Main Page
Blog
Search
FAQ
TOP 10
Links
Awards
Pad Files
Contact
About...

All Utilities
Password Tools
System Tools
Browser Tools
Programmer Tools
Network Tools
Components
Panel
Code Samples
Articles
NirCmd v2.25 - Freeware command-line tool
Copyright (c) 2003 - 2009 Nir Sofer

Description

NirCmd is a small command-line utility that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any user interface. By running NirCmd with simple command-line option, you can write and delete values and keys in the Registry, write values into INI file, dial to your internet account or connect to a VPN network, restart windows or shut down the computer, create shortcut to a file, change the created/modified date of a file, change your display settings, turn off your monitor, open the door of your CD-ROM drive, and more...

Examples of what you can do with NirCmd

Open the door of J: CD-ROM drive nircmd.exe cdrom open j:
Close the door of Y: CD-ROM drive nircmd.exe cdrom close y:
Increase the system volume by 2000 units (out of 65535) nircmd.exe changesysvolume 2000
Decrease the system volume by 5000 units (out of 65535) nircmd.exe changesysvolume -5000
Set the volume to the highest value nircmd.exe setsysvolume 65535
Mute the system volume nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 1
Unmute the system volume nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 0
Switch the system volume between the mute and normal state. nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 2
Create a shortcut on your desktop that switch the system volume between the mute and normal state. nircmd.exe cmdshortcut "~$folder.desktop$" "Switch Volume" mutesysvolume 2
Turn off the monitor nircmd.exe monitor off
Start the default screen saver nircmd.exe screensaver
Put your computer in 'standby' mode nircmd.exe standby
log off the current user nircmd.exe exitwin logoff
Ask if you want to reboot, and if you answer 'Yes', reboot the computer. nircmd.exe qboxcom "Do you want to reboot ?" "question" exitwin reboot
Turn off your computer nircmd.exe exitwin poweroff
Turn off all computers specified in computers.txt ! multiremote copy "c:\temp\computers.txt" exitwin poweroff force
Dial to "My Internet" connection nircmd.exe rasdial "My Internet"
Disconnect the "My Internet" connection nircmd.exe rashangup "My Internet"
Make your Internet Explorer windows 75% transparent ! (192 / 256) nircmd.exe win trans ititle "internet explorer" 192
Minimize all your Internet Explorer windows nircmd.exe win min class "IEFrame"
Close all your Internet Explorer windows nircmd.exe win close class "IEFrame"
Close all your Explorer windows (My Computer, folders, and so on) nircmd.exe win close class "CabinetWClass"
Hide all your Internet Explorer windows nircmd.exe win hide class "IEFrame"
Show all your Internet Explorer windows (after you made them hidden with previous example) nircmd.exe win show class "IEFrame"
Center all top-level windows nircmd.exe win center alltop
Remove the title bar of My Computer window. nircmd.exe win -style title "my computer" 0x00C00000
Return the title bar of My Computer window that we removed in the previous example. nircmd.exe win +style title "my computer" 0x00C00000
Set the My Computer window to right-to-left order (For hebrew and arabic languages) nircmd win +exstyle title "my computer" 0x00400000
Set all child windows of My Computer window to right-to-left order (For hebrew and arabic languages) nircmd win child title "my computer" +exstyle all 0x00400000
Create a shortcut on your desktop that closes all your Internet Explorer windows nircmd.exe cmdshortcut " "~$folder.desktop$ "Close All IE" win close class "IEFrame"
Create a shortcut on your desktop that hides all your Internet Explorer windows nircmd.exe cmdshortcut " "~$folder.desktop$ "Hide All IE" win hide class "IEFrame"
Create a shortcut on your desktop that shows back all your Internet Explorer windows nircmd.exe cmdshortcut " "~$folder.desktop$ "Show All IE" win show class "IEFrame"
