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I want to change the color scheme of the command prompt in Windows, ideally a default of 0a (green color on black background).

How can I change this?

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4 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Open a Command Prompt, click the icon (top-left), select Properties.

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Choose Colors, adjust to taste. It will ask you if you want to save the colour for future settings - choose yes.

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+1 You wrote almost exactly the same as me so I just added my pictures to your answer instead. –  Nifle Oct 15 '10 at 11:26
thanks.. I should note ths only works for cmd.exe itsef though: if you have a program spawning a console window you have it has the default colors unless told otherwise. –  stijn Oct 15 '10 at 11:34
By the way, the popup colors are used when you press F2, F4, F7, or F9 at the command prompt. –  Bavi_H Oct 16 '10 at 2:47
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Using the Command Prompt type regedit to open the Windows Registry, then set the following entry to the color combination you prefer (DefaultColor):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Command Processor/
Set DefaultColor to 0a
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This is actually the best answer. It's the only solution that works when running Command Prompt as "cmd" in the Run dialogue box, not just from a shortcut. Just goes to show the best answer won't get as many votes without a picture. People like pretty pictures! –  Austin ''Danger'' Powers Apr 9 '13 at 18:03
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Go to a command prompt and type help color then press ENTER.

You can also select the command prompt icon and change its properties.

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  1. Open the Command Prompt
  2. Right click on the title bar
  3. Select Defaults
  4. Move to the Colors tab.
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