Command Line Help

A reader has asked......

Would you be able to advise where I can obtain DOS command documentation, especially relating to the DOS commands in Win98 & also where do I find syntax for these special commands, or the more detailed Help that was on DOS 6, for the basic commands?

This is a good question as the Help icon on the start menu will not detail any information on the DOS commands These days hard copy documentation provided with Computer products is slim for almost all software not just Microsoft Windows. There are normally some resources on the CD-ROM supplied with the product in the form of an instruction manual (not with MS Windows) either in MS Word format or more lately in the ADOBE Acrobat format.

The reason for the sudden popularity of the ADOBE Acrobat Portable Document (PDF) format is amongst other things (and unlike MS Word) no matter what type of Computer or Printer is involved the document will print exactly as the author created it, anywhere at anytime. The need to publish information on the Internet and have readers print it out retaining it's original style is important. In addition PDF files may be locked against editing or copying and in some special cases against even printing. Whilst the ADOBE Acrobat program needed to create PDF files is a commercial product costing many hundreds of dollars the Acrobat reader is freely available on the Internet and most times included along with the documentation on the CD-ROM.

Few users would realise the wealth of valuable in-depth technical Windows information in the form of a Resource Book already available to them for free on their Windows CD-ROM. Books going into this degree of detail can cost upwards of $100.00. Starting from Windows 95 Microsoft has included many valuable items on the Operating System CD-ROM but few people look further than the basic Operating System folder.

Users of Windows 95 can find a very comprehensive Resource Kit book in the following location: \admin\reskit\helpfile\win95rk.hlp.This file is only 2.8MB so it could easily be copied to the Hard Drive and a shortcut placed on the desktop for easy access. This is a normal Windows help file which may be browsed as usual with hyperlinks to related topics. Hundreds of diagrams are provided as you would expect in a written manual. It is easier to navigate than a manual using the hyperlinks. Additionally you may easily print out a topic that interests you.

Windows 98 users can locate their Windows Resource Kit book in the following location: \tools\reskit\help\rk98book.chm. As with the Windows 95 version this file (3.1MB) could be copied to the Hard Drive for easy perusal of the enormous amount of detail and explanation of every conceivable device and Operating System procedure.

Please realise that this is not the Microsoft Knowledge Base on the CD-ROM rather a fully detailed very technical explanations of all aspects of the Windows Operating System. Those readers with specific Microsoft software issues, including Windows problems are advised to use the excellent database of known problems and solutions provided by Microsoft on the Internet Web site at http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp

The limit of the syntax and general information provided for the DOS commands (located in the \windows\command folder) is shown with the example below. Typing the desired command with the forward slash followed by the question mark provides the following basic information and syntax. I use the example of the DELTREE command, something you should only ever use with much care!

For example:

C:\WINDOWS>deltree /?

Deletes a directory and all the subdirectories and files in it.

To delete one or more files and directories:
DELTREE [/Y] [drive:]path [[drive:]path[...]]

/Y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to delete the subdirectory.

[drive:]path Specifies the name of the directory you want to delete.

Note: Use DELTREE cautiously. Every file and subdirectory within the specified directory will be deleted.

For a complete overview of all the DOS commands as well as syntax and examples (including some which cannot be accessed by the /?method) simply use the Windows CD-ROM. The necessary resources are located for Windows 95 users in the \OTHER\OLDMSDOS folder and Windows 98 users in the \TOOLS\OLDMSDOS folder.

The necessary program HELP.COM, is used to start HELP.HLP which is the old MS DOS help system that was available back in the MS DOS 6.0 days. Please note some of the commands which have the syntax and examples shown are no longer available to use with Windows 95/08.

For a much more detailed explanation and syntax of some of the less used programs the user will find volumes of detail in the on-line Resource Book. Any explanation of Network commands such as PING, TRACERT, NET VIEW, TCP/IP and more is fully detailed here. This information may appear to be very highly technical however the interested reader can normally gain some insight when reading about a topic that has some curiosity value at the time.

I encourage those of you with a desire to understand more about the Windows Operating System to have a look at these Resource Books found on your Windows CD-ROM.