change root directory for command prompt

Thank you for visiting Microsoft Community and providing us with the detailed description about the issue.

As per the description, I understand that you want to change root directory for command prompt on the system.

I certainly understand your concern and will try my best to help you.

I would suggest you to refer to the steps given below and check if that helps.

1. Open the Command Prompt. You can access the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu and entering cmd into the search field. You can also access it by entering cmd into the Run field, or it can be found in the Accessories/System Tools folder of the Start menu.
2. When you first start the Command Prompt, you will be located in your personal directory. This is typically C:\Users\username\
3. There are a few key commands to getting around in Command Prompt. Press enter after each command to execute it:

• dir — This command will list all of the folders and files in the directory you are currently at.
• Cd folder — This command will move you to the folder that you specify. The folder must be in the directory you are currently in. For example: If you are currently at C:\Users\ username \ and you enter cd desktop you will be taken to C:\Users\ username \Desktop\
• Cd path — This command will take you to a specific path on your computer. You do not need to be in the same directory as the path. You must enter the entire path for it to work. For example:
• cd.. — This command will move you up one directory from your current location. For example: If you are currently at C:\Users\ username \ and you enter you will be taken to C:\Users\
• cd\ — This command will take you to the root directory, regardless of your location. For example: If you are currently at C:\Users\ username \ and you enter you will be taken to C:\
• driveletter: — This command will take you to the drive letter that you specify. The drive you specify will need to be active, or have a disc in it if it a CD\DVD drive. For example, if you want to switch to your D drive, you would enter the command
• exit — This command will exit the Command Prompt, no matter your current location.

I hope this information is helpful.

Please do let us know if you need any further assistance, we will be glad to assist you.

Command Prompt: 11 basic commands you should know (cd, dir, mkdir, etc.)

Geeks and experts love the Command Prompt because of the advanced commands it can run. Fortunately, Command Prompt is not built only on advanced commands, but also on simple ones, designed to perform basic operations. In this article, we show you how to execute commands such as changing the current directory, switching to another drive, viewing the contents of a directory, creating and renaming folders, copying, deleting files and folders, and launching applications from the Command Prompt. We are also going to show you how to get help when using this app for Windows. Let’s get started:

NOTE: The information shared in this tutorial applies to Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7. Note that, for simplicity, we are using screenshots taken only in Windows 10.

1. How to change the directory (folder) in Command Prompt (CMD)

The first command from the list is CD (Change Directory). This command enables you to change the current directory or, in other words, to navigate to another folder from your PC. For instance, the command CD takes you to the top of the directory tree. To see how it works, after you open the Command Prompt, type cd and press Enter on your keyboard. You should see how the CD command takes you to the top of the directory tree. In this case, to the “C:” drive.

Note that the Command Prompt is not case sensitive, meaning that you can type commands using capital letters, lowercase or any combination of them. The commands CD, cd or Cd, all work the same way.

Going back to the “CD” command, now you are working on the root of the “C:” drive. If you need to go to a specific folder from this drive run the command “CD Folder.” The subfolders must be separated by a backslash character: “.” For instance, when you need to access the System32 folder located in “C:\Windows,” type “cd windows\system32” as shown below, and then press Enter on your keyboard.

When you need to go one folder up, use the “cd..” command. Let’s assume that you want to go back to the Windows folder. Type “cd..” and press Enter on your keyboard.

The effect is that your current directory changes to “C:\Windows.”

2. How to change the drive in Command Prompt (CMD)

To access another drive, type the drive’s letter, followed by “:”. For instance, if you wanted to change the drive from “C:” to “D:”, you should type “d:” and then press Enter on your keyboard.

To change the drive and the directory at the same time, use the cd command, followed by the “/d” switch. The “/d” parameter is used to change the current drive to a specific folder from another disk volume.

For instance, if you are now on the “D:” drive and you want to go back to the Windows folder from the”C:” drive, you should type “cd /d C:\Windows” and press Enter on your keyboard, like in the following screenshot.

NOTE: By typing only the drive letter you automatically move to your most recent location on that drive. For instance, if you are on “D:” drive and type “cd c:\windows” nothing seems to happen. However, if you type “c:” then the working folder changes to “c:\windows,” assuming that it was the last folder you worked with on your “C:” drive.

