Windows provides a handful of means to control the way console sessions start and function. For example, you can click a console’s Control menu, select Properties, and configure properties such as cursor size, display options, font, and layout.

Besides configuring properties, you might also want to execute commands automatically when you open a console. For example, you might want to load a device driver, switch to a particular directory, set the command prompt, or execute a batch file.

Adding a command string to the registry is one simple solution. Open the Registry Editor to the following key and enter a command string as its value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\Autorun

Cmd.exe executes this command string at startup for all command console sessions.

You can include a command string for a specific console session by starting the session with the /K switch. For example, the following example would start a console session and change to the Documents and Settings folder:

Cmd.exe /K “CD Documents and Settings”