how to get from C:\Windows to C:\ in DOS

Hi, I'm working in DOS and the prompt is C:\Windows> When I type is C:\ after C:\Windows>, it goes right back to C:\Windows>. How do I get just C:\ ?

Write this in command prompt:

cd C:\

Note that there is a space between cd and C. You can go anywhere using the cd commmand.

Denise_M1, The information that John B.. gave you always works. However, there is a shortcut to just "go back" one folder as you want to do. cd .. so if your prompt looks like C:\windows\system32> you would input cd .. and hit enter Your prompt would change to C:\windows> entering cd .. again would give you a command prompt of C:\> As John B.. already has pointed out, it is very important that there is a space after the cd before anything else. Make sense?

And to confuse the issue a little more, cd \ will always take you to the root of any drive/partition your are current in. So if you are in C:\Windows then cd \ will take you to C:\.

Ain't DOS fun?

DOS is a barrel of laughs, ha ha! I worked with the DOS Shell with my first computer so I have a little knowledge about it or I'd have been sunk. I finally got to the C prompt but it wouldn't do what I wanted it to do. I was trying to format the drive in my daughter's pc but it went only halfway and then crashed each time. I thought that if I went through DOS, I could get to the C prompt and type "format". Her computer is wierd. I tried "cd" several times and then it finally worked on the 4th or 5th try but when I typed "format" (without the quotes), it said that it was an invalid command and it didn't do anything, so I typed "/ ?" to get a list of commands and "format" was a legitimate command. Go figure . . . I finally got the computer formatted and installed some programs but it kept turning on and of and on and off by itself. I don't know what's wrong with it at this point. I think it's the on/off switch. I can't repair failing case parts, if that's the problem. She's going to take it to a pc repair shop. Hopefully they can do something with it so that it'll run for another year or so. The pc is 5 years old and has been well used and abused, and she wants to buy a laptop sometime in the future anyway. Thanks for your replies

Hi,
When you try and format your c drive (assuming this is your boot drive) from within Windows, even using a command pronpt ,………then Windows will try and protect itself itself from self -destruction…….

To format your boot partition using a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc:
You need to boot from the MS XP installation disc (before Windows tries to load) and then follow on screen directions (you may need to set the boot priority in the BIOS to CD/DVD drive as number 1 with hard drive) as number two
Good luck
regards
paws

I was pulling at straws, trying to get the drive formatted. I was able to get into BIOS but I couldn't move inside of it. The up, down and sideways arrows didn't work, so I couldn't change the boot sequence order. My daughter's computer is a Compaq Presario (what can I say . . . she doesn't take after her mother), and it had a D partition that contains drivers and such. I wound up having to delete the C partition and then create a new one, and then I was able to install Windows again. Thanks for your suggestions and explanations