YOU’LL NEED THIS
ANY WINDOWS PC WILL DO
Windows 10 release 20H1 (or later) to use the Windows Terminal; otherwise, tips should all work in the old Command Prompt console.
ONCE UPON A TIME, Microsoft’s operating system, MS-DOS, was solely based on the Command Prompt. It remained a fundamental part of early versions of Windows but, these days, you have to dig deep to find it. Not only has it been supplanted by the more user-friendly Windows desktop, it’s not even the only command-line shell available. In addition to adding support for Linux, Microsoft has also unveiled PowerShell. Despite this, however, the Command Prompt remains a valuable tool in anyone’s armory.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to focus on using the Command Prompt in Windows itself to examine your system, perform key checks and fix various problems. Even if you prefer to use PowerShell, you can still read along, because PowerShell supports everything in the Command Prompt—and then some. We’ll examine its unique tools in more depth in a future issue, but by focusing on the Command Prompt now, you can ensure you have all the fundamentals should you need to get to those essential troubleshooting tools.
1 CHOOSE YOUR CONSOLE
While the Command Prompt retains its own dedicated console (type ‘cmd’ into the Search box, then click
