Windows CMD Commands: 100 Brilliant Power Hacks to Turbo-Charge Your IT Ops

Windows CMD Commands: Your Swiss-Army Terminal in 2025

Windows CMD commands saved my bacon last month. Picture this: 2 a.m., production website wheezing, and all the fancy GUI tools refusing to launch. I cracked open cmd.exe, fired off ipconfig /flushdns, and—boom—traffic flowed again. Five lines later the on-call pager stopped screaming, and I grabbed a cold slice of pizza in victory. That night reminded me why these 100 time-tested commands still matter.

Why Windows CMD commands Still Rock in 2025

• Speed over clicks. Type, hit ↵, done. No spinning wheels, no “Not Responding” windows.
• Minimal overhead. CMD runs on fresh installs, Safe-Mode boots, even stripped-down Nano Server images.
• Scripting power. Batch and PowerShell coexist, letting you glue legacy scripts into modern DevOps pipelines.
• Universal tribal knowledge. Toss ping, chkdsk, or tasklist into any forum and every admin nods in recognition.

The Complete 100-Command Cheat Sheet

Below is the full list—curated, categorized, and battle-tested. Bookmark it, print it, tattoo it on your coffee mug.

System Management & Maintenance (30)

1. systeminfo — view system hardware / patch info
2. sfc /scannow — scan & fix system files
3. chkdsk /f — repair disk errors
4. cleanmgr — open Disk Cleanup
5. defrag C: /O — optimize defrag
6. msinfo32 — system information panel
7. winver — Windows version
8. services.msc — Service Manager
9. compmgmt.msc — Computer Management
10. diskmgmt.msc — Disk Management
11. devmgmt.msc — Device Manager
12. eventvwr — Event Viewer
13. perfmon — Performance Monitor
14. taskschd.msc — Task Scheduler
15. lusrmgr.msc — Local Users & Groups
16. control — Control Panel
17. appwiz.cpl — Programs & Features
18. sysdm.cpl — System Properties
19. secpol.msc — Local Security Policy
20. rsop.msc — Resultant Set of Policy
21. slmgr.vbs -xpr — activation state
22. wmic qfe list — installed patches
23. wmic bios get serialnumber — BIOS serial
24. powercfg /energy — power efficiency report
25. ver — show OS version
26. hostname — computer name
27. time — view / set time
28. date — view / set date
29. shutdown /r /t 0 — reboot now
30. shutdown /s /t 0 — shut down now

Network Diagnosis & Configuration (25)

31. ipconfig /all — full network config
32. ping 8.8.8.8 -t — continuous ping
33. tracert example.com — route trace
34. netstat -ano — ports & PIDs
35. nslookup example.com — DNS lookup
36. arp -a — ARP cache
37. netsh interface ip show config — adapter config
38. netsh interface ip set dns "Ethernet" static 8.8.8.8 — set DNS
39. netsh winsock reset — reset stack
40. netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off — disable firewall
41. route print — routing table
42. net use K: \\192.168.1.100\share — map drive
43. netsh wlan show profiles — saved Wi-Fi
44. netsh wlan show profile name="Home" key=clear — Wi-Fi password
45. netsh wlan connect ssid="Office" — connect Wi-Fi
46. pathping example.com — loss & latency
47. getmac /v — MAC address
48. net view — LAN shares
49. net share — manage shares
50. ftp — FTP client
51. telnet — Telnet client
52. netsh trace start capture=yes — start packet trace
53. netsh trace stop — stop trace
54. ipconfig /flushdns — clear DNS cache
55. ipconfig /registerdns — renew DNS registration

File & Disk Operations (20)

56. dir /s /ah — list hidden files
57. cd /d D:\logs — change drive & dir
58. robocopy C:\src D:\backup /MIR /MT:8 — multithread backup
59. del /F /Q *.tmp — delete temp files
60. rd /S /Q "D:\old" — delete folder
61. fsutil file createnew test.txt 1048576 — 1 MB file
62. type filename.txt — show text
63. copy file1+file2 merged.txt — merge files
64. xcopy C:\data D:\backup /E /H /C — copy tree
65. move file.txt D:\new — move file
66. ren old.txt new.txt — rename
67. attrib +h secret.txt — hide file
68. fc file1 file2 — compare files
69. find "error" log.txt — search text
70. tree /F — directory tree
71. md newfolder — make dir
72. cipher /W:D: — wipe free space
73. compact /c /s — NTFS compress
74. diskpart — partition tool
75. format E: /FS:NTFS /Q — quick format

Process & User Control (15)

76. tasklist /svc — process & service list
77. taskkill /F /IM chrome.exe — kill process
78. taskkill /PID 1234 /T — kill tree
79. start notepad — launch program
80. net user Tech P@ssw0rd /add — add user
81. net localgroup administrators Tech /add — elevate user
82. net user Tech /delete — remove user
83. query session — RDP sessions
84. whoami — current user
85. runas /user:admin cmd — run as other user
86. qwinsta — session info
87. sc query — service status
88. sc stop WinDefend — stop service
89. sc config DiagTrack start= disabled — disable service
90. wmic process get name,processid — list processes

Ops-Side Power Plays (10)

91. for /L %i in (1,1,100) do ping -n 1 192.168.1.%i — subnet sweep
92. forfiles /p "C:\logs" /s /m *.log /d -7 /c "cmd /c del @path" — prune logs > 7 days
93. auditpol /set /category:"Account Logon" /success:enable — enable logon auditing
94. wmic product get name,version > software.csv — export software list
95. wmic memorychip get capacity,speed — view RAM
96. wmic diskdrive get model,size — view disks
97. reg query "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" — startup items
98. schtasks /query /fo LIST /v — task scheduler details
99. vssadmin list shadows — shadow copies
100. powercfg /batteryreport — battery health

Before you script anything destructive, skim our Server Maintenance Checklist and test backups with this Active Directory security deep-dive. Your future self will thank you.

Need the official docs? Microsoft’s Windows Commands Index keeps everything in one tidy place.

Automation: Glue Them All Together

Batch still rules for tiny jobs. Here’s a snack-size example bundling three Windows CMD commands into a nightly health check:

@echo off
:: Nightly Health Check
set LOG=C:\Scripts\Nightly_%date:~-4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%.log
echo ==== Nightly Check %date% %time% ==== >> %LOG%

systeminfo | find "System Boot Time" >> %LOG%
ipconfig /flushdns >> %LOG%
chkdsk C: /scan >> %LOG%

echo ==== Done ==== >> %LOG%

Golden Safety Rules

1. Test first. Run risky Windows CMD commands on a VM or lab box.
2. Least privilege. Stay out of elevated shells unless absolutely required.
3. Two-step confirmation. Before format or rd /S /Q, reread the path—then reread again.
4. Log everything. Pipe critical runs to > audit.log for forensic sanity.

Final Take

I’ve packed these 100 Windows CMD commands into my muscle memory over a decade of graveyard shifts and caffeine crashes. Master even a quarter of them and you’ll slice mean-time-to-repair in half. Master them all and you’ll wield the terminal like a lightsaber—elegant, agile, and just a little dangerous. Now fire up cmd.exe, flex those fingers, and make the blue-screen gremlins run for cover.