Say Goodbye To The MS-DOS Command Prompt / Windows cmd.exe deposed by PowerShell

[6Foot2]

Link: Windows cmd.exe deposed by PowerShell: The Register

 

Taking timeworn advice for authors to "murder your darlings," Microsoft has done away with the Windows Command Prompt.

 

The newly released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14971 for PC has made PowerShell the default command line tool, a promotion that coincides with PowerShell's 10-year anniversary.

 

"In an effort to bring the best command line experiences to the forefront for all power users, PowerShell is now the de facto command shell from File Explorer," said Dona Sarkar, software engineer in Microsoft's Windows and devices group, in a blog post.

 

"It replaces Command Prompt (aka 'cmd.exe') in the WIN + X menu, in File Explorer's File menu, and in the context menu that appears when you shift-right-click the whitespace in File Explorer."Typing "cmd" in File Explorer's address bar (or the more obvious "powershell") will launch PowerShell at that location.

 

The Command Prompt isn't dead yet, however. Committed traditionalists can disable the change through the Taskbar menu...

Edited December 6, 2016 by elsiegee40

[southhamster]

Oh no. What will happen to @Dos_Box ?

 

Will he morph into Power Box ?

[Arthur]

This is good news. I am surprised it didn't happen sooner though.

 

Will he morph into Power Box?

Perhaps he should become browser-based and turn into Dos_Box.js.

[free780]

Or get-psbox

[Dos_Box]

Oh God! Microsoft have made me obsolete!!

[6Foot2]

Link: Say goodbye to the MS-DOS command prompt: Computerworld

 

For real this time?

[elsiegee40]

Link: Say goodbye to the MS-DOS command prompt: Computerworld

 

For real this time?

 

Noooooooo

[DJ-1701]

PowerShell uses DOS commands though... some of my PowerShell scripts leverage DOS commands.

[Arthur]

The Command Prompt hasn't included MS-DOS since Windows ME was released over 16 years ago. I already said goodbye when I upgraded to Windows 2000.

[elsiegee40]

The Command Prompt hasn't included MS-DOS since Windows ME was released over 16 years ago. I already said goodbye when I upgraded to Windows 2000.

 

Very true. But life without CMD is the end of an era

[Arthur]

For real this time?

This Computerworld article sounds like speculation rather than fact. The second and third paragraphs below contradict each other.

 

Late last month, in Windows 10 Preview Build 14791, the command prompt was put out to pasture. Dona Sarkar, head of the Windows Insider Program, wrote, “PowerShell is now the defacto command shell from File Explorer. It replaces Command Prompt (aka, cmd.exe).”

 

That “defacto” suggests that it’s not all over for the command prompt. And it’s true that you can still opt out of the default by opening Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, and turning “Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the Start button or press Windows key+X” to “Off.”

 

But you might as well wave bye-bye to the old command prompt. Build 14791 isn’t just any beta. It’s the foundation for the Redstone 2 upgrade, a.k.a. Windows 10 SP2. This is the future of Windows 10, and it won’t include this oldest of Microsoft software relics.

Edited December 6, 2016 by elsiegee40

[Michael]

I agree with the article above, Powershell always was the Command Prompt replacement; yet Powershell will still process commands, so it's no massive loss.

[elsiegee40]

Threads merged

[FN-GM]

My biggest issue is how would I get out of the habit of pressing Windows + R then cmd! Edited December 6, 2016 by FN-GM

[sparkeh]

My biggest issue is how would I get out of the habit of press Windows + R then cmd!

 

Argh me too! It's instinctive now.

[DJ-1701]

My biggest issue is how would I get out of the habit of press Windows + R then cmd!

 

In the same way a lot of us stopped typing 'command', 'winfile', 'undelete', 'progman', etc. An error message pops up, so you don't do it again.

 

Try 'powershell' instead.

[Arthur]

My biggest issue is how would I get out of the habit of press Windows + R then cmd!

Win+X then i.

[Arthur]

More proof that the Computerworld article posted above was complete rubbish.

 

Rumours of Cmd’s death have been greatly exaggerated

 

This post is in response to a story published on December 6th2016 by ComputerWorld titled “Say goodbye to the MS-DOS command prompt” and its follow-up article “Follow-up: MS-DOS lives on after all“.

 

These “stories” were subsequently picked up by Business Insider and Life Hacker among others and fueled a number of concerned Tweets some of which I responded to directly, along with much discussion on Reddit, Hacker News, and elsewhere. It also resulted in several customers/partners sending me concerned emails asking if this “news” was true.

 

So, I’d like to take a moment to allay everyone’s fears:

 

The Windows Cmd / Command-Line shell is NOT being removed from Windows in the near or distant future!

 

The Cmd shell remains an essential part of Windows, and is used daily by millions of businesses, developers, and IT Pro’s around the world.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Arthur

[Michael]

Microsoft probably could though - typing in Command Prompt commands do work in Powershell, such as 'dir' for example.

[6Foot2]

Microsoft probably could though - typing in Command Prompt commands do work in Powershell, such as 'dir' for example.

 

It could cause issues for Microsoft. From the article posted by @Arthur:

 

...Much of the automated system that builds and tests Windows itself is a collection of many Cmd scripts that have been created over many years, without which we couldn’t build Windows itself!..

[sted]

It could cause issues for Microsoft. From the article posted by @Arthur:

 

depends if it is now truly a cmd replacement and it has aliases for old dos commands those scripts will probably run fine in powershell command line anyway thats without thinking that there are clever people at ms who couldn't convert those scripts or even write a script to convert those scripts or even simply use aliases so that any dos command that dosent work is an alias to a command that does the same thing

[Michael]

It depends which angle you look at it - one less separate application, as Powershell can emulate Command Prompt commands. Does this mean a smaller footprint for attack? Not really in this context.

 

I suppose it would hold more water if the Command Prompt was unsecure, but I wouldn't say it is. It processes what it's given, including credentials embedded in the script for example. This is probably more so the unsecure element including a password in clear text.

[Zoom7000]

Win+X then i.

 

Doesn't work for me. Doesn't do anything at all...

 

EDIT: I'm presuming I have to wait for the update!

Edited January 5, 2017 by Zoom7000

[Arthur]

Doesn't work for me. Doesn't do anything at all...

Which version of Windows 10 are you using? It works for me on 1607 (Anniversary Update).

[DJ-1701]

Doesn't work for me. Doesn't do anything at all...

 

EDIT: I'm presuming I have to wait for the update!

 

Which version of Windows 10 are you using? It works for me on 1607 (Anniversary Update).

 

Right click Taskbar, select Settings, This should bring up Personalization -> Taskbar options. Turn on 'Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the start button or press Windows key+X'. Once you have done that, try again.