DOS prompt

Steve Hayes · External Since: Jun 09, 2005 Posts: 16

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:55:03 -0700, "N. Miller" <anonymous.TakeThisOut@msnews.aosake.net>
wrote:

>On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:46:03 -0400, Twayne wrote:
>
>> Once again, the fantASStic MVP stated what was wrong, but not what was
>> right to do.
>
>What is right depends upon what is desired. OP indicated, possibly, the
>expectation to exit from Windows into MS DOS. Entirely feasible with Windows
>98, and earlier; but even with Windows Me, required as special MS DOS boot
>disc, or, possibly, modification of the standard Me installation. I never
>gave it a thought to try, the EBD worked fine, for me.
>
>It is, however, not possible to exit from Windows XP into MS DOS; because
>there is no MS DOS to exit into. With Windows XP, if the intent is to exit
>from Windows, then one is going to need an MS DOS boot disk; with the added
>issue that MS DOS can't read NTFS volumes.

Rubbish.

What he wanted to know was how to use the xcopy command.

He didn't say he wanted to "exit" Windows at all.

He wanted to leave the GUI in order to enter the xcopy command at the command
line.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Shenan Stanley · External Since: Mar 03, 2005 Posts: 7789

<snipped>

Steve Hayes wrote:
> Rubbish.
>
> What he wanted to know was how to use the xcopy command.
>
> He didn't say he wanted to "exit" Windows at all.
>
> He wanted to leave the GUI in order to enter the xcopy command at
> the command line.

navnah;

Click on your start button, find and click on RUN and in the blank, type in
the following:

cmd /k xcopy /?

then you should click the OK button.

This will bring up a command prompt where you can issue all sorts of command
line scripts and use all sorts of command line tools. It will also give you
the HELP for the XCOPY command still built in Windows XP.

If - in the future - you just want the command prompt, the command you type
will be just:

cmd

and a new command prompt will open. You could also look under the
"Accessories" under the "All Programs" of your Start menu and find the
command prompt icon that will do something similar.

Everyone else;

Semantics and religious zealotry when it comes to this particular material?
Really?

Quoting the question word for word...
"How do you leave windows to return to DOS prompt?"

What do you know, the word "exit" was not used. Only the word "leave".
http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/exit
"exit (verb)" entry...
Meaning: to leave a place often for another

However - this argument is just getting silly now. The original poster is
the only one that could clarify what they meant to say/wanted to do and with
all the ridiculous bickering (yep - I just added to it in fun and to
demonstrate the level this has gotten to... or actually, dropped to) I doubt
that will ever occur. Wink

What one says and what one means may not be an exact reflection of one
another. Go funhouse mirrors!

Entire conversation:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics/brows...rm/thre

42 responses for one query and one statement of purpose. Amazing(ly
ridiculous.)

Continue bickering amongst yourselves. I guess better over this than
anything serious. Wink

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

N. Miller · External Since: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 32

On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:12:34 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

> Rubbish.
>
> What he wanted to know was how to use the xcopy command.

What the OP said:

| How do you leave windows to return to DOS prompt?

How do you "leave" Windows without "exiting"? Basic English. You are
interpolating what you think he wanted with what he actually said. You may
be right, in the end, but it is he who used ambiguous English. Let him
return to the thread to disambiguate his statement; don't be putting words
in his mouth that you think he may have meant, unless you are privy to
knowledge that the rest of us mortals have not.

--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum

Steve Hayes · External Since: Jun 09, 2005 Posts: 16

On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:55:51 -0700, "N. Miller" <anonymous.DeleteThis@msnews.aosake.net>
wrote:

>On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:12:34 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>> Rubbish.
>>
>> What he wanted to know was how to use the xcopy command.
>
>What the OP said:
>
>| How do you leave windows to return to DOS prompt?
>
>How do you "leave" Windows without "exiting"? Basic English. You are
>interpolating what you think he wanted with what he actually said. You may
>be right, in the end, but it is he who used ambiguous English. Let him
>return to the thread to disambiguate his statement; don't be putting words
>in his mouth that you think he may have meant, unless you are privy to
>knowledge that the rest of us mortals have not.

It's a metaphor, my china, and Windows uses lots of metaphors, in order to
make it "user friendly" and enable the user to avoid having to know all about
the underlying intricacies of the operating system.

Windows uses paper file folders as a metaphor for directories, which is a bit
like early cars having reins coming through the dashboard and a socket for a
whip.

