is in a removable storage D: drive, then the command would be:

robocopy D:\Users\MyName\Documents F:\Backup /XA:H /W:0 /R:1 > F:\Backup\backup.log

This example is a bit more complicated, since Robocopy offers you a lot of options.

D:\Users\MyName\Documents: the folder you want to back up.

F:\Backup: the location of your Backup folder.

/XA:H: ignores hidden files.

/W:0: waits zero seconds between retries, instead of the default 30 seconds.

/R:1: retry only once if the file is locked.

> F:\Backup\backup.log: create a backup log placed in the Backup folder.

Note that because this is a mirror backup, if you delete files from the source folder, they will be deleted from the Backup folder the next time you use the script. It would be a good idea to explore additional switches available for Robocopy, so that you ensure that you backup your files the way that works best for you.

Sample scripts

Copy these scripts to the root of your storage USB drive. Refer to this page to understand what’s in the scripts.

The sample scripts ZIP download includes all the scripts below:

Image deployment scripts

The following scripts set up Windows devices by using either a WIM or an FFU image file, and then give the option to configure push-button reset features.

The following files make up the deployment scripts:

• ApplyImage.bat
• ApplyRecovery.bat
• CreatePartitions-BIOS.txt
• CreatePartitions-BIOS-FFU.txt
• CreatePartitions-UEFI.txt
• CreatePartitions-UEFI-FFU.txt
• HideRecoveryPartitions-BIOS.txt
• HideRecoveryPartitions-UEFI.txt
• CreateRecoveryPartitions-BIOS.txt
• CreateRecoveryPartitions-UEFI.txt

ApplyImage.bat

Use this script applies a Windows image to a new device.

Note: If you copy and paste the contents below to create a .bat file, you may get an error when detecting firmware. For firmware detection to succeed, ensure that the lines that begin for /f «tokens=2* delims= » %%A has a tab followed by a space in between delims= and » %%A .

ApplyImage.bat relies on the following DiskPart scripts, which must be placed in the same folder:

CreatePartitions scripts

Use these scripts together with DiskPart to format and set up the hard disk partitions for Windows, including recovery tools. Adjust the partition sizes to fill the drive as necessary.

CreatePartitions-UEFI.txt

Creates the System, MSR, Windows, and recovery tools partitions for UEFI-based PCs.

This script temporarily assigns these drive letters: System=S, Windows=W, and Recovery=R. The MSR partition doesn’t get a letter. The letter W is used to avoid potential drive letter conflicts. After the device reboots, the Windows partition is assigned the letter C, and the other partitions don’t receive drive letters.

The Recovery partition must be the partition after the Windows partition to ensure winre.wim can be kept up-to-date during life of the device.

The following diagram shows the resulting partition configuration:

CreatePartitions-UEFI-FFU.txt

This script is based off of CreatePartitions-UEFI.txt, but it does not create a recovery partition. This is so that the Windows partition is the last partition on the drive and can be expanded. If this script is used, the recovery partition can be configured later with ApplyRecovery.bat.

CreatePartitions-BIOS.txt

Creates the System, Windows, and recovery tools partitions for BIOS-based PCs.

This script temporarily assigns these drive letters: System=S, Windows=W, and Recovery=R. The letter W is used to avoid potential drive letter conflicts. After the device reboots, the Windows partition is assigned the letter C, and the other partitions don’t receive drive letters.

The Recovery partition must be the partition after the Windows partition to ensure winre.wim can be kept up-to-date during life of the device.

The following diagram shows the resulting partition configuration:

CreatePartitions-BIOS-FFU.txt

This script is based off of CreatePartitions-BIOS.txt, but it doesn’t create a recovery partition. This is so that the Windows partition is the last partition on the drive and can be expanded. If this script is used, the recovery partition can be configured later with ApplyRecovery.bat.

ApplyRecovery.bat

Use this script to prepare the Windows recovery partition. This script is called by ApplyImage.bat, but can also be run on its own.

Note: If you copy and paste the contents below to create a .bat file, you may get an error when detecting firmware. For firmware detection to succeed, ensure that the lines that begin for /f «tokens=2* delims= » %%A has a tab followed by a space in between delims= and » %%A .

ApplyRecovery.bat relies on the following DiskPart scripts, which must be placed in the same folder:

CreateRecoveryPartitions-UEFI.txt

CreateRecoveryPartitions-BIOS.txt

HideRecoveryPartitions-UEFI.txt

HideRecoveryPartitions-BIOS.txt

Start layout (LayoutModification.xml)

The Start tile layout in Windows 10 provides OEMs the ability to append tiles to the default Start layout to include Web links, secondary tiles, Windows apps, and Windows desktop applications. OEMs can use this layout to make it applicable to multiple regions or markets without duplicating a lot of the work. In addition, OEMs can add up to three default apps to the frequently used apps section in the system area, which delivers sytem-driven lists o the user including important or frequently accessed system locations and recently installed apps.

To take advantage of all these new features and have the most robust and complete Start customization experience for Windows 10, consider creating a LayoutModification.xml file. This file specifies how the OEM tiles should be laid out in Start. For more information about how to customize the new Start layout, see the topic Customize the Windows 10 Start screen in the Windows 10 Partner Documentation.

Sample LayoutModification.xml:

TaskbarLayoutModification.xml

You can pin apps to the taskbar. To learn more, see OEM Taskbar tiles.

BootToAudit

Add an answer file to the Windows image in C:\mount\windows\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml to instruct it to boot into audit mode. You can create this answer file in Windows System Image Manager.

BootToAudit-x64

Keeping Windows settings through a recovery

Windows doesn’t automatically save settings created through unattend.xml setup files, nor Windows Start Menu customizations created with LayoutModification.xml during a full-system reset, nor first-login info from oobe.xml.

To make sure your customizations are saved, that includes steps to put the unattend.xml, LayoutModification.xml, and oobe.xml files back into place. Here’s some sample scripts that show how to retain these settings and put them back into the right spots. Save copies of unattend.xml, LayoutModification.xml, oobe.xml, plus these two text files: ResetConfig.xml and EnableCustomizations.cmd, in C:\Recovery\OEM\:

ResetConfig.xml

EnableCustomizations.cmd

To learn more about using extensibility points for push-button reset, see Add extensibility scripts to push-button reset.

Reinstall Windows inbox apps

Reinstall Windows apps after adding a new language. You can reinstall the apps without removing them first.

ReinstallInboxApps-x64.cmd

Find drive letters with a script

Use this script in Windows PE to identify a drive that has a folder called «Images.»