Opening File Explorer from Command Prompt and Vice Versa

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I use both File Explorer and Command Prompt or PowerShell console quite extensively on daily basis. And navigating folders in a console window is never fun. Here is a good tip that I thought to share and you may find very helpful if you also use File Explorer and Console window quite often.

To open a Command Prompt window in a specific folder, you can navigate to that folder in File Explorer and type CMD and hit Enter.

image 19 600x346 - Opening File Explorer from Command Prompt and  Vice Versa

Or type PowerShell and hit Enter to open a PowerShell window in the current folder you are viewing in File Explorer.

image 23 - Opening File Explorer from Command Prompt and  Vice Versa

If you already knew this trick, do you also know that you can do the same to open File Explorer in the same folder from Command Prompt or PowerShell window?

Simply type Start . and hit enter.

image 24 600x281 - Opening File Explorer from Command Prompt and  Vice Versa

And this opens my Downloads folder in File Explorer directly.

Furthermore, thanks to Orak’s comment below, there is more you can do with Start command.

For example, “Start ..“, with two periods in the end, opens the File Explorer in the current folder’s parent folder. The screenshot below opens the Desktop folder in File Explorer.

image 25 - Opening File Explorer from Command Prompt and  Vice Versa

You can actually open File Explorer in any given folder, even a network shared folder or printer. For example, the following screenshot opens a shared printer called Lit-1 on the server FPS.

image 26 600x320 - Opening File Explorer from Command Prompt and  Vice Versa

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