How to open Command Prompt or PowerShell from any file location

You can easily navigate through file paths and locations using the cd command (change directory), but you can do it straight from File Explorer as well. Follow along below and we’ll show you how to do both.

Opening Command Prompt or PowerShell from a directory

First, open up File Explorer, and then navigate to the folder or directory you want to open Command Prompt or PowerShell in.

Once you’ve navigated to that folder or directory, we can open Command Prompt or PowerShell. At the top left of the window, there’s a “File” button. Click it, scroll down to “Open Command Prompt” and select “Open Command Prompt as administrator.”

You can do the exact same thing with Windows PowerShell, only you’d scroll down to “Open Windows PowerShell” instead.

Changing directories

Opening Command Prompt or PowerShell from File Explorer is a bit more tedious than just using the cd command to change directories, although the former is pretty helpful if you’re not necessarily sure what you’re file location you’re looking for.

But, if you do, changing directories is really easy. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell and type in cd C:yourusernamebin or some other file location. It works for any file path — you just have to know what that path is, and if you do, it speeds things up a whole lot more than navigating File Explorer and opening Command Prompt or PowerShell from there.

Video

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdDngaoD1WE]

Closing

And that’s all there is to it! By following the steps above, you’ll be able to open Command Prompt or PowerShell from any directory in File Explorer. And, if you know your file locations, you can quickly navigate through them with the cd command.