How to Boot to a Command Prompt by Default

This article describes how to configure Windows to boot to a command prompt automatically.

To configure Windows to boot to a command prompt automatically, follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer. For Windows 95, when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key, and then choose Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu. For Windows 98, press and hold down the CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then choose Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu.
2. Type the following lines. Press ENTER after each line:
   
   attrib -s -h -r msdos.sys
   edit msdos.sys
3. Change the line that reads
   
   BootGUI=1
   
   to read:
   
   BootGUI=0

1. Save the Msdos.sys file and then close the editor.
2. Type the following line, and then press ENTER:
   
   attrib +s +h +r msdos.sys
3. Restart your computer.

When the computer restarts, it automatically boots to a command prompt. To load the Windows graphical user interface (GUI), type win at the command prompt.