Command-line reference A-Z

[Paul Randall]

WXP has a help file named ntcmds.chm that is the Command-line reference A-Z.

Question 1:
Does Vista have a similar searchable reference document for the many command
line tools available in Vista? Vista's help and support search is worthless
for some tools -- for example, on Vista Home Basic system sequestered from
the internet, I can run the arp and msinfo tools, but searching help and
support shows zero entries for them.

Question 2:
How can I make WXP's command line reference work on Vista? I've copied
ntcmds.chm to a thumb drive and run it on my Vista machine, but not
everything works. For example, in the table of contents, when I click on
the 'Command-line reference A-Z' entry, I get a script error -- object
expected. I realize the info in WXp's help file may be out of date, but at
least it provides the name and functions of many tools that Vista still
provides. It is really difficult to use a tool if you can't find out that
you have it.

Thanks,

-Paul Randall

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

WXP has a help file named ntcmds.chm that is the Command-line reference
A-Z.

Question 1:
Does Vista have a similar searchable reference document for the many
command line tools available in Vista? Vista's help and support search is
worthless for some tools -- for example, on Vista Home Basic system
sequestered from the internet, I can run the arp and msinfo tools, but
searching help and support shows zero entries for them.

Question 2:
How can I make WXP's command line reference work on Vista? I've copied
ntcmds.chm to a thumb drive and run it on my Vista machine, but not
everything works. For example, in the table of contents, when I click on
the 'Command-line reference A-Z' entry, I get a script error -- object
expected. I realize the info in WXp's help file may be out of date, but
at least it provides the name and functions of many tools that Vista still
provides. It is really difficult to use a tool if you can't find out that
you have it.

There must be lots of websites with all the commands explained. I just use
the HELP command itself.

For quick help on a command you can just type the command with /? at the
end. Or use the Help command itself.

eg. DIR

HELP DIR

or

DIR /?

You can type just HELP for a list of commands too.

ss.

 

[Paul Randall]

There must be lots of websites with all the commands explained.

Let's see now. Microsoft decided what tools to include. Microsoft built
some individual help files for some or all of the tools. Microsoft gives no
clues as to what tools are available or what they do. So we should just go
through every folder and run every .EXE to see what they do? Or some third
party should do this so that we can google their web site for the function
we want to do? Why not just provide a single integrated searchable help
file like ntcmds.chm as in WXP, so you don't even need an internet
connection? It could be so easy, they did it before with WXP, and now
Microsoft makes it so hard with Vista.

I just use the HELP command itself.

On Vista, HELP only tells you about commands build into the command line
processor. It says nothing, gives no clues as to what other command line
tools might have come with the system, like MSInfo, or what functions they
might perform for you.

For quick help on a command you can just type the command with /? at the
end. Or use the Help command itself.

eg. DIR

HELP DIR

or

DIR /?

You can type just HELP for a list of commands too.

ss.

Thanks for the response, but I'm hoping Microsoft has provided a
comprehensive help file and someone can tell me how to use it.

-Paul Randall

 

[Jon]

WXP has a help file named ntcmds.chm that is the Command-line reference
A-Z.

Question 1:
Does Vista have a similar searchable reference document for the many
command line tools available in Vista? Vista's help and support search is
worthless for some tools -- for example, on Vista Home Basic system
sequestered from the internet, I can run the arp and msinfo tools, but
searching help and support shows zero entries for them.

I've not seen one exclusively for Vista, but you can refer to help
documentation for Windows XP & Windows Server 2003

Windows XP Command Line Reference
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=53527

Windows Server 2003 Command Line Reference
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=53528

Question 2:
How can I make WXP's command line reference work on Vista? I've copied
ntcmds.chm to a thumb drive and run it on my Vista machine, but not
everything works. For example, in the table of contents, when I click on
the 'Command-line reference A-Z' entry, I get a script error -- object
expected. I realize the info in WXp's help file may be out of date, but
at least it provides the name and functions of many tools that Vista still
provides. It is really difficult to use a tool if you can't find out that
you have it.

