No CMD "Help"

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Funny thing, i notice that I cannot get a menu of the help commands via the
cmd prompt.

I can get some commands like copy /? dir /? but the command lines are
limited. I'm sure I was able to view a menu/listing of the help commands
before.

I think that I ran something like "cmd help" and the command windows appears
briefly and it looks like a listing is produced. But it goes very fast and
the cmd windows closes immediately.....

Why have I lost the command line Help
 
run you virus programs..there are a few types that cause cmd and a few other
to stop working..how is task manager, system restore?
 
they appear to be working fine. I copied the error from the cmd window
below...


C:\>help
'help' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~
"To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
That is the data".......W.Gatespeare


l said:
run you virus programs..there are a few types that cause cmd and a few other
to stop working..how is task manager, system restore?
Click to expand...
 
no, don't type cmdhelp or cmd help.
open the command prompt from accessories then just type
help
then hit enter.
There you'll see a list . IF you need help with one of those type
help then one of the commands that's listed.


databaseben said:
they appear to be working fine. I copied the error from the cmd window
below...


C:\>help
'help' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Click to expand...
 
yeh, i did type help in the run window. but it looks like a listing is being
produced but its too fast and then the window closes immediately.....
 
Create a shortcut on the desktop with a "Target" value of;

%systemroot%\hh.exe Ms-its:%systemroot%\help\ntcmds.chm::/ntcmds.htm

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Funny thing, i notice that I cannot get a menu of the help commands via
the
| cmd prompt.
|
| I can get some commands like copy /? dir /? but the command lines are
| limited. I'm sure I was able to view a menu/listing of the help commands
| before.
|
| I think that I ran something like "cmd help" and the command windows
appears
| briefly and it looks like a listing is produced. But it goes very fast
and
| the cmd windows closes immediately.....
|
| Why have I lost the command line Help
|
| --
| ~~~~~~~~~~~
| "To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
| That is the data".......W.Gatespeare
 
thanks, but it didn't solve the problem. Help via the run command seems to
produce the listing but the windows closes immediately. I guess if the dos
window didn't close my problem would be solved....

Are there any command line switches that I can use to run help and keep the
window from automatically closing.....?
 
ok, i figured it out.

Apparently, i have to run help.exe from the system32 folder.

I suppose the folder is defaulted / used if i RUN help. But if i do it
from the cmd window then i have to switch into the system32 directory and run
help.exe to get that listing.

It seems that some kind of enviroment variable or something got changed or
deleted...
 
Sun, 30 Jul 2006 11:46:02 -0700 from databaseben
Funny thing, i notice that I cannot get a menu of the help commands via the
cmd prompt.

I can get some commands like copy /? dir /? but the command lines are
limited. I'm sure I was able to view a menu/listing of the help commands
before.
Click to expand...

Before what?
I think that I ran something like "cmd help" and the command windows appears
briefly and it looks like a listing is produced. But it goes very fast and
the cmd windows closes immediately.....
Click to expand...

When you run "cmd (something)" the (something) executes and the
window is closed. That's normal behavior. If you want the window to
stay open, *either* run cmd and then type the command in the window,
*or* use the /k option:
cmd /k help

A second problem, with the help command in particular, is that the
output is longer than a 25-line screen. Use help|more.
Why have I lost the command line Help
Click to expand...

I don't believe you have -- once you access it right.

However...

The real help system is inteh GUI, even for command-line commands.
Type "Command-line reference a-z" (no quotes) in the search window
after opening Windows help.
 
yes, what i discovered was that the path was messed up as mentioned by
Wesley. And because it was messed up the cmd /k help could not work as
mentioned by Stand.

I had to edit the registry as mentioned here:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/autoruncmd.htm

Now, the cmd window defaults to the system32 folder instead of my user
folder. And running help works noe and cmd /k help now works too.

Thanks guys for your input.....!

It was an odd occurance.....
 
That is a work-around not a fix for your problem. Control
Panel|System|Advanced|Environment Variables|System Variables and
make sure that "Path" has
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%
at least somewhere in the string.

Also check that "Path" found at
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
is a type Reg_Expand_Sz string and not type Reg_Sz


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| yes, what i discovered was that the path was messed up as mentioned by
| Wesley. And because it was messed up the cmd /k help could not work as
| mentioned by Stand.
|
| I had to edit the registry as mentioned here:
| http://windowsxp.mvps.org/autoruncmd.htm
|
| Now, the cmd window defaults to the system32 folder instead of my user
| folder. And running help works noe and cmd /k help now works too.
|
| Thanks guys for your input.....!
|
| It was an odd occurance.....
|
| --
| ~~~~~~~~~~~
| "To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
| That is the data".......W.Gatespeare
|
|
| "databaseben" wrote:
|
| > Funny thing, i notice that I cannot get a menu of the help commands via
the
| > cmd prompt.
| >
| > I can get some commands like copy /? dir /? but the command lines are
| > limited. I'm sure I was able to view a menu/listing of the help
commands
| > before.
| >
| > I think that I ran something like "cmd help" and the command windows
appears
| > briefly and it looks like a listing is produced. But it goes very fast
and
| > the cmd windows closes immediately.....
| >
| > Why have I lost the command line Help
| >
| > --
| > ~~~~~~~~~~~
| > "To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
| > That is the data".......W.Gatespeare
 
Yeh, wesley that url was helpful too. My path was set to only c:\windows
but needed to be
PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system32\Wbem

thanks
~~~~~~~~~~~
"To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
That is the data".......W.Gatespeare
 
databaseben said:
yeh, i did type help in the run window. but it looks like a listing
is being produced but its too fast and then the window closes
immediately.....
Click to expand...


No, you didn't follow the instructions below. You're trying to run the Help
command from the Start | Run dialog. You can't do that. When you run any
command, such as help or ipconfig, that displays its results, the command
window opens, the command runs, it displays the results, and the window
closes. It all happens too fast to get to read anything.

What you need to do is first open the Command prompt window (not the Run
dialog). You do that by typing CMD in the Start | Run line. Then when you
run a command like help or ipconfig in that window, the results will stay
there until *you* explicitly close the winodw.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


 
You can have a shortcut to cmd.exe that opens to any directory that you
want.

The shortcut on the Start Menu\Programs\Accessories normally defaulsts to...
Target: %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe
Startin: %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%

The Startin above is the prompt...
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here>

I have the cmd.exe shortcut that I use all of thime setup like this...

Right click the Desktop | New | Shortcut |
Paste this in the location box:

%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe

Click Next | Click Finish |

Right click the new cmd.exe shortcut | Properties |
In the Start in box replace %windir% with C:\ |
Click Apply | Click OK

You can also change any existing shortcut.

Right click the cmd shortcut | Properties | Change the Startin value.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Just to add that this is the same command prompt that is available under
Start/All Programs/Accessories.
Gene K
 
GeneK said:
Just to add that this is the same command prompt that is available
under Start/All Programs/Accessories.
Click to expand...


Yep, or C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe, which is the actual execuatble file.
Many systems may also have a desktop or Quicklaunch shortcut to it. There's
more than one way to get at it.
 
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