Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen, or find the Windows logo key on your computer's keyboard and press it. If you're using Windows 8, instead place your mouse cursor in the top-right side of the screen and then click the magnifying glass icon in the pop-out window. Doing so will search your computer for the Command Prompt program. It's the black box at the top of the Start window. Command Prompt will open. If you're using a computer with restricted privileges, you may not be able to open Command Prompt. Make sure you place a space after start. This must be the file's system name, not its shortcut name (for example, Command Prompt's system name is cmd). Common program names include the following:   File Explorer - explorer   Calculator - calc   Notepad - notepad   Character Map - charmap   Paint - mspaint   Command Prompt (new window) - cmd   Windows Media Player - wmplayer   Task Manager - taskmgr Once your command resembles start program_name, doing so will run the "start" command for your selected program. You should see the program open within a few seconds of entering the command. If your selected program won't run, it is most likely in a folder that isn't in the Command Prompt's search path. You can add the program's folder to the Command Prompt path to fix this problem.

Summary:
Open Start . Type command prompt into Start. Click Command Prompt . Type start  into Command Prompt. Type the program's name into Command Prompt. Press ↵ Enter.