If there is more than one hard drive on your computer, the Command Prompt may get confused and make a mess. Finally, make sure that you are referring to the right hard drive. If the directory was somehow deleted, or if it doesn’t exist in the first place, your command prompt won’t go through. If you aren’t the administrator, or if you don’t have administrative permissions, you won’t be able to do much with this command-line interpreter.Īnother thing to do is check whether the directory you want to use currently exists on your device.
Keep in mind that you are required to be the administrator of your Windows account for this to work. What’s more, make sure there is one space between “cd” and the directory. This is the first thing you should check if the CMD directory doesn’t work. One of the most common reasons why you can’t change a directory in CMD is because you didn’t type in the correct syntax. If you tried to change a directory in Command Prompt, and it doesn’t seem to be working, there could be a couple of reasons. Even though the Command Prompt window looks slightly different on a Mac, the command to change directories is the same. Note that on a Mac, the Command Prompt app is known as Terminal, which is the default gateway to the command line. On Mac devices, the Command Prompt app can be found on the Apps screen. What’s also great about CMD is that it doesn’t differentiate lowercase and uppercase letters, so if you accidentally enter “c:” and press “Enter,” it will still take you to this drive.
If you are already in your C Drive, there is no need to perform this command. This command helps you change the entire directory altogether. You’ll be immediately taken to the Local Disk (C:) Drive. You can find it by typing “CMD” in your search bar. You can also use the drag-and-drop method to change a directory in CMD to the C Drive. Everything will immediately go back to normal. If you want to clear the command you have just entered, just type in “cls” and press the “Enter” key. This is by far the easiest way to change a directory in CMD. Navigate to the folder on your desktop, drag it to the Command Prompt window and drop it.Press the “Space” key on your keyboard.In the Command Prompt window, type in “ cd.”.Enter “CMD” or “Command Prompt” in the search bar.Go to the search bar on the far-left side of your taskbar.
Follow the steps below to find out how to change directories in CMD: Before getting started, make sure the folder you want to change in the Command Prompt window is somewhere close by. We’ll be using the so-called drag-and-drop method to show you how it works.
To put it simply, this command allows you to jump from one directory (folder) to another. The “cd” command is also used to show the drive letter and the folder where you are right now. If you want to change directories in CMD, the correct syntax is “cd,” which stands for “change directories.” As opposed to many commands that are limited to your Windows OS, the “cd” command is available in all versions of Windows. Once you launch the app, you only have to type in the correct syntax, along with any optional parameters, and press “Enter.” That being said, once you get the hang of it, CMD is generally easy to use. Although the app is quite straightforward, only requiring you to know how computer syntax works, it might be complicated if you have never used it before. Many Windows users aren’t aware that Command Prompt is actually one of the most powerful apps this operating system has. Another important fact is that you won’t be able to execute a lot of commands unless you’re using the Command Prompt app as an administrator. Keep in mind that not all Windows OS versions use the same commands, so the command you will type in to change directories depends on your version of Windows. You can also use Command Prompt for automated tasks, which gives you the option to run more than one command at a time. Its main purpose is to execute entered commands. It works as a command-line interpreter, used for giving various types of commands to the system, performing advanced administrative functions, and troubleshooting issues with your Windows. It’s a native app that’s available on all NT-based Windows operating systems. Change Directory in CMDĬommand Prompt is otherwise known as CMD, the command shell, or the Windows Command Processor. In addition, we’ll discuss why it may not be possible to change directories in CMD and how you can fix this issue. In this article, we’ll show you how to change directories in CMD or Command Prompt on different operating systems.