Wednesday, June 4, 2008

How to create a larger and scrollable DOS box

If you use Windows' "DOS box" (also called "Command Prompt") frequently, you may wish to have a window that has more than 25 to 50 lines. Even if your display isn't large enough to show more lines, you can still have a DOS box that can have much more virtual lines, so that you can scroll up to view the results of a long operation, for example.

  • Open a DOS box as usual (for example, select "Programs | DOS box / Command Prompt" from the "Start menu"
  • Right click on its title bar and select "Properties..."
  • Change to the Layout tab
  • Change the Height parameter under Screen Buffer Size group to the number of virtual lines you'd like to have in your DOS box.
  • Click "OK"
  • Select a way to save the recent changes, if you get a "Apply Properties to Shortcut" or similar prompt.
Now you can run command line programs that output more than the number of lines you're able to see at once. Simply scroll up to see the output or history you missed.

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