Where are cmd.exe's settings in registry in Windows 10?

Question

In the times of Windows 7, I remember, there was [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console\%SystemRoot%_system32_cmd.exe] where all cmd.exe settings were stored. If I deleted this path, all cmd.exe would reset to defaults.

In Windows 10 if I delete [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console\%SystemRoot%_system32_cmd.exe], real user settings of cmd.exe won't reset to defaults. I guess there is another place where those settings are stored in registry. How could I find it?

Answer 1

I think you're looking for this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor 

Go to that registry key and delete all the values. Restart and the command prompt resets to default settings.

Answer 2

From my experiments (Windows 10 Version 1809)

1. Defaults are stored in the registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console. These get applied whenever you make a new shortcut or open cmd.exe directly (typically from C:\Windows\System32), such as from the Run window (Windows Key + R).
2. If you make any changes to the cmd window while opening it directly (not from a shortcut), these changed settings get saved in HKCU\Console\%SystemRoot%_system32_cmd.exe. These override the defaults in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console.
3. Changed settings for shortcuts are saved within the .lnk file itself. This includes the entry in the start menu named Command Prompt, which points to the file %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\Command Prompt.lnk. These override the defaults in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console.

3 seems to be the only difference from Windows 7, which stored shortcut settings in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console\<name_of_shortcut>

Answer 3

If you don't have the folder Command Processor on HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ you can just create one with this script on PowerShell:

$regPath = 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor'

if (! (test-path $regPath) ) {
   write-output "$regPath does not exist, creating"
   $eatMe = new-item -path $regPath
}