How to Open Command Prompt in a Folder with the “Open Command Window Here” Tweak

Though Windows 10 doesn’t have a built-in setting for returning the feature, it’s not too difficult to pull off. All it requires is a registry tweak and a couple of permissions changes.

1. Open the Registry Editor
    

   Press Start and then type “Registry Editor”. Click the top result.

   

2. Navigate to the CMD key and change its permissions
    

   Paste the following in the top bar of your Registry Editor to navigate to the cmd key:

   Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd

   In your sidebar, right click the cmd folder and press “Permissions…” in the context menu.

   

3. Click “Advanced” at the bottom of the permissions window
    

   

4. Press the “Change” button next to the “TrustedInstaller” owner
    

   

5. Select your Windows user as the object name
    

   To do so, type your name into the “Enter the object name to select” box and press “Check Names”. It should automatically populate with the full path to your username. Click “OK” when you’re done.

   

6. Replace the owner on subcontainers and objects
    

   Back in the main Advanced Security Settings screen, tick “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”, then click “Apply” and “OK”.

   

7. Allow the administrators group full control over the registry key
    

   In the “Permissions for cmd” window, click on “Administrators” under the “Group or user names” heading and tick “Full Control”. Then press “OK” and “Apply”.

   

8. Rename the “HideBasedOnVelocityId” registry entry
    

   To do so, right-click it in the main pane and select “Rename”.

   

9. Call it “ShowBasedOnVelocityId”
    

   Make sure you name it exactly as above, capitals included, or it won’t work.

   

10. Check your “Open command windows here” entry in Windows 10 File Explorer
     

    Right-clicking any folder should now show you both the Open CMD in folder and Open PowerShell options.

    

If you want to add the “Open command prompt” here entry when you right-click the blank space in a folder, you need to enable it for the background context menu. The process is very similar to above, with a one important change – the registry key you edit:

1. Open the Registry Editor
    

   Press Start and then type “Registry Editor”. Click the top result.

   

   1. Navigate to the CMD registry key and change its permissions
       

      Paste the following into your Registry Editor search bar:

      Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Backrgound\shell\cmd

      Right-click cmd in your side panel and select “Permissions…” from the context menu.

      

2. Click “Advanced” at the bottom of the permissions window
    

   

3. Press the “Change” button next to the “TrustedInstaller” owner
    

   

4. Select your Windows user as the object name
    

   To do so, type your name into the “Enter the object name to select” box and press “Check Names”. It should automatically populate with the full path to your username. Click “OK” when you’re done.

   

5. Replace the owner on subcontainers and objects
    

   Back in the main Advanced Security Settings screen, tick “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”, then click “Apply” and “OK”.

   

6. Allow the administrators group full control over the registry key
    

   In the “Permissions for cmd” window, click on “Administrators” under the “Group or user names” heading and tick “Full Control”. Then press “OK” and “Apply”.

   

7. Rename the “HideBasedOnVelocityId” registry entry
    

   To do so, right-click it in the main pane and select “Rename”.

   

8. Name it “ShowBasedOnVelocityId”
    

   The name should be exactly as shown, including any capitals.

   

9. Right-click the background to open a Command Prompt Window in a folder
    

   You should see both the “Open command window here” and “Open PowerShell window here” texts. In the next section, we’ll show you how to get rid of the latter.

   

As you’d probably expect, removing the “Open PowerShell window here” entry from the Windows context menu follows a similar process to adding the Open CMD in folder entry. However, there are a couple of important changes, so it’s worth paying attention:

1. Open the Registry Editor
    

   Press Start and then type “Registry Editor”. Click the top result.

   

2. Search for the PowerShell registry key and change its permissions
    

   You can find it by pasting the following into your Registry Editor search bar:

   Computer\HKEY_CLASES_ROOT\Directory\shell\PowerShell

   Right-click the “Powershell” folder in your sidebar and select “Permissions…” from the context menu.

   

3. Click “Advanced” at the bottom of the permissions window
    

   

4. Press the “Change” button next to the “TrustedInstaller” owner
    

   

5. Press the “Change” button next to the “TrustedInstaller” owner
    

   Type your username into the “Enter the object name to select” box and press check name. The full path to your user will automatically appear. Press “OK” once it has.

   

6. Replace the owner on subcontainers and objects
    

   Back in the main Advanced Security Settings screen, tick “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”, then click “Apply” and “OK”.

   

7. Allow the administrators group full control over the registry key
    

   In the “Permissions for cmd” window, click on “Administrators” under the “Group or user names” heading and tick “Full Control”. Then press “OK” and “Apply”.

   

8. Rename the “ShowBasedOnVelocityId” registry entry
    

   To do so, right-click it in the main pane and select “Rename”.

   

9. Name it “HideBasedOnVelocityId”
    

   Make sure you type it exactly, including any capital letters. The changes should apply immediately.

   

10. Check your Windows context menu to see if the PowerShell entry is gone
     

    If you’ve done everything correctly, you should only see the “Open command window here” text when you right-click a folder.