The letter kills, but the spirit gives life, and Windows uses too many
metaphors as it is, but it's in the spirit of Windows to do so, and so if the
user wants to leave the GUI in order to give commands to the operating system,
so be it. He doesn't necessarily want to close Windows, just not work through
it for the moment. Originally the GUI ran on top of the operating system, now
it is more integrated, but for the purpose of what the user wants to do, it
doesn't matter. The spirit of Windows is to try to be user friendly. It
doesn't always succeed, but it doesn't need people deliberately trying to make
it user hostile.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Hodges · External Since: Sep 08, 2009 Posts: 10

On Sep 23, 2:51 pm, "Twayne" <nob....RemoveThis@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote:
> "Hodges" <mrezous....RemoveThis@garrifulio.mailexpire.com> wrote in message
>
> news:c605d338-9e9a-4c83-a6b2-27692a490930@l31g2000vbp.googlegroups.com
>
>
>
> > On Sep 22, 6:30 pm, sandy58 <alecki....RemoveThis@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >> On Sep 21, 6:48 pm, "Twayne" <nob....RemoveThis@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote:
>
> >>> "Stan Brown" <the_stan_br....RemoveThis@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
>
> >>>news:MPG.2520644ac73d76e698bc53@news.individual.net
>
> >>>> Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:53:41 -0700 from Malke <ma....RemoveThis@invalid.invalid>:
>
> >>>>> navnah wrote:
>
> >>>>>> How do you leave windows to return to DOS prompt? I need to use
> >>>>>> DOS XCOPY command to back up damaged files.
>
> >>>>> There is no DOS in Windows XP so you can't do this as you could in
> >>>>> Win9x/ME.
>
> >>>> Or, to answer what the OP really wants to know, click
> >>>> Start | Programs | Accessories | Command prompt.
>
> >>>> If it's not there, click Start | Run and enter this command
> >>>> cmd /k
> >>>> then click OK
>
> >>>> I will never understand why normally helpful people say "there is
> >>>> no DOS" and then stop, when they know perfectly well that everyone
> >>>> but a few use "DOS" as a short term for "the command prompt". Is it
> >>>> technically accurate? no, but neither are lots of short forms of
> >>>> speech.
>
> >>> Actually, Microsoft describes the Command Prompt as a DOS window
> >>> too, in so many places one could never count them. It's even in the
> >>> Help & Support area on your own computer. The proper definition is
> >>> that XP is not BUILT ON TOP OF DOS as other windws versions were
> >>> and thus is not DOS based as other windows versions were. It does
> >>> in fact still have a DOS window, found in the Command Prompt, and
> >>> today it is much more than a simple DOS emulator since it has many
> >>> many more possible commands at the user's disposal.
> >>> Purists such as you encountered are silly and nonsensical beings in
> >>> that they have no wish to help the OP but rather only wish to show
> >>> their own egoes to the world. Who cares?
>
> >> You tell them, Twayne. DOS works with XP. If I can move stuff around,
> >> get rid of files etc that won't move in Windows, et al......I have
> >> DOS!!!! Pseudo or whatever the so-called MS fundi's want to call
> >> it.......it's freakin' DOS!! Just because MS used the story as a
> >> sales pitch (people were scared of DOS) "Windows XP has no DOS"
> >> these afore- mentioned fundis use the same dogma, "No such thing as
> >> DOS in....." till they begin to actually believe their chant.
>
> > DOS does not work with XP and cannot read NTFS volumes without 3rd-
> > party applications such as NTFS4DOS. The command prompt is not the
> > DOS operating system just because it is a command-line interpreter.
> > This isn't just arguing semantics here, it really is NOT the same as
> > DOS. It isn't even an emulator. DOS is 16-bit, programs that run
> > under Windows XP's command line are 32-bit.
>
> > By your logic, Windows 95 is the same as XP in the Windows Classic
> > theme because they look similar.
>
> > Calling the command-line interpreter "DOS" is just as ignorant as
> > calling a computer tower or monitor the CPU.
>
> Once again, another post with totally moot points. If you have no room
> in your life for newbies who haven't yet gotten hold of the lingo, then
> you should go elsewhere to show off your ego. If you aren't going to
> address the OP's question somehow, then you have/had no business posting
> anything here.
> Windows95 is windows.
> windows is not necessarily win9x or winXP or ... .
> Therefore I could easily say "windows" and mean XP. And since this is
> an XP group ...
> This post is of no use to anyone.

I did address the op's question in my first post. It's text, go read
it again.

N. Miller · External Since: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 32

On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:18:11 -0400, Twayne wrote:

> Your rhetoric only shows your lack of reading comprehension and tendency
> to trolling.

Your ignorance, and arrogance know no bounds.

--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum