Open Empty Command Prompt and Stay Open with Python

Question

I want python to open an empty Command Prompt (cmd.exe) and leave it open without running anything. I want command prompt to open in a new window and this python code to continue running.

I have tried:

os.system("start C://Windows/System32/cmd.exe")

And:

os.system("C://Windows/System32/cmd.exe")

And:

os.system("start /wait C://Windows/System32/cmd.exe")

And:

os.system("start /wait cmd /c")

None of the above left Command Prompt open. I also want to be able to close it later (with python) by using:

os.system("taskkill /f /im cmd.exe")

Thanks for any help. I couldn't find an answer to this anywhere. This was the closest but this needed a command to be entered. I don't want a command to be entered before.

For me, the following work perfectly: os.system('cmd /C start cmd'), os.system('cmd /C start'), os.system('start cmd'), os.system('start') — aschipfl
– aschipfl, Commented Jun 2, 2017 at 13:45
By the way: why did you delete the other equal question and post a new one?? — aschipfl
– aschipfl, Commented Jun 2, 2017 at 13:49
@aschipfl Because the person who posted the answer on that deleted it, before I had copied the code and it was not going to get any more attention afterwards. — Sank6
– Sank6, Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 10:14
At first, be more patient; good answers may need some time. To get more attraction, edit and improve your original question post regarding the comments, instead of deleting and reposting! Also consider to start a bounty. Note that reposting might attract down-votes and close-votes... — aschipfl
– aschipfl, Commented Jun 3, 2017 at 11:56

code_onkel · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-02 11:29:15Z

For me, this worked (Windows 10, Python 3.3.5 and using the psutil library).

import psutil import subprocess import time import os p = subprocess.Popen("start /wait cmd.exe", shell=True) # the pid of p is the pid of the shell, so let's get the shell's children, # i.e. the opened cmd.exe window p2 = psutil.Process(p.pid) # there should be exactily one child # but it may not have been started yet while True: children = p2.children() if children: break print("no children yet") time.sleep(0.01) print(children) time.sleep(5) for child in children: child.kill() p.wait()

Sank6 · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-04 12:32:29Z

I found out a few ways to do this. Firstly, there are 2 ways of opening command prompt. One is the normal Windows Command Prompt.The other way is by opening it with python as the input. There are a few ways for both.

For Python as the input:

os.system('cmd.exe /C start "Unique_name" cmd.exe')

The "unique_name" is so that it can be closed with:

os.system('taskkill /F /IM "cmd.exe" /FI "WINDOWTITLE eq Unique_name"')

The following also work:

os.system('cmd /C start cmd')

os.system('cmd /C start')

os.system('start cmd')

For Windows Command Prompt:

os.startfile("C://Windows/System32/cmd.exe")

This can be closed with:

os.system("taskkill /f /im cmd.exe")

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