Show a popup/message box from a Windows batch file

Question

Is there a way to display a message box from a batch file (similar to how xmessage can be used from bash-scripts in Linux)?

Butanol

CMD.EXE, it's a 32-bit command processor that supports DOS commands. – Tricostate

It's called Windows Command Prompt. – Links

Answer 1

I would make a very simple VBScript file and call it using CScript to parse the command line parameters.

Something like the following saved in MessageBox.vbs:

Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments
messageText = objArgs(0)
MsgBox messageText

Which you would call like:

cscript MessageBox.vbs "This will be shown in a popup."

MsgBox reference if you are interested in going this route.

Unsung

thanks that would do it, ill create a file write this data to it, and than use it, than delete it. should work fine :) – Butanol

Great answer. This way you can have total control over icons, buttons, and box title. Also when you save your file somewhere along PATH you call it from any location. I created few files for alerts with different icons. – Innerve

Nice. BTW, you don't need to use CScript, at least in Win10. With CScript, I get some additional text in the Command Prompt. Without CScript, there is only the alert, which is great – Swedish

I didn't have cscript. I used start instead. – Albarran

Any way to do this filelessly? i.e., can you pass raw VBScript directly to cscript? – Thymol

Answer 2

First of all, DOS has nothing to do with it, you probably want a Windows command line solution (again: no DOS, pure Windows, just not a Window, but a Console).

You can either use the VBScript method provided by boflynn or you can mis-use net send or msg. net send works only on older versions of windows:

net send localhost Some message to display

This also depends on the Messenger service to run, though.

For newer versions (XP and onward, apparently):

msg "%username%" Some message to display

It should be noted that a message box sent using msg.exe will only last for 60 seconds. This can however be overridden with the /time:xx switch.

Ave

You can use env variables to get the local user - %USERNAME%. msg.exe is on my XP Home machine, but I've heard anecdotal accounts that it isn't on every version of Vista. I believe the service behind NET SEND is disabled these days. – Foetus

Right, thanks, forgot the envvar (seldom use anything beyond %UserProfile% and my own defined ones in batches :)). Funny, though, you're right about the Messenger service. It doesn't even exist on my XP VM, but net send still exists. msg.exe works there, though. – Ave

I thought a viable option was missing from the answers and provided it. Nothing wrong here. Neither do you need to feel forced to do something nor am I somehow saying that boflynn's wrong. I was just adding another option which should be perfectly fine for questions that do not have a single definitive answer. Furthermore, you're probably not the only one with this question and others may not want to use VBScript for whichever reasons. This is a community site, not solely yours :-) – Ave

I for myself just used this to spawn an "I love you" message on my girlfriend's PC from a remote shell. – Mournful

msg "%username%" Some message to display does the job nicely on XP – Spiccato

For whatever reason this worked for me in command prompt; but it did not work for me in Post-build event in Visual Studio. – Geophilous

msg "$USERNAME" Some message to display for Cygwin / MSYS – Quyenr

An alternative to specifying the user is to specify Console as the name of the sessionname, e.g., msg Console "Some message to display". – Libbi

msg does work on my windows 10 (at least after anniversary update) – Elviaelvie

On Windows 8 and 10 I've found the version of Windows matters. For me it works on pro but not home. Others have reported it works on Home Premium and Enterprise, Ultimate etc.. seems plain old home doesn't get it (it doesn't exist in System32, but can be added). – Meteoritics

@dubbreak, sounds reasonable, as Home isn't really supposed to have multiple users logged in anyway (could be that it isn't even possible). – Ave

@Ave It may 'make sense' but it's important to know if you are calling it from an application, script etc since it may work on your machine but won't work on others. Windows home doesn't allow two active sessions (to the best of my knowledge) but I think you can have a user logged in then switch users without logging out (so background tasks running under that user still run). Could be wrong, most of my Windows machines are Pro. – Meteoritics

@Meteoritics Pro and even Enterprise don't allow multiple simultaneously active sessions, either. You need a Server edition for that. – Thymol

Exceptions: You can use something like PSExec \\hostname cmd, or PowerShell's Enter-PSSession, from another PC, to remotely initiate a CLI session while a user is actively logged on at the console (or over RDP). – Thymol

Answer 3

This will pop-up another Command Prompt window:

START CMD /C "ECHO My Popup Message && PAUSE"

