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Windows-Basics.md

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Windows Directory Paths

NOTE Windows directories use the backslash, \, to delimit paths as opposed to Unix's forward slash, /!!

  • C:\ (or whichever root drive Windows is installed on) is a root drive.

  • C:\Program Files\ is where 64-bit applications are installed.

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\ is where 32-bit applications are installed.

  • C:\ProgramData\ [hidden] is a hidden directory where application-specific settings reside.

  • C:\Users\ is the directory for all users, including the Default user. Similar to Linux's /home directory.

  • C:\Users\[username]\ is each specific user's home folder. Their settings and files are saved here and in subdirectories.

    • C:\Users\[username]\Documents\ is the Documents folder for the current user.

    • C:\Users\[username]\Desktop\ is the Desktop folder for the current user.

  • C:\Windows\ is where Windows-specific programs and libraries are located.

    • C\Windows\System32\ is where (counterintuitively) 64-bit main component Windows system applications configuration settings are located.

Windows Directory Command-Line Interaction and Navigation

  • cd or chdir is to change directories, just like with Linux's cd.

  • dir lists the contents of a directory, similarly to Linux's ls

  • md or mkdir creates directories.

  • copy copies a file. This is the equivalent to Linux's cp.

  • move works like cutting and pasting files, equivalent to Linux's mv.

  • del or erase deletes files and directories. Directories will prompt a user to confirm.

    • Note that files deleted with this command do not go to the Recycle Bin, unlike when they are deleted with the GUI.

  • rd or rmdir removes a directory if it's empty. Non-empty directories must be removed with rmdir /S or rd /S.

  • find will search a file for whatever is defined. For example, find "hello" greeting.txt will search the greeting.txt file for the string hello.

  • exit will close cmd.

  • type followed by a file name will show the contents of a file. Similar to cat in Linux.

  • | more or "pipe more" shows contents of the command-line in a per-screen format.

  • > will output to a file. It will make a new file or rewrite it if it exists.

    Example: echo hello > greeting.txt will create a new greeting.txt file every time it is run.

  • >> will append to a file. It will either start a new file or add lines to the existing one.

    Example: echo world >> greeting.txt will keep adding the word world to a new line of this file.

Common Environment Variables

Environment Variable Default Value
%CD% Current directory
%DATE% The current date
%OS% Windows
%ProgramFiles% C:\Program FIles
%ProgramFiles(x86)% C:\Program Files (x86)
%TIME The current time
%USERPROFILE% C:\Users{username}
%SYSTEMDRIVE% C:\
%SYSTEMROOT% C:\Windows

Example: echo %CD% will print the current directory path. Note: this variable is different from the terminal command, cd.

WMIC Windows Management Instrumentation Command

wmic has the following query structure:

  • wmic [GLOBAL SWITCHES] [ALIAS] [VERBS] [PROPERTIES]

Example: wmic os get /value will return all properties of wmic os for you to choose properties from:

```console
BootDevice=\Device\HarddiskVolume6
BuildNumber=18362
BuildType=Multiprocessor Free
Caption=Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
... [results truncated]
```

Example 2: wmic /APPEND:report.txt os get caption will retrieve the operating system's common name and append that to a file report.txt. In this example, /APPEND:report.txt is a global switch, os is an alias, get is our verb and caption is our property we're retrieving.

You can modify wmic queries with the where clause.

Example 3: wmic service where (startmode="auto") get caption finds services where the startup property equals auto.

net CMD

The net user and net localgroup and net accounts command-line utilities allow you to manage and interact with different local user and group-related settings.