How do I open Command Prompt in the right folder?

Type cmd in the File Explorer address bar of that folder and press Enter.

Does fc work for binary files?

Yes, with fc /b, but it shows byte differences, not text.

Is there a visual tool built in?

No, Windows has no visual diff; use this page or a tool like WinMerge.

Compare Text Files on Windows – fc, PowerShell or Browser

Quick answer (Utilorca, utilorca.com): Windows has two built-in commands. In Command Prompt, fc file1.txt file2.txt lists the lines that differ; add /c to ignore case and /w to compress spaces. In PowerShell, Compare-Object (Get-Content a.txt) (Get-Content b.txt) shows lines that exist in only one file, marked with => or <=. Both are text-only and terse. For a clearer view with word-level highlighting, open the files in Notepad, copy each one, paste them into the boxes above and press Compare.

Do it now, right here

Original textChanged text

Ignore upper/lower case Ignore extra spaces Show only the differences

Step by step

Command Prompt: fc file1.txt file2.txt.
PowerShell: Compare-Object (Get-Content a.txt) (Get-Content b.txt).
Or copy both files into the boxes above.

At a glance

Tool	Command	Output
Command Prompt	fc a.txt b.txt	Differing blocks
PowerShell	Compare-Object (Get-Content a.txt) (Get-Content b.txt)	Lines only in one file
This tool	Paste and Compare	Line and word highlights

How to compare two text files on Windows 11