cmd.exe not working on Windows 7

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Hi all, for some reason I can't shell to a command prompt anymore I just get a black screen with the cursor at the right of the screen blinking but no prompt - I've googled and tried some suggestions ( deleting registry entries for policies etc...) but to no avail - I'm running Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

Posted 15-Jan-16 23:41pm

pkfox

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Jochen Arndt 16-Jan-16 6:01am

Even not by double clicking on c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe in the Explorer?

pkfox 16-Jan-16 6:16am

Nothing works

Richard MacCutchan 16-Jan-16 6:01am

Have you checked that cmd.exe exists where it should, and is not corrupt?

pkfox 16-Jan-16 6:17am

cmd.exe is there - don't know how to check if it's corrupt

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-Jan-16 6:15am

Nonsense. It does work. First of all, may I know why would you need CMD.EXE?
—SA

pkfox 16-Jan-16 6:18am

What do you mean nonsense ? It doesn't work - I use cmd.exe for lots of reasons

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 16-Jan-16 14:01pm

Explain at least one and describe the situation where something does not work.
—SA

Richard Deeming 16-Jan-16 6:18am

When the black screen with the flashing cursor comes up, can you type in it?

It could just be that the PROMPT environment variable is missing or blank. By default, it should be set to $P$G.

pkfox 16-Jan-16 6:22am

The cursor moves if I type but nothing is displayed

Richard Deeming 16-Jan-16 6:24am

Are the colours messed up? Have you got black text on a black background?

Click on the icon in the title bar and choose "Properties" to check the colours it's using.

pkfox 16-Jan-16 6:28am

Success !!! - the colours were set to black on black ( don't know how that happened ) thanks very much

Richard Deeming 16-Jan-16 6:29am

OK, I'll post this as an answer. :)

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Richard Deeming · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-16T00:32:00

Solution 1

As discussed in the comments, the colours were set to black text on a black background. Changing the colours in the properties fixed the issue for a single session. For a permanent fix, you would need to change the colours under the "defaults" option.

windows xp - How to change the default color of the Command Prompt? - Super User[^]

Posted 16-Jan-16 0:32am

Richard Deeming

Comments

Maciej Los 16-Jan-16 15:16pm

5ed!