No MS DOS prompt in XP

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I have installed XP on a dual boot system and I have noticed the MSDOS prompt
is missing from the start -> all programs -> accessories menu. However I can
still start it from run -> cmd.

Can someone tell me why it is missing and an easy way to get it back.
Thanks




gazza fl-coatey
 
gazza boy5 said:
I have installed XP on a dual boot system and I have noticed the MSDOS
prompt
is missing from the start -> all programs -> accessories menu. However I
can
still start it from run -> cmd.

Can someone tell me why it is missing and an easy way to get it back.
Thanks




gazza fl-coatey
Click to expand...

Create a shortcut in the accessories folder that points at cmd.exe.
You can locate the Accessories folder by right-clicking the Start
button, then exploring "All Users".
 
gazza boy5 said:
I have installed XP on a dual boot system and I have noticed the MSDOS
prompt
is missing from the start -> all programs -> accessories menu. However I
can
still start it from run -> cmd.

Can someone tell me why it is missing and an easy way to get it back.
Thanks
Click to expand...
There is no MS-DOS in any Windows NT OS; that is what is missing.
There is no easy way, nor is there any need, to get it back.
CMD is the replacement.
I suppose that a person could create a shortcut to cmd and place the
shortcut on
the desktop. It would be interesting to see how well this procedure would
work.

Jim
 
Jim said:
There is no MS-DOS in any Windows NT OS; that is what is missing.
There is no easy way, nor is there any need, to get it back.
CMD is the replacement.
I suppose that a person could create a shortcut to cmd and place the
shortcut on
the desktop. It would be interesting to see how well this procedure would
work.

Jim
Click to expand...

There is no reason why placing a shortcut to "cmd.exe" on the
desktop should not work. In fact you can place a shortcut anywhere
on your machine!
 
Very likely you would click on the new shortcut on the desktop and you would
get a command window.
 
gazza said:
I have installed XP on a dual boot system and I have noticed the MSDOS prompt
is missing from the start -> all programs -> accessories menu. However I can
still start it from run -> cmd.

Can someone tell me why it is missing and an easy way to get it back.
Thanks

gazza fl-coatey
Click to expand...

IIRC, the Command Prompt shortcut is buried in the Accessories group.
 
Pegasus (MVP) said:
There is no reason why placing a shortcut to "cmd.exe" on the
desktop should not work. In fact you can place a shortcut anywhere
on your machine!
Click to expand...
I have quit telling people that a procedure, which I have not tried, will
work.
Jim
 
Jim said:
I have quit telling people that a procedure, which I have not tried, will
work.
Jim
Click to expand...

That's a very good practice. But if you go to the trouble of
suggesting a solution to the OP's problem, why not make it
stick and try it out for yourself before posting it?
 
I have installed XP on a dual boot system and I have noticed the MSDOS prompt
is missing from the start -> all programs -> accessories menu. However I can
still start it from run -> cmd.

Can someone tell me why it is missing and an easy way to get it back.
Click to expand...



First, note that it's not actually MS-DOS, which doesn't exist in
Windows XP. It's a command prompt, which much of the same thing, but
not all, that an MS-DOS prompt would.

You can add *any* program to Start | All Programs by putting a
shortcut to it into
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu|Programs.

In your case, if you want the shortcut in Accessories, then put it in
the Accessories subfolder of the above folder.
 
Pegasus (MVP) said:
That's a very good practice. But if you go to the trouble of
suggesting a solution to the OP's problem, why not make it
stick and try it out for yourself before posting it?
Click to expand...
It is the OP's problem; let him try it out.
Jim
 
gazza boy5 said:
I have installed XP on a dual boot system and I have noticed the MSDOS
prompt
is missing from the start -> all programs -> accessories menu. However I
can
still start it from run -> cmd.

Can someone tell me why it is missing and an easy way to get it back.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Actually, there are two different command prompts available on WXP.
One is very similar to the old command promp, and you run it just like in
the old DOS days: you run command.com. Hmmm. Is command.com an operting
system called DOS?

The other is a much more versatile command prompt started by running
cmd.exe.
WXP has a huge help file which you can find by searching help and support
for:
command line reference a-z.

