I needed to use xp_cmdshell recently and discovered that it isn't on by default on SQL Server 2005. I had to dig a bit to find out how to enable it. The code is very simple. Figured I would blog it here so I can easily find it next time.
EXECUTE sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
EXECUTE sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', '1'
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
EXECUTE sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO