Run /Command Button

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger Stenson
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R

Roger Stenson

Hi all
When Windows was a DOS based product the issue seemed simpler. Now I have no
idea why XP has both a Start/Run facility and a Command Interface. Could
some one quicky explain what part of the system each communicates with.

I have recently made a hash of an installation because I used the command
Interface rather than the Run facility.

Roger Stenson
 
Hi Roger

From a command prompt type 'help' - without the quotes. Those commands -
when run from Start>Run - will just 'flash' through. What program were you
installing from the command prompt?

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| Hi all
| When Windows was a DOS based product the issue seemed simpler. Now I have
no
| idea why XP has both a Start/Run facility and a Command Interface. Could
| some one quicky explain what part of the system each communicates with.
|
| I have recently made a hash of an installation because I used the command
| Interface rather than the Run facility.
|
| Roger Stenson
|
|
 
Hi, Roger.

I use both the "DOS" window and Start/Run several times a day. The Run
prompt is for a quickie, just to start a program like msconfig or regedit.
It usually just feeds a command to the same place as the Command prompt.
Depending on the command involved, it might actually open a Command prompt
window, then, unless you've included a "keep it open" parameter, closes that
window immediately when the command is finished.

Having started with MS-DOS before Windows was invented (and TRS-DOS before
MS-DOS was invented), I'm quite comfy at the C:> prompt. The "DOS" emulator
comes in very handy if I want to run multiple DOS commands, or perform some
surgery that the GUI won't let me do, like using dir /x to find a short file
name and then del or rd to delete the file or directory.

Each method has its uses.

I suspect that your use of the "DOS" window, rather than the Run line, had
very little to do with your failed installation. Could you tell us more
about that?

RC
 
Thankyou both. The explanation was very helpful.

For the reasons stated in the correspondence I tend to go for the extra
facilities of the command interface every time.

I had been sent an auto-unpack software bundle that was supposed to unbundle
itself and overwrite the previous version when run from within the software
bin folder. When I eventually executed it from the Run window it succeeded.

When I initally ran it from the command interface and answered 'Yes ' to the
'Do you want to overwrite' question, it repeatedly failed to do it, though
I laboured under the illusion that it had, for quite a while
Roger Stenson
 
Hi, Roger.

Thanks for the updated report.

I wonder if the authors/vendors of that software package realize that it
behaves as you learned.

RC
 
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