Using 'Task' To Display a Notice To multiple Computers
Andy Buckley
On one of the PDQ Deploy emails i received today it had one example of using multiple steps to alert users, kill processes and to then install software.
I'm just curious how the 'take' step could be used to display a notice to users as that ability on its own would be handy to me on its own.
Ideally i've been looking for an subtle notification display software to do something like a small pop up in the taskbar that stays visible until the user clicks on it just to ensure it is read, but until now i've not been able to find anything like that.
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Hi,
You can use the Windows' utiltity called msg.exe. It is essentially part of every OS since XP. You can display your message via a Command step (Pro mode is needed for this)
You can test this on your own console machine. Open up your cmd.exe window and type this in:
This message will display for 25 seconds or until you acknowledge it (by hitting OK)
The asterisk ( * ) is necessary. This tells Windows to display the message on a sessions of the computer. MSG is really intended to be used in Terminal Services.
This is not a replacement for the old Net Send command. MSG does not send a message to another computer. It only displays a message on the local computer. This is why it is so handy in PDQ Deploy because it is executed on the target system AS IF IT WAS EXECUTED LOCALLY.
If you want the message to display and not process any additional steps (in PDQ Deploy) until it either expires or is acknowledged then use the /W command.
The attached image shows how you can use PDQ Deploy to display a message on target computers. This example displays a message for 120 seconds. It will not move onto Step 2 until the message expires (120 seconds) or a user acknowledges it.
Great thanks! just what i need.