Set the Windows Calculator as top-most window (above all other windows) nircmd.exe win settopmost title "Calculator" 1
Set the Windows Calculator back to regular window (non top-most window) nircmd.exe win settopmost title "Calculator" 0
Create a shortcut to Windows calculator under Start Menu->Programs->Calculators nircmd.exe shortcut "f:\winnt\system32\calc.exe" "~$folder.programs$\Calculators" "Windows Calculator"
Hide the desktop window nircmd.exe win hide class progman
Show the desktop window (After hiding it in previous example) nircmd.exe win show class progman
Hide the start button on the system tray nircmd.exe win child class "Shell_TrayWnd" hide class "button"
Show the start button on the system tray nircmd.exe win child class "Shell_TrayWnd" show class "button"
Hide the clock on the system tray nircmd.exe win child class "Shell_TrayWnd" hide class "TrayClockWClass"
Show the clock on the system tray nircmd.exe win child class "Shell_TrayWnd" show class "TrayClockWClass"
Kill (terminate) all instance of Internet Explorer processes nircmd.exe killprocess iexplore.exe
Create a shortcut on your desktop that opens the door of K: CDROM drive when you run it. nircmd.exe cmdshortcut "~$folder.desktop$" "Open CDROM" cdrom open k:
Create a shortcut to NirSoft Web site on your desktop nircmd.exe urlshortcut "http://www.nirsoft.net" "~$folder.desktop$" "NirSoft"
Add NirSoft Web site to your Favorities under Links folder. nircmd.exe urlshortcut "http://www.nirsoft.net" "~$folder.favorites$\Links" "NirSoft"
Create a shortcut to NirSoft Web site on the desktop of all computers listed in computers.txt nircmd.exe multiremote copy "c:\temp\computers.txt" urlshortcut "http://www.nirsoft.net" "~$folder.common_desktop$" "NirSoft"
Set the display mode to 800x600x24bit colors nircmd.exe setdisplay 800 600 24
Create a shortcut on the desktop that set the display mode to 800x600x24bit colors nircmd.exe cmdshortcut "~$folder.desktop$" "800x600x24" setdisplay 800 600 24
Copy all shortcuts on your desktop to another folder (f:\temp\desktop). nircmd.exe execmd copy "~$folder.desktop$\*.lnk" f:\temp\desktop
Restart your Apache server (under Windows NT/2000/XP/2003) nircmd.exe service restart apache
Create a shortcut on your desktop that restarts the Apache server nircmd.exe cmdshortcut "~$folder.desktop$" "Restart Apache" service restart apache
Restart your IIS nircmd.exe service restart w3svc
Restart MySql nircmd.exe service restart MySql
Open the desired Registry key/value in RegEdit nircmd.exe regedit "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" "CommonFilesDir"
Open the Registry key that you copied to the clipboard in RegEdit. nircmd regedit "~$clipboard$"
Disable the screen saver nircmd.exe regsetval sz "HKCU\control panel\desktop" "ScreenSaveActive" 0
Enable the screen saver nircmd.exe regsetval sz "HKCU\control panel\desktop" "ScreenSaveActive" 1
Change the date/time of the specified filename (creation time and modified time) nircmd.exe setfiletime "c:\temp\myfile.txt" "24-06-2003 17:57:11" "22-11-2005 10:21:56"
Copy your desktop folder path to the clipboard nircmd.exe clipboard set ~$folder.desktop$
Copy your start menu folder path to the clipboard nircmd.exe clipboard set ~$folder.start_menu$
Copy the content of info1.txt (simple text file) to the clipboard nircmd.exe clipboard readfile "c:\My Files\info1.txt"
Add the text content of clipboard to info1.txt nircmd.exe clipboard addfile "c:\My Files\info1.txt"
Clear the clipboard nircmd.exe clipboard clear
Create all folders specified in "c:\temp\folders.txt". The folder path names are separated by CRLF characters. nircmd.exe paramsfile "c:\temp\folders.txt" "" "" execmd md ~$fparam.1$
Install the specified .NET assembly in the global assembly cache (like gacutil) nircmd.exe gac install "C:\temp\MyAssembly\bin\MyAssembly.dll"
Empty the recycle bin in all drives. nircmd.exe emptybin
Answer 'Yes' to a standard Windows message-box. nircmd.exe dlg "" "" click yes
Wait 2 seconds, and then save the current screen to shot.png nircmd.exe cmdwait 2000 savescreenshot "f:\temp\shot.png"

