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- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows XP
    - Registry Tips
      - Command shell
        Enable / Disable Command prompt extensions

Section(s): Command shell, Command shell, Disable - Hide
Published on Apr 20, 2004.
Last Modified on Apr 20, 2004.
Last Modified by Wayne Maples.
Rated 2.9 out of 5 based on 19 votes.

If the Windows 2000 / Windows XP Command Extensions are enabled the PROMPT command supports the following additional formatting characters:

  $+   zero or more plus sign (+) characters depending upon the
       depth of the PUSHD directory stack, one character for each
       level pushed.

  $M   Displays the remote name associated with the current drive
       letter or the empty string if current drive is not a network
       drive.

To enable or disable the command prompt extension in Windows 2000 or Windows XP, use the following registry hack:

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
Name: EnableExtensions
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1 enable
Value: 0 disable

You can enable/disable the extensions for the command shell you are in by issuing the following commands:

cmd /y disables command extensions for this cmd session
cmd /x enables command extensions for this cmd session

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