Microsoft® Windows® XP Unleashed

Working with Batch Files

A batch file is a file that contains Command Prompt commands and commands from other utilities, such as the NET command. Batch files have many uses, but perhaps one of the most common is to create user logon scripts. You can configure a batch file that uses specific commands to configure a user's environment when the user logs into the system. Unix developers use batch files to simplify system administration tasks. Scripting and batch files are a topic for an entire book, but here just remember that many of Windows XP's GUI applications (such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP, and Dynamic Name System, or DNS) have an equivalent set of commands that can be used at the Command Prompt, and thus with batch files. ...