Preventing a MS-DOS window from automatically closing in Windows

By default, new versions of Windows, with any MS-DOS program, batch file, or other file, will automatically close the window. Unfortunately, if that MS-DOS command or program outputs or displays any information that the user needs to read, they will be unable to read it because it closes too fast.

This issue can be resolved by doing any of the below recommendations.

Open a MS-DOS window

If you are running a MS-DOS command or program from within Windows, try opening a MS-DOS prompt and executing the command or program from within MS-DOS.

Change the path of the command in the shortcut

Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP users can execute the command or file through CMD.EXE using the /K option. This will open a command window and then execute the command or program; after the command or program has completed, the computer will remain at the command prompt. To do this, follow the below steps.

1. Create a shortcut to your MS-DOS program or command.
2. Once a shortcut has been created, right-click the shortcut and click Properties.
3. In the Properties window, change the Target location to contain the CMD.EXE command with the /K switch as shown in the below example.

Before

"C:\My programs\test.bat"

After

C:\WINNT\system32\CMD.EXE /K "C:\My programs\test.bat"

• See the CMD command page for further information about this command.

Add a pause statement to a batch file

Finally, it is important to realize that the window will not close if Microsoft Windows believes the program is still running. If you are creating your own batch file and wish for the batch file to remain open, one trick is to add PAUSE to the end of your batch file, which will prompt the user to press any key; until the user presses any key, the window will not close automatically.