missing command prompt

[Guest]

I upgraded XP to Vista Home Premium and I found that the command prompt is
gone. when I try and run cmd an error saying "windows cannot find
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" any help with this is much appreciated.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

I upgraded XP to Vista Home Premium and I found that the command prompt is
gone. when I try and run cmd an error saying "windows cannot find
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" any help with this is much appreciated.

Hmm, strange problem.

First thing I'd do, is use Explorer to inspect the System32 subdirectory and
see if CMD.EXE really is missing, or whether the message is misleading.

Assuming that CMD.EXE is missing, I'd boot from the Vista DVD, chose the
Repair option (rather than Setup), and go to a command prompt. Then run this
command:

SFC /SCANNOW

This is the "System File Check" utility, which will replace any missing
files in your installation. When it's finished, reboot and continue normal
operations, CMD should work again now.

Hope it helps,

 

[Carl Farrington]

I upgraded XP to Vista Home Premium and I found that the command prompt is
gone. when I try and run cmd an error saying "windows cannot find
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" any help with this is much appreciated.

Open up regedit (if you can), and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File
Execution Options\cmd.exe

with cmd.exe highlighed, can you tell me what is shown on the right?

 

[Carl Farrington]

Open up regedit (if you can), and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File
Execution Options\cmd.exe

with cmd.exe highlighed, can you tell me what is shown on the right?

In fact, cmd.exe shouldn't even be there under normal circumstances, so if
it is there then the problem is what I suspected. Something (virus/malware
typically) hijacked cmd.exe. That something is now gone but the hijack is
still in place and needs to be removed.

Windows would never otherwise report "cannot file <full pathname to
executable>" when you just gave it a filename (no path), and Vista certainly
would just start searching.

The hijack is through a value named Debugger whose data (an executable
filename) is run instead of the original file (cmd.exe in this case), with
the original file passed as a parameter to the debugger.

You should just delete the cmd.exe registry key (the folder icon on the left
within regedit, that you highlighted before).