How to Enable xp_cmdshell in SQL Server

There’s a great little feature of SQL Server that allows you to execute command-line statements, allowing you to run batch files, get directory listings or call executables.  The feature is accessed via the xp_cmdshell Extended Stored Procedure, the syntax is pretty simple and looks like this…

EXEC xp_cmdshell ‘dir *.exe’;
In the wrong hands xp_cmdshell could cause havok, for that reason it is disabled by default and in order to enable it you will need to run the following…
– To allow advanced options to be changed.
EXEC sp_configure ‘show advanced options’, 1
GO
– To update the currently configured value for advanced options.
RECONFIGURE
GO
– To enable the feature.
EXEC sp_configure ‘xp_cmdshell’, 1
GO
– To update the currently configured value for this feature.
RECONFIGURE
GO