How to Go Back a Directory in CMD (Command Prompt)

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Go up a folder in the command prompt using the "cd" command

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: June 25, 2026 Fact Checked

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Go Back in CMD

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Do you need to go back a directory when browsing through the Command Prompt? Folder (also called "directory") navigation in Command Prompt might seem challenging at first, but once you learn some simple commands, it'll be easy to go back to a previous folder or move up a directory. This wikiHow article teaches you how to go back a directory in CMD as well as other useful navigation commands.

Quick Commands to Go Back in Command Prompt

To go back a directory, type cd.. and press Enter.
To go back multiple directories, type cd, followed by a space, then ..\ for each directory you want to go back (i.e., cd ..\..\..\).
Type cd \ to go back to the root of the current drive.

Section 1 of 2:

How to Go Back in Command Prompt

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Go back one directory. Type cd.. and press ↵ Enter to go up one directory.^{[1]
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- You don't have to enter a space between cd and .., but you can if you'd like. Both cd.. and cd .. will go back a directory in Command Prompt.
- This command will also work in Windows PowerShell in the Windows Terminal app.
- If you're using the Linux or macOS Terminal, you can use cd .. to go back one directory. Note that you must use a space in the Terminal between cd and .., unlike in Windows.
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Go back multiple directories. Type cd ..\..\ and press ↵ Enter to go back multiple directories. Fop each level you want to go back, add a ..\.
- For example, if you want to go back three directories, you would type cd ..\..\..\ and press Enter.
- You can use a forward slash “/” or a back slash “\” for this command.
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Type cd \ and press ↵ Enter to go back to the root of the drive you're in. If you enter this command while in your C: drive, you will go all the way back to the “C:\>” directory.^{[2]
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Section 2 of 2:

Other Navigation Commands

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View all subdirectories in the current directory. To do this, type dir and press ↵ Enter.
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Go to another directory. Type cd [directory name] and press ↵ Enter to enter the specified directory.
- For example, you could type cd Documents to change to your Documents directory from your user directory. However, this command would not work if you are not in a directory with the “Documents” directory.
- If the directory you want to enter is on a different drive or not in a subdirectory of the current folder, specify the full path. For example, if you're in your user folder and want to go to D:\Music, you'd enter cd D:\Music.
- If the directory name has spaces in it, put the directory name in quotation marks. For example cd “Program Files (x86)”.
- You can jump forward multiple directories by typing the path to it from your current directory, separating each directory name with a backslash. For example, from your root C: drive directory, you could type cd “Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam\games” and press Enter to open your Steam games directory.
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Change to a different drive. Type [drive letter]]: and press ↵ Enter to change to a new drive or partition. You can do this from any directory.
- For example, if you have a separate D: drive that you want to change to, you would type D: and press Enter.
While in the command prompt, you can view any files on your computer in a text-only format by typing in the location (usually a disk) and the file name (including any extensions). If you want to launch a program within your current directory, type the executable file name (with the “.exe” extension) and press Enter.^{[3]
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Use the pushd and popd commands. The pushd command allows you to change to a new directory while storing your current directory in memory. popd returns you to your current directory.^{[4]
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- For example, from your user directory, you could type pushd documents\programs\python to move to a folder for your Python programs and save your current directory. Then, when you want to return to your current directory, you would type popd and press Enter.

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Tips

When you start typing the directory name, you can press Tab to autocomplete the directory name.

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To quickly change to a specific directory, type cd and then drag and drop the folder you want to change into CMD from File Explorer. Then press Enter.

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If you get an “access denied” error, try running CMD as an administrator. To do so, right-click CMD in the Windows Start menu and click Run as administrator. You must be logged into an administrative account.

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