Run Commands in Windows 7

A Windows 7 run command is the executable for a particular program. It's the name of the actual file that starts an application.

These commands can be helpful if Windows won't start, but you have access to Command Prompt. Having quick access from the Run box is nice, too.

Run Commands in Windows 7

The Small Print

A few of these commands work differently in some situations, or not at all from one command line interface to another.

For example, a number of executables can only be run from the Run box and not Command Prompt, and some others are only available in certain versions of Windows 7.

• [1] This command can't be executed from the Command Prompt because the file isn't in the default Windows path. However, it can be run from the search or Run box.
• [2] The display run command opens Windows Media Player and automatically starts to play the DVD movie in the primary disc drive.
• [3] You must follow the font view run command with the name of the font that you wish to see.
• [4] When you execute the regedt32 run command, it simply forwards to regedit and executes that program instead. Two distinct versions of Registry Editor did exist in some earlier versions of Windows.
• [5] This command isn't available in 64-bit versions of Windows 7.

Not Using Windows 7?

There's no guarantee that Microsoft carried all of these exact same commands through every version of Windows, but there is some overlap.

For example, our List of Run Commands in Windows 8 has many of the same ones from the list above.

You might have luck using these same run commands in other versions of Windows, too.