I'm running Windows XP.  I booted up in Safe Boot, Minimal (alternate
shell) hoping to make it easier to defrag the D Drive.
Now I don't know how to get out of   DOS cmd.exe   and back to
Windows, normal mode.
I tried WIN, WINDOWS, WINXP, WINDOWSXP, MSCONFIG, NORMAL.
My DOS screen shows    C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 07 Sep 2006 20:59 PDT

nancy...

typing exit and hitting the return key should work. Without trying
it, I'm not sure if this will take you into a reboot or simply 
close the DOS window. If the latter, you may need to use Ctrl Alt
Delete to open the Task Manager to select reboot. In case you 
aren't familiar with this, it means pressing and holding down
first the Ctrl key at the bottom left of the keyboard, followed
by the Alt key closeby (also press and hold), and finally the
the Delete key on the right, above the arrow keys.

If the Task Manager doesn't open, allowing you to select a
reboot, repeating Ctrl-Alt-Delete should initiate a reboot
even without the Task Manager.

Finally, realistically, when all that is open is a DOS window,
without any processes running (the hard drive indicator light,
usually yellow, will not be flashing, it will be unlit) it's
actually quite safe to simply hit the power button on your
computer. Simply turn it off and back on again to reboot.

Let me know if this resolves your concerns, and I'll post it 
as a formal answer...

sublime1-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 07 Sep 2006 21:24 PDT

To further clarify, there is no way in Windows XP to go from a
safe mode DOS prompt directly into the normal Windows interface.
A reboot is required that will take you out of Safe Mode and
back into a normal boot process. Win.com no longer serves to
initiate the normal Windows interface.

exit?

it used to be 'exit'

In the olden days, it was win.com.  Win.com still exists I think but I
don't know if it actually does anything?

The tried and tested method of fixing anything to do with a PC which
has worked for years will work here...

Switch it off and back on.

I see you were trying to defrag the D drive, you can do this from
Windows instead of a DOS prompt although why you were trying to do it
I do not know as defrag has not actually done anything useful since
the DOS days.

you can try to input this :

c:\windows\win /s

type defrag d:
when finished,press <ctrl>+<alt>+<del> to reset the PC