3. How to view the contents of a directory in Command Prompt (CMD)

You can view the contents of a folder by using a command called DIR. To test it, we have created a folder named Digital_Citizen on the D: drive, with several files and subfolders. You can see them in the screenshot below.

The last time, our working folder was “C:\Windows.” To navigate to the folder mentioned above, we have to use the command “cd /d D:\Digital_Citizen.” To view the contents of the folder, type DIR, and press Enter. The list of the files and folders contained by it is displayed, together with some details about each of them (the size and the date and time when they were last modified).

4. How to create a new directory with Command Prompt (CMD)

You can make a new folder using the MKDIR (Make Directory) or the MD command. The syntax of these commands is “MKDIR Folder” or “MD Folder.”

Let’s say we need to create a new folder called Digital_Citizen_Life that is going to be placed in the “D:\Digital_Citizen” folder. To do that, we need to type “mkdir Digital_Citizen_Life” and then press Enter, as shown below.

To test if it worked, use the DIR command again. The newly created folder appears in the list.

NOTE: Do not forget that all these commands depend on the current location in the Command Prompt. For instance, if you are on the “C:” drive and type “MKDIR test,” the new folder is created in the root of the “C:” drive.

Another way to create a folder that does not involve being in the desired folder is to type the complete path of the new folder. For example, if you are working on the “D:” drive and you want to create a new folder in “C:,” called other_stuff, type “mkdir c:\other_stuff” and then press Enter.

When you need to create a folder with subfolders at the same time, you can use the “MKDIR FolderSubfolder” command. For instance, if we type “mkdir Digital_Citizen_Tests\Beta\Test1” three folders are created: Digital_Citizen_Tests, Beta and Test1, in a tree-like structure.

5. How to rename files and folders with Command Prompt (CMD)

To rename files and folders, you need to use the REN (Rename) command. To rename folders, type “ren Folder NewFolderName.” For example, if we wanted to rename the Digital_Citizen_Tests folder to Digital_Citizen_Final_Tests, we should run “ren Digital_Citizen_Tests Digital_Citizen_Final_Tests” and press Enter.

To rename a file, use the same command, like this: “ren filename.extension newname.extension”. For instance, to rename the Digital_Citizen_Picture1.bmp file to Image0.bmp, we have to run the command “ren Digital_Citizen_Image1.bmp Image0.bmp” command.

Read the second page of this tutorial if you want to learn how to copy files and folders, delete files and folders, start an application, and get help when using the Command Prompt.

root folder equivalent in windows

Is C drive treated as the root folder in windows when one says \folder1\folder2\ in linux and windows C:\folder1\folder2.

10 Answers 10

In Windows it’s relative to what drive your current working directory is at the time. If your current directory is in the C drive then C:\ would be the root. If the current directory is the D drive then D:\ would be the root. There is no absolute root.

At the filesystem level the Win32 API has no root folder, but as others have pointed out the Shell API does, ie. the Desktop. The Shell namespace is browsed with the (graphical) shell, which happens to be Explorer.exe.

At a much lower level, the Windows kernel also has a root folder, and the registry and filesystem are subfolders of it. This is relevant if you are writing a device driver. The Object Manager namespace can be browsed with a tool called WinObj.

If you’re running Windows CE then \ is the root directory. This resembles Unix’s / root directory. This is the only kind of Windows where you can get a simple answer to your question.

If you’re running Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 then the closest equivalent is the partition containing files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI, and BOOTFONT.BIN. The BIOS and MBR find this partition by finding which drive to start booting, scanning the MBR, and looking for the active partition. Microsoft calls this the system partition. I’m not completely sure how a program can find which partition this was. Anyway, when you find which drive letter this is, say letter L, then you could say that L:\ is the root directory. 99% of the time this will be drive letter C:.

Also if you’re running Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 then you also have a partition which contains the Windows system files, such as directory \Windows or others. Microsoft calls this the boot partition. You can get the drive letter from the symbol %SystemDrive% as someone else said. If this is drive letter Q then you can say that Q:\ is the root of the system drive.

