How do you open the command prompt in Windows 7 with a shortcut key?

For normal prompt, follow these steps:

• WinKey+R
• Input "cmd".
• Enter

.
For elevated (administrator) prompt, follow these steps:

• WinKey (Start Menu opens on the left-bottom corner)
• Input "cmd".
• Ctrl+Shift+Enter
  .

You can, of course, create a special shorcut for your computer, but memorizing the above keys should be useful because they work on every vanilla (untouched) Windows version (NT, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1... even Win98 or 95, if you still use them), and, as far as I know, flavour (Home, Pro, Server, Premium, Ultimate... etc).

EDIT May 2016: Checked working on Windows 10.

Easy as. You just need to create a shortcut to the command prompt somewhere to allow you to apply the hotkey combination to it. Here's one way to do it.

• Hit the Windows button
• In Search programs and files, type cmd
• When cmd.exe is found, right-click on it and go Pin to start menu
• Close and reopen the start menu (or just press Esc)
• Right click on your new pinned shortcut and choose Properties
• On the shortcut tab, you will find a field called Shortcut key
• Select that field and set the key combination you want to use
• Press OK

Job done!

Click Start, and type cmd. Right click the icon, and click Pin to Taskbar. Then, depending on its position, you can press Win + 1-9, depending on its position from the Start orb.

Use AutoHotKey for this.

Example(CTRL + Alt + T):

^!t::
Run %comspec% /k
return

Note: comspec is a built-in variable that resolves to C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe on a typical system.