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What to do when your only possibility to manage your Windows Server Core, the command screen, is gone and you have to get it back. I had this a few times because I was too quick to click the screens and had to get used to the fact that there was no GUI.

The Problem

When you connect to the core server you see this:

For some tasks I used the command “sconfig” to alter my installation because there is no longer any visual aspect in this edition.

In my enthusiasm I clicked the “X” on the top right corner. So this happened:

Mayhem! How do I get my command screen back? Reboot?! NO WAY!

The Solution

I don’t want to reboot my server just to have a command screen back. The solution is quite simple in the end.

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the following screen:

Click “Task Manager” and you get the following screen:

Click “File” -> “Run new task” to open the following window:

Enter “cmd” and click “OK”.

Now you have your command screen back and you can resume you work.