System Requirements

This utility can work in all 32-bit Windows operating systems: Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista. However, some of NirCmd commands works only on Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.

Versions History

Date Version Description
02/02/20092.25
  • New actions for clipboard command - loadclp and saveclp (load/save in Windows .clp format)
  • New command: setprocessaffinity
01/01/20092.20
  • New commands: waitprocess, setprocesspriority, qboxtop, qboxcomtop.
  • New action in clipboard command: copyimage (Copy image file to the clipboard)
25/06/20082.15
  • New commands: setcursorwin, savescreenshotwin, filldelete
12/04/20082.10
  • New commands: shellcopy, savescreenshot
09/02/20082.05
  • New commands: shellrefresh, convertimage, convertimages
  • New option in clipboard command - saveimage
16/06/20072.00
  • All sound volume commands and monitor command now works under Vista.
  • New commands: dlg, dlgany, sendkey, sendmouse, returnval
  • New actions in win command - dlgclick, dlgsettext, dlgsetfocus
24/07/20061.85
  • New command: cmdshortcutkey
15/07/20061.84
  • Starting from this version, if you don't specify a sound device index in setsysvolume, changesysvolume, setsysvolume2, changesysvolume2 and mutesysvolume commands, the default sound device in control panel ("preferred device") is used.
  • New find options in win command: active, foreground, desktop
20/05/20061.83
  • Fixed bug with parameter variables: parameter dialog-box appear more than once.
  • New find option in Win command: alltopnodesktop
18/02/20061.82
  • New win actions: postmsg and sendmsg.
  • New command: closeprocess
  • NirCmd now returns a non-zero value on error.
19/11/20051.81
  • New command: emptybin - Empty the Recycle Bin.
  • New optional parameter in setdisplay command: refresh rate.
  • rashangup command without parameter - disconnect all active connections.
24/09/20051.80
  • New commands: exec2, cmdwait.
  • New options in clipboard command.
  • Volume commands (setsysvolume, changesysvolume, setsysvolume2, changesysvolume2, mutesysvolume) now allows you to change the volume of non-default sound card.
07/07/20051.70
  • New win actions: activate, hideshow, +style, -style, +exstyle, -exstyle
  • New commands: movecursor, setcursor.
  • New command: setfilefoldertime - allows you to change the date/time of folders, under Windows 2000/XP only.
10/06/20051.62
  • New actions in win command: focus, enable, disable
26/05/20051.61
  • new command: sysrefresh - make a general system refresh after modifying your system settings in the Registry.
07/05/20051.60
  • New paramsfile command: Allows you to execute a command multiple times by loading the parameters from a text file.
  • New actions in win command: move, center, settext.
  • New 'child' action in win command: Allows you to move/hide child windows (For example: the start button in the system tray)
  • New clipboard command: Allows you to put a string in the clipboard, and clear the clipboard.
  • New gac command: Allows you to install assemblies in Global Assembly Cache.
28/12/20041.56
  • New variable: ~$clipboard$ - paste the text that you copied to the clipboard into the command-line.
  • Parameter variables: ~$param.ParamName$ - Display an input window for typing the text that you want insert into the command-line.
07/12/20041.55 Added RegEdit command.
18/11/20041.54
  • On reg commands (regsetval, regdelval, regdelkey), you can now also use the following abbreviated key name: HKCU for HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKLM for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKCR for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKU for HKEY_USERS, HKCC for HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG.
  • redraw action for win command.
03/11/20041.53 Fixed 'monitor off' problem in XP SP2.
09/10/20041.52 rasapi32.dll is now loaded only when using the dial commands (rasdial, rasdialdlg, rashangup). In previous versions, NirCmd was statically linked to rasapi32.dll, and that caused problems in old NT systems.
29/09/20041.51 Variable names are now enclosed with '$' char instead of '%' char.
I made this change because the '%' char causes problems when running NirCmd from cmd/bat file. using the '%' char for variable names is still supported for backward compatibility.
22/09/20041.50
  • New commands: cmdshortcut, regsvr, mutesysvolume, changesysvolume, changesysvolume2, setsysvolume2.
  • New actions in win command: trans, setsize, settopmost, ititle.
  • New variables: folder.nircmd, nir.exefile
  • nircmdc.exe - console version of NirCmd.
  • Changed name - from NirComLime to NirCmd.
05/05/20041.40
  • New commands: wait, setvolume, setsysvolume, execmd, exec.
  • New commands for executing NirCmd on remote machines: remote and multiremote.
  • Folder and system variables.
  • New option in setfiletime command - set the file time to the current time (now parameter)
  • New parameter in shortcut command - hot key.
01/03/20041.30
  • New commands: qboxcom, beep, stdbeep, cdrom, urlshortcut, monitor, screensaver, standby, and hibernate.
  • Fixed the bug with ~x string sequences.
08/01/20041.20
  • New commands: setdialuplogon, script
  • Special string sequences (~q, ~t, ~n and so on) to allow you to embed quotes and new line characters into the parameters of any command.
19/11/20031.11 New options in shortcut command
10/10/20031.10 New commands: killprocess, service, memdump, win, lockws.
09/09/20031.00 First release.

License

This utility is released as freeware. You are allowed to freely distribute this utility via floppy disk, CD-ROM, Internet, or in any other way, as long as you don't charge anything for this. If you distribute this utility, you must include all files in the distribution package, without any modification !

View NirCmd Full Help File
Download NirCmd