Super User Stack Exchange
Super User Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [windows]

For questions not specific to a single version of Microsoft Windows. Otherwise, use a more specific tag such as [windows-7], [windows-10] or [windows-11].

If your problem only happens when using a specific release, or you're only looking for help under a single version of Windows, use that tag instead.

Microsoft Windows Logo

This general tag includes, but is not limited to, issues that happen across:

##Consumer Windows versions:##

##Windows server versions:##

##Windows Mobile/Phone versions:##

51920 questions
1117
votes
12 answers

Find out which process is locking a file or folder in Windows

How can I find out which process is locking a file or folder in Windows? For instance, when trying to delete a folder, Windows reports this: The action can't be completed because the folder is open in another program Happens the same with a file,…
leeand00
  • 20,038
  • 39
  • 115
  • 177
995
votes
19 answers

What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

In Windows you have a C-drive. Everything labeled beyond that is with the following letter. So your second drive is D, your DVD is E and if you put in a USB stick it becomes F and the following drive G. And so on and so forth. But then, what and…
Demian Kasier
  • 461
  • 3
  • 5
  • 9
700
votes
8 answers

How can I display the contents of an environment variable from the command prompt in Windows 7?

In Windows 7, when I start the Command prompt, is there any command to display the contents of an environment variable (such as the JAVA_HOME or PATH variables)? I have tried with echo $PATH, echo PATH and $PATH but none of these work.
Jonas
  • 25,524
  • 47
  • 103
  • 124
563
votes
13 answers

Windows 7 SP1 Windows Update stuck checking for updates

I installed Windows 7 fresh and installed SP1. Now, when I try to check manually for Windows Updates it just hangs on the Checking for updates screen. I tried running the tools in How do I reset Windows Update components?, but this did not fix the…
Mikey A. Leonetti
  • 6,133
  • 3
  • 14
  • 15
521
votes
3 answers

"directory junction" vs "directory symbolic link"?

In the context of NTFS: MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target /D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file symbolic link. /H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link. /J Creates a Directory Junction. Link …
Pacerier
  • 25,880
  • 80
  • 191
  • 270
511
votes
12 answers

Create/rename a file/folder that begins with a dot in Windows?

Many programs needs folder names that starts with a dot, like .emacs.d, .gimp-2.2, .jedit etc. How do I create such a folder? When using the Windows Explorer in Windows 2000 (and other versions), I get an error message saying "You have to enter a…
Adventure10
496
votes
17 answers

Is there any 'sudo' command for Windows?

I always work on a non-administrator account on my Windows computer. Sometimes I need to install programs which requires administrator access. As I mostly use the Windows command prompt, is there a Windows command to escalate privileges, similar to…
ukanth
  • 10,470
  • 11
  • 42
  • 60
492
votes
9 answers

Can I delete the folder C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\?

There is a new folder full of installers located at C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\. I believe this is from Visual Studio 2012 RC. Can I delete these gigabytes of data without consequences? Are they all temporary files? It's a beta product so I'm not…
Ben L
  • 5,290
  • 3
  • 17
  • 26
482
votes
5 answers

How do I run multiple commands on one line in PowerShell?

In a cmd prompt, you can run two commands on one line like so: ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew When I run this command in PowerShell, I get: Ampersand not allowed. The `&` operator is reserved for future use Does PowerShell have an operator…
David
  • 8,594
  • 3
  • 23
  • 40
466
votes
18 answers

How can I remove malicious spyware, malware, adware, viruses, trojans or rootkits from my PC?

What should I do if my Windows computer seems to be infected with a virus or malware? What are the symptoms of an infection? What should I do after noticing an infection? What can I do to get rid of it? how to prevent from infection by…
Gnoupi
  • 8,078
  • 9
  • 41
  • 59
463
votes
28 answers

How to check if a binary is 32 or 64 bit on Windows?

Is there an easy way to check if a binary is 32 or 64 bit on Windows? I need to check before I move the program to a 32bit machine and experience a spectacular failure.
Septagram
  • 5,088
  • 6
  • 19
  • 21
457
votes
9 answers

How can I free up drive space from the Windows installer folder without killing Windows?

On my SSD machine, the C:\Windows\Installer folder is massive and takes up about 15% of my total disk space. Is there a way to clean up that folder without killing Windows 8.1/10? Tucking away the installers on the OS partition seems wasteful.
DeepSpace101
  • 8,587
  • 12
  • 43
  • 47
453
votes
21 answers

How to download files from command line in Windows like wget or curl

How can I download something from the web directly without Internet Explorer or Firefox opening Acrobat Reader/Quicktime/MS Word/whatever? I'm using Windows, so a Windows version of Wget would do.
Paolo Tedesco
  • 1,549
  • 4
  • 12
  • 15
437
votes
5 answers

How do I exit telnet?

I start telnet by telnet host port. How do I stop it in Windows? Shockingly, Ctrl+C doesn't work.
Val
  • 1
  • 7
  • 18
  • 39
430
votes
10 answers

How to rename the User folder in Windows 10?

After installing Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3 it took my user name 'Jeremy' and created a user folder named C:\Users\jerem. I want to rename the folder C:\Users\Jeremy. The procedure for Windows 8 does not work. There are a couple of…
GollyJer
  • 6,910
  • 6
  • 37
  • 45
1
2 3
…
99 100