Open windows run box

Run may refer to any of the following:

1. The Windows Run or Run box is a feature first introduced in Microsoft Windows 95 and included in all later versions of Windows. The Run box allows the user to open a program by name (if in the Windows directory) or start any file by typing its the full path. The picture below shows an example of what the Run box looks like in Microsoft Windows XP.

Press the Windows key + R at any time to open the Run box in any version of Windows.

Enter an environment variable in the Run box to open a specific Windows folder.

Opening the Run box

Windows 10 users

The Run box was moved to the Power User Task menu in Windows 10. To access it, press the shortcut keys Windows key + X . In the menu, select the Run option. You can also press the shortcut keys Windows key + R to open the Run box.

Windows 8 users

Windows 8 introduced the Windows Start Screen and still supports the ability to run a program. To run a program start typing while at the Start Screen. You can also press the shortcut keys Windows key + R to open the Run box.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 users

Windows Vista introduced the Windows Search Box, which enabled users to search for files and run programs all at the same time. With the introduction of this feature, the Run box is no longer found in the Start menu. However, if you still want to use the Run box in Vista or Windows 7, you can type Run in the Search box and press Enter , or press the shortcut keys Windows key + R .

Windows 95, 98, ME, and XP users

All early versions of Windows can find the Run box in the Windows Start menu. Also, you can press the shortcut keys Windows key + R to open the Run box at any time.

How to use the Run box

Any executable file that is located in the C:\Windows directory can be run by name. For example, the executable for Microsoft Calculator is calc.exe. If you wanted to open the calculator from the Run box, type calc and press Enter .

How to run a file using the full file path

Any executable can also be run by typing the full file executable path. For example, we could also run the Microsoft Calculator by typing in the full path to the executable. For example, typing c:\windows\calc.exe and pressing Enter would also open the Calculator. Windows also looks at the Windows directory by default, so typing in calc.exe would open the Calculator since its in the Windows directory.

How to open Control Panel items from the Run box

Any of the associated Control Panel icons can also be run from the Run line. For example, in the Run line typing appwiz.cpl and pressing Enter opens the Add/Remove Programs feature found through the Control Panel. See the link below for a full list of Control Panel files.

Related pages

2. In general, run is also used to describe the process of beginning a software program or script. For example, your computer is running an Internet browser to view this web page.

How do I find what’s running?

To determine what is running in Windows, use the Windows Task Manager.

Password Recovery

The Run command box provides the quickest way to launch programs (for instance, Registry Editor, Group Policy Editor) or open folders and documents. In this tutorial we’ll show you 5 ways to open Run command box in Windows 10.

Method 1: Open Run Command Box by Pressing WIN + R

Just press the Windows key and the R key at the same time, it will open the Run command box immediately. This method is the fastest and it works with all versions of Windows.

Method 2: Open Run Command Box from Start Menu

Click the Start button (the Windows icon in the lower-left corner). Select All apps and expand Windows System, then click Run to open it.

Method 3: Open Run Command Box Using Cortana Search

Type the word run inside Cortana’s search box in the taskbar, and then click Run from the search result.

Method 4: Open Run Command Box from Power User Menu

Press the Windows key + X keyboard shortcut (or right-click on the Start button). When the Power User menu appears, click Run.

Method 5: Open Run Command Box from Command Prompt

Open a Command Prompt in Windows 10. Copy and paste the following command and press Enter.
explorer.exe Shell.

It will show the Run dialog box immediately.

How to Open Run Dialog Box in Windows 10

How to Open Run Dialog Box in Windows 10 – To launch any folder, application, document or internet tool Run is proved as the most convenient and pretty simply accessible utility. Different ways lead to access this box. In the coming few paragraphs, you will learn every approachable method which will cause to prompt run dialog box in Windows 10.

How to Open Run Dialog Box in Windows 10

Way 1 – Through Keyboard Shortcut

• Jointly strike “Win and R” keys together and soon the Run dialog box will appear and will be visible on the screen.

Way 2 – Power User Menu

• Press the keys of “Win and X” and one bar will appear on the left edge of the screen which is known as Power user menu.

• Click “Run” in the arrived menu, the third last option.

Way 3 – Cortana

• Type “run” in the text area of the Cortana and look at the result shown on the top. Click on it.

Way 4 – Start Menu

• lick the “Windows” symbol that appears on the left of the taskbar and when the Start Menu appears, thereupon click “All apps” button.

• Move towards all the sections and when you reach “W”, look for “Windows System”.

• Click on “Windows System”. You view few more options under this, click “Run”.

Way 5 – Shortcut

• Do a “right-click” on an empty space on “Desktop” and from the context menu, click or hit on “New” and then “Shortcut”.

• In the create shortcut window, copy and paste this the code in the space to type the location of item –

and click “Next” button

• Now you need to type a name for the shortcut so that you can easily recognize it, so write “Run” in provided space and click on “Finish” button.

• You see the Run dialog box on the desktop.

Run is the most appropriate and exclusively accessible utility on Windows 10 machine. Amongst the different elaborated methods, the Shortcut key is the most popular and quickest one I often apply. However, you can get the assistance of other processes if you are meeting any mechanical enmeshment like the keyboard is not functioning or mouse hangs. We hope the illustrated ways would be convenient for you to Open Run Dialog Box in Windows 10.

15 Windows 10 Run Commands Everyone Should Learn

From searching YouTube to opening the C drive

The Windows 10 Run box is a gold mine of secret commands that many people don’t take full advantage of. Whilst the Run box is usually a quick method to open up programs, it can be a way to find quick access to Windows features and access unique commands.