-Paul Randall
 
Jim said:
There is no MS-DOS in any Windows NT OS; that is what is missing.
There is no easy way, nor is there any need, to get it back.
CMD is the replacement.
I suppose that a person could create a shortcut to cmd and place the
shortcut on
the desktop. It would be interesting to see how well this procedure would
work.
Click to expand...
I put this shortcut on my WinXP desktop and use it all the time for various
things. For example, I copy pics from my 57-in-1 card reader to my G:\
drive picture folder using DOS. Also to get a quick listing to print easily
of files and their sizes in any given folder. I guess it depends what
you're brought up with.

someone
 
Paul Randall said:
Actually, there are two different command prompts available on WXP.
One is very similar to the old command promp, and you run it just like in
the old DOS days: you run command.com. Hmmm. Is command.com an operting
system called DOS?
Click to expand...
No. It is a command line interpreter. In short, it accepts a string from
the user and then
determines which program to run and which switches to apply. It also has
the ability
to redirect the output to a user defined file.

Cmd.exe is also a command line interpreter. Someone else will doubtless
tell us the
differences between these two programs.
Jim
 
Jim said:
No. It is a command line interpreter. In short, it accepts a string from
the user and then
determines which program to run and which switches to apply. It also has
the ability
to redirect the output to a user defined file.

Cmd.exe is also a command line interpreter. Someone else will doubtless
tell us the
differences between these two programs.
Click to expand...

Command.com is the 16-bit command processor for 16-bit DOS applications,
or more precisely it is the command processor for the NT Virtual DOS
Machine (NTVDM), as with all 16-bit applications Command.com runs inside
the NTVDM.

Cmd.exe is the native NT 32-bit command processor. The Command.com that
ships with NT operating systems is not the same as the one in DOS/Win9x
operating systems, it is a special version. The NT version of
Command.com prepares and passes all of the commands it receives to
Cmd.exe for execution. That is why the two CLI's appear seemingly to be
able to run the same commands, they are because Cmd.exe runs the
commands for Command.com so in fact Command.com can take advantage of
the commands available with Cmd.exe.

If you want to see the above in action start the the Task Manager (or
Process Explorer) and then launch Command.com and you will see the NTVDM
start in the Task Manager, you will not see Command.com. Now, give a
bit of work to the Command.com 16-bit processor and keep an eye on the
Task Manager and you will see Cmd.exe appear and then disappear when it
executes the command it received from Command.com. If the amount of
work to do is too little you won't see CMD.EXE appear in the Task
Manager, the work will be over before Task Manager responds. A good
command to run to see this would be the DIR /s command from the root folder:

cd\
dir /s

The dir/s command will list all the files on the volume, to stop the
output of the dir /s command press Ctrl+Break. Once and for all that
should dispel the notion that some hold that there is DOS in NT
operating systems.

John
 
John John said:
Command.com is the 16-bit command processor for 16-bit DOS applications,
or more precisely it is the command processor for the NT Virtual DOS
Machine (NTVDM), as with all 16-bit applications Command.com runs inside
the NTVDM.

Cmd.exe is the native NT 32-bit command processor. The Command.com that
ships with NT operating systems is not the same as the one in DOS/Win9x
operating systems, it is a special version. The NT version of Command.com
prepares and passes all of the commands it receives to Cmd.exe for
execution. That is why the two CLI's appear seemingly to be able to run
the same commands, they are because Cmd.exe runs the commands for
Command.com so in fact Command.com can take advantage of the commands
available with Cmd.exe.

If you want to see the above in action start the the Task Manager (or
Process Explorer) and then launch Command.com and you will see the NTVDM
start in the Task Manager, you will not see Command.com. Now, give a bit
of work to the Command.com 16-bit processor and keep an eye on the Task
Manager and you will see Cmd.exe appear and then disappear when it
executes the command it received from Command.com. If the amount of work
to do is too little you won't see CMD.EXE appear in the Task Manager, the
work will be over before Task Manager responds. A good command to run to
see this would be the DIR /s command from the root folder:

cd\
dir /s

The dir/s command will list all the files on the volume, to stop the
output of the dir /s command press Ctrl+Break. Once and for all that
should dispel the notion that some hold that there is DOS in NT operating
systems.

John
Click to expand...

Your excellent reply should disspell a few persistent myths about "DOS"
under WinXP and about 16/32 bit command processors.
 
Thanks, John. Very informative. Especially nice to present a way to see
that cmd.exe is actually doing most of the work.

-Paul Randall
 
You're welcome, Paul. As Pegasus said, it helps clear up some of the
misconceptions folks have with these two different CLI's.

John
 
Thanks for your response.

I find it strange however that having 2 machines both with XP, run from the
same disk that 1 has the "command prompt" as default in the accessories
folder and the other has not.

Each were installed the same way.

I thought it might have 2 do with the fact that since the machine that
doesnt have it is dual booted, XP isn't on the C drive.
 
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