If you’re running Vista then things are more complicated. If you installed by booting the DVD, then the boot partition (containing the system files) is C: and your system partition (containing the boot files) is D:, unless they’re the same partition and then the partition is C:. But if you installed by having Windows running already, inserting the DVD and starting the installer under that Windows installation, then the drive letters could be almost anything.

In Windows 95/98/ME the BIOS and MBR would look for files IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM, and some others, in the active partition. This would usually get drive letter C: so the root partition would be C:. As always, the Windows system files could be installed in directory \Windows or others on any partition.

Some people talk about a desktop. Well sure, each logged in user has a desktop. This is somewhat like each Unix user’s home directory. It sure isn’t a root directory.

Addendum: In the second-to-last paragraph, about Windows 95/98/ME, I typed «so the root partition would be C:.» That is, letter C, a colon, a backslash, and then a period for the end of the sentence (not part of the directory name). When viewing the page, the backslash isn’t showing. But when editing this answer to add this addendum, the backslash is there exactly as it should be, exactly as I typed it.

How to Change Directory in CMD | How to Use CD Command Win 10 [MiniTool News]

By Alisa | Follow | Last Updated March 04, 2021

Summary :

This tutorial gives a detailed guide on how to change directory in CMD (Command Prompt) in Windows 10 computer. Learn how to use CD command in Windows Command Prompt to access different directories and folders. FYI, MiniTool software designs a free data recovery software program allowing you to recover any deleted/lost files from Windows 10/8/7 computer and other storage devices.

Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) lets you do many things quickly on your Windows computer. Wonder how to change directory in CMD? You can use the CD command to easily do this.

What Is CD Command in Windows?

The CD command refers to “change directory”. It is a professional Windows Command Prompt change directory command. You can use CD command to easily change the current working directory in CMD in Windows 10, and open different directories or folders on your Windows 10 computer. Check how to use CD command to change directory in Command Prompt below.

How to Change Directory in CMD Windows 10

1. Open elevated Command Prompt
2. Use the CD command to change directory in CMD

How to Change Directory in CMD with CD Command

Step 1. Open Windows Command Prompt Utility

Before you use Command Prompt to change directory, you should enter into Command Prompt at first.

You can press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open elevated Command Prompt in Windows 10.

Step 2. How to Use CD Command in CMD to Change Directory

Then you can type CD command lines in CMD to change different directory or folder paths.

If you want to go to a specific directory, you can type cd + full directory path, e.g. cd C:\Program Files.

To open a particular folder, you can type cd + full folder path, e.g., cd C:\Program Files\office.

To go up a directory level you are currently working, you can type cd ..

To check the whole subdirectories and folders in the current directory, you can type dir command.

To go to the root level directory from any directory, you can type cd \.

To change the current drive, you can firstly type cd \ to go to the root directory, and then enter the drive letter followed by a colon to enter the target drive, e.g. I:.

To change the drive and directory at the same time, you can use CD and the /D switch simultaneously, e.g., cd /D I:\MiniTool Partition Wizard 11.

Bottom Line

Now you should know how to change directory in Command Prompt (CMD) by using CD command in Windows 10. You can easily access different directories or folders with CD command Windows in Command Prompt.

If you can’t find a file or folder in your Windows 10 computer, you may lost it or mistakenly deleted it, you can easily recover the file or folder with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a professional free data recovery program compatible with Windows 10/8/7. You can use this software to easily recover data from various data loss situations.

Namely, you can recover any deleted/lost files from Windows 10/8/7 computer, external hard drive, USB/thumb/pen drive, SD card, and more.

For the data loss due to mistaken file deletion, system crash and other computer system issues, hard drive failure, malware/virus infection, etc. you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to easily retrieve the lost files and data.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Alisa is a professional English editor with 4-year experience. She loves writing and focuses on sharing detailed solutions and thoughts for computer problems, data recovery & backup, digital gadgets, tech news, etc. Through her articles, users can always easily get related problems solved and find what they want. In spare time, she likes basketball, badminton, tennis, cycling, running, and singing. She is very funny and energetic in life, and always brings friends lots of laughs.