dir command not working in virtualbox

Question

I am running windows 11 in oracle virtualbox 6.1.38

when I open a command prompt and type "dir" it woks as expected, but when I try to add switches ie "dir /s" I get this error: (also does this in administrator mode)

dir : Cannot find path 'C:\s' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ dir \s
+ ~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\s:String) [Get-ChildItem], ItemNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommandt

Answer 1

when I open a command prompt

You are on a wrong track. You didn't opened a simple CommandBox, but a PowerShell box.

In PowerShell knowns "dir" as alias for the CmdLet "Get-CildItem", but that alias don't support switches like the DOS command dir.

See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-childitem?view=powershell-7.3