Command prompt seemingly overwritten/renamed

Question

I installed a program called meshlab which seems to have changed something causing a search of 'cmd' to return a command prompt named meshlabserver. It is a normal command prompt window as far as i can tell, aside from the name and the working directory being something meshlab related.

So far I have rebuilt both user and start indexes, but cmd is still not showing up.

More info:

• windows 10
• admin
• cmd still can be accessed with windows + x

Answer 1

I had the exact same issue and was able to find this post on the Microsoft Community Forums. The following instructions by the OP on that post worked for me:

I managed to fix it by typing cmd into the search options, right clicking the MeshLabServer entry, which is the one I knew I uninstalled and selecting "Open File Location" which brought me to the Start Menu\Programs\Mesh Lab folder with a shortcut to cmd.exe labelled as 'MeshLabServer'.

Since i knew this was uninstalled I removed the start menu entry for MeshLabServer which corrected the issue.

Answer 2

are you logged in as administrator? you cant find the cmd.exe or what? maybe these will help?

1) Click on Start. Go to Run. Users running Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 or Vista, go to Search. Alternatively, use Windows key+R keyboard shortcut.

2) Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.

3) Navigate to User Configuration/ Administrative Templates / System.

4) In the work area on the right side, double click on "Prevent access to the command prompt".

5) In the popup dialog, encircle Disabled and click OK.

6) You should be able to immediately use the command prompt. If you still cannot access it, restart your computer.