Thanks,

-Paul Randall

There are probably simpler ways of doing this than the way I did it. I
converted the .chm file to a set of .html files (there are tools available
on the net for this eg 'chm decoder'), and then modified the html links
within them en masse to point to each other via script.

CHM Decoder
http://www.gridinsoft.com/chm.php

 

[Jon]

Also the Windows Server 2008 Documentation which includes some of the newer
commands
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...d4b3-40ec-bd2f-12d98f7802d51033.mspx?mfr=true

 

[Lang Murphy]

WXP has a help file named ntcmds.chm that is the Command-line reference
A-Z.

Question 1:
Does Vista have a similar searchable reference document for the many
command line tools available in Vista? Vista's help and support search is
worthless for some tools -- for example, on Vista Home Basic system
sequestered from the internet, I can run the arp and msinfo tools, but
searching help and support shows zero entries for them.

Question 2:
How can I make WXP's command line reference work on Vista? I've copied
ntcmds.chm to a thumb drive and run it on my Vista machine, but not
everything works. For example, in the table of contents, when I click on
the 'Command-line reference A-Z' entry, I get a script error -- object
expected. I realize the info in WXp's help file may be out of date, but
at least it provides the name and functions of many tools that Vista still
provides. It is really difficult to use a tool if you can't find out that
you have it.

Thanks,

-Paul Randall

Did you try Googling Vista command line reference? I only ask because I did
and found one or two links of interest. Can't speak to using XP's chm
reference file... sorry.

Lang

 

[Paul Randall]

Did you try Googling Vista command line reference? I only ask because I
did and found one or two links of interest. Can't speak to using XP's chm
reference file... sorry.

Lang

Yes, I didn't do the obvious, partly because I was hoping the info would be
on my computer as part of the Vista installation. I found some good stuff -
just can't use it where there is no net connectivity.

-Paul Randall

 

[Paul Randall]

I've not seen one exclusively for Vista, but you can refer to help
documentation for Windows XP & Windows Server 2003

Windows XP Command Line Reference
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=53527

Windows Server 2003 Command Line Reference
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=53528





There are probably simpler ways of doing this than the way I did it. I
converted the .chm file to a set of .html files (there are tools available
on the net for this eg 'chm decoder'), and then modified the html links
within them en masse to point to each other via script.

CHM Decoder
http://www.gridinsoft.com/chm.php

I appreciate your responses, especially this one. A few years ago I
disassembled the VBScript .chm to fix an error in a style that affected the
readability of code samples on my computer, and reassembled it successfully.
Did you reassemble your HTML into a single .CHM? Seems like I could
manually compile a list of all the command line utilities and integrate all
their .CHMs into a single large searchable CHM.

-Paul Randall

 

[Lang Murphy]

Yes, I didn't do the obvious, partly because I was hoping the info would
be on my computer as part of the Vista installation. I found some good
stuff - just can't use it where there is no net connectivity.

-Paul Randall

Paul,

I hear ya... sigh... dunno... maybe MS doesn't include a command line
reference with the OS local help to prevent folks from saying "hey, lemme
try THIS!" I agree: it's frustrating.

Lang

 

[Jon]

I appreciate your responses, especially this one. A few years ago I
disassembled the VBScript .chm to fix an error in a style that affected
the readability of code samples on my computer, and reassembled it
successfully. Did you reassemble your HTML into a single .CHM? Seems
like I could manually compile a list of all the command line utilities and
integrate all their .CHMs into a single large searchable CHM.

-Paul Randall

I haven't done thus far, although it's a possibility. I've left it as a
folder full of html files - partly because I don't know how much I'll be
referrring to it, and partly because I'm lazy. There are tools available for
this purpose on the net if you want to try it, though, as I'm sure you're
already aware.

The Windows Server 2003 reference works a bit better under Vista. These are
the rough steps I took to extract the chm file...

Downloaded the 'Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack' from

Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...15-C8F4-47EF-A1E4-A8DCBACFF8E3&displaylang=en

After running the extractor, I then used the tool 'lessmsi' extract the
files from the .msi file
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Programming/File-Editors/Less-MSIerables.shtml
(I had a version on hard disk already, but I believe that link is the same
one (?))

Made a shortcut to 'ntcmds.chm' amidst the extracted files.