Windows Vista secrets 1: Open the command line here

Address: http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2006/09/18/windows-vista-secret-1-open-command-prompt-here.aspx
By Tim Sneath
Translation: Tony Qu (from the BluePrint Translation Team)

As a programmer, I don't know how your workflow works, but I always switch between the resource manager and the command line window. For example, sometimes I find a project in the file system that I have created for a while, and then I want to build the project in the command line, or rename some of the files, or do other things.

Here is a little-known technique I think. When you press the Shift key and right-click any folder in Windows Vista, you will find an additional context menu item: Open Command Prompt Here ), click this menu item to open a command line window. The current working path is the actual location of the directory.

Figure: context menu of the folder. Shift is not pressed on the left, and down is clicked on the right.

In the past, there was a Windows XP Powertoy (Small Tool) to implement this function; now it is built into the operating system. In addition, this function is cool: if the target folder is a network location, before opening the folder, windows Vista will quietly map the folder to a network drive (so your command line will have a valid path containing the drive letter ). Once the command line window is closed, the network drive will be deleted.