Here is an overview of some of the best Windows 10 Run commands that everybody should know about.

How to Open the Run Box on Windows 10

To use any of the run commands in this article, you’ll need to make use of the run box. You can open the run box in Windows 10 by pressing the Windows Key + R. This will immediately open the Run box.

You can also click to open the Start menu, type Run and then click on the run desktop app shortcut that appears in the search results. The first option is far faster, however.

Once you open the run box, you can follow all of the suggestions below for useful run commands. To make it easier, I have surrounded all of the commands in quotes – make sure to remove these before trying the commands yourself.

#1 – Run Shutdown Timer

If you want to start a countdown to shut your computer down, open the run box and type ‘run -s -t xxx’. Replace the x’s with any number. This number will represent how many seconds you’d like the timer to run for before your computer shuts down.

For example, 3600 seconds would be one hour, and 600 seconds would be 10 minutes. You can also replace the ‘-s’ in this command with a ‘-r’ to set a restart timer.

#2 – Open the C Drive

Want to quickly access your C Drive to find files and folders? Simply open the Run Box and type ‘\’ and then press enter. A new Windows Explorer tab will open with the contents of your C Drive.

#3 – Open the ‘User’ Folder

Another similar command to the C Drive option above involves entering ‘..’ in the Run box. Doing this will take you to the user folder on your Windows 10 PC. From here, you can quickly access specific User files.

#4 – Open the Calculator

If you want to quickly open the calculator, you can simply type ‘calc’ in the run box and then press enter. Pressing the Windows+R key, then following it with calc is far faster than opening the start menu, typing out calculator and clicking on the app.

If you use the calculator app often to make quick calculations, this quick tip is sure to shave off plenty of time over the years.

#5 – Access Windows Services Quickly

If you’d like to quickly access all of the Windows services running on your PC and make any changes, simply open the run box and type ‘services.msc’ then press Enter.

I’ve previously talked about how it can be a bad idea to try to disable a Windows service for performance purposes, but sometimes you need to in order to fix a problem.

#6 – Turn Windows Features On/Off Quickly

If, for any reason, you need to turn on or off Windows features or components, you can quickly access this by typing ‘optionalfeatures’ in the Run box and then pressing enter.

#7 – Add or Remove Programs Quickly

You can quickly access the Program Features page from within the Control Panel by using ‘control.exe appwiz.cpl’ in the Run box.

You can use this page to find programs that you don’t regularly use and it’s one of the best methods to clear up space on your storage drive.

#8 – Open Device Manager

It’s likely you’ll be in and out of the Device Manager from time to time, so remember the command ‘devmgmt.msc’ for the Run box.

Using this will take you straight into Device Manager, saving time by avoiding navigation through the Control Panel or Start Menu.

#9 – Check for Performance Issues

Noticing performance issues or want to quickly check up on how your PC is managing resources? Use the command ‘resmon’ in the Run box to quickly open the Resource Manager.

From here, you’ll see information about how your CPU, disk, memory, and network is being used by the programs and services installed on your PC.

#10 – Instantly Perform a Search via Your Browser

Want to quickly search something on Google without going through the hassle of opening your browser? You can do this by opening the Run Box and typing chrome “? SEARCH”. Just replace the word SEARCH with the phrase you’d like to search for in Google.

Press enter and you will instantly be taken to the Google search results. Don’t use Chrome? No problem, replace ‘chrome’ with your browser name.

For Microsoft Edge, use ‘microsoft-edge:’, for firefox, use ‘firefox’. For Internet Explorer, use ‘iexplore’.

#11 – Search YouTube Quickly

It’s arguable whether this will speed up the process or not, but it’s still a neat trick to try.

You can search YouTube quickly by opening the Run box and typing chrome “youtube.com/results?search_query=SEARCH” – replace SEARCH with the search term you’d like to search for and replace chrome with your browser of choice.

#12 – Open Microsoft Apps

If you want to quickly write down something, you can use the Run box and type ‘write’. After, just press enter and you’ll be taken to WordPad.

Want other apps? Check out this list of quick run commands below.

• Paint – ‘mspaint’
• Sticky notes – ‘stikynot’
• Command Prompt – ‘cmd’
• Notepad – ‘notepad’
• Media Player – ‘wmplayer’

#13 – Manage your disk, clean it, and defrag it

For this next section, we have a number of commands for managing your disk.

• To access disk cleanup quickly, use the command ‘cleanmgr’.
• If you have a hard disk drive, you can open the disk defragmenter with the command ‘dfrgui’
• For disk management, use the command ‘diskmgmt.msc’.

#14 – Adjust Mouse Settings

With the command ‘main.cpl’ from the run box, you can access settings for your mouse.

The settings you can adjust here include your mouse pointer speed, your double click speed, the default mouse cursor, your mouse wheel settings, and much more.

#15 – Open Facebook Messages

Want to quickly see your messages on Facebook? Use the command chrome “facebook.com/messages” and you’ll be instantly taken to your messages. If you are not logged into Facebook, you will need to log in first.

Note that you must replace ‘chrome’ with whichever browser you are using.

Summary

Find any of these Windows 10 run commands useful? Which ones will you make the most use of? Let me know.

If you have any other useful commands you’d like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Enjoy!

Ollie stumbled upon writing online whilst participating in a mobile network forum back in 2011. Since then, he has developed an incredible passion for writing about all sorts of tech from smartphones, PC hardware, software, and everything in between. Read Ollie’s Full Bio