Command Interpreter Window

After you click on the "MS DOS" icon you will have a command interpreter window that allows you to type in commands as if you were running an old-time DOS computer. You should see something like the following:

The prompt starts out as:

 C:\WINNT\System32>

This prompt means that the files you create will automatically go onto the hard disk in the subdirectory C:\WINNT\System32. (A subdirectory is a section of the disk that has a name. A subdirectory can hold many files.) You should not create files in this subdirectory.

You will probably get a prompt that starts out in some other subdirectory. It doesn't matter where you start out because you can always move to where you want to be using the CD command. For now, let us create a Java program in the C:\Temp directory. To get to this directory type the command:

cd \Temp

Type the command in after the DOS prompt (as above). The prompt changes to show the current default directory.