Quidnunc

awesome ty! i might use this in a few other scripts :) – Butanol

A better option would be: start cmd /c "@echo off & mode con cols=18 lines=2 & echo My Popup Message & pause>nul", change the cols=18 to the amount of characters in the message+2. And the lines=2 to whatever the amount of lines is+1. – Macaroni

get rid of the PAUSE and use cmd /k – Sedgemoor

Answer 4

Might display a little flash, but no temp files required. Should work all the way back to somewhere in the (IIRC) IE5 era.

mshta javascript:alert("Message\n\nMultiple\nLines\ntoo!");close();

Don't forget to escape your parentheses if you're using if:

if 1 == 1 (
   mshta javascript:alert^("1 is equal to 1, amazing."^);close^(^);
)

Greatgranduncle

This works perfectly from the command prompt, but when I stick it in a batch file, I get this error: close() was unexpected at this time. – Werra

@Werra maybe you need to remove those ^ escape characters in a bat file – Factorage

It worked perfectly for me from a batch file (I'm on Windows 7) Can we run any Javascript this way? How would we return values to the batch file? – Astilbe

Here are some amazing examples of things you can do: dostips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5311 The LocalDateTime example returns a value. Thanks for the idea! – Astilbe

Cool node.js by Microsoft before server side JavaScript was cool - a missed opportunity for them. – Italian

Answer 5

Try :

Msg * "insert your message here" 

If you are using Windows XP's command.com, this will open a message box.

Opening a new cmd window isn't quite what you were asking for, I gather. You could also use VBScript, and use this with your .bat file. You would open it from the bat file with this command:

cd C:\"location of vbscript"

What this does is change the directory command.com will search for files from, then on the next line:

"insert name of your vbscript here".vbs

Then you create a new Notepad document, type in

<script type="text/vbscript">
    MsgBox "your text here"
</script>

You would then save this as a .vbs file (by putting ".vbs" at the end of the filename), save as "All Files" in the drop down box below the file name (so it doesn't save as .txt), then click Save!

Utrillo

You don't need the <script/> tag. – Clanton

?how to insert new-line (blank lines) in the text when using -> MSG * <text> – Witching

@Witching If you use just msg * you will be prompted to enter a message followed by ctrl-Z. You can enter line breaks here that will appear in your message. – Arne

Answer 6

Few more ways.

1) The geekiest and hackiest - it uses the IEXPRESS to create small exe that will create a pop-up with a single button (it can create two more types of pop-up messages). Works on EVERY windows from XP and above:

;@echo off
;setlocal

;set ppopup_executable=popupe.exe
;set "message2=click OK to continue"
;
;del /q /f %tmp%\yes >nul 2>&1
;
;copy /y "%~f0" "%temp%\popup.sed" >nul 2>&1

;(echo(FinishMessage=%message2%)>>"%temp%\popup.sed";
;(echo(TargetName=%cd%\%ppopup_executable%)>>"%temp%\popup.sed";
;(echo(FriendlyName=%message1_title%)>>"%temp%\popup.sed"
;
;iexpress /n /q /m %temp%\popup.sed
;%ppopup_executable%
;rem del /q /f %ppopup_executable% >nul 2>&1

;pause

;endlocal
;exit /b 0


[Version]
Class=IEXPRESS
SEDVersion=3
[Options]
PackagePurpose=InstallApp
ShowInstallProgramWindow=1
HideExtractAnimation=1
UseLongFileName=0
InsideCompressed=0
CAB_FixedSize=0
CAB_ResvCodeSigning=0
RebootMode=N
InstallPrompt=%InstallPrompt%
DisplayLicense=%DisplayLicense%
FinishMessage=%FinishMessage%
TargetName=%TargetName%
FriendlyName=%FriendlyName%
AppLaunched=%AppLaunched%
PostInstallCmd=%PostInstallCmd%
AdminQuietInstCmd=%AdminQuietInstCmd%
UserQuietInstCmd=%UserQuietInstCmd%
SourceFiles=SourceFiles
[SourceFiles]
SourceFiles0=C:\Windows\System32\
[SourceFiles0]
%FILE0%=


[Strings]
AppLaunched=subst.exe
PostInstallCmd=<None>
AdminQuietInstCmd=
UserQuietInstCmd=
FILE0="subst.exe"
DisplayLicense=
InstallPrompt=

2) Using MSHTA. Also works on every windows machine from XP and above (despite the OP do not want "external" languages the JavaScript here is minimized). Should be saved as .bat:

@if (true == false) @end /*!
@echo off
mshta "about:<script src='file://%~f0'></script><script>close()</script>" %*
goto :EOF */

alert("Hello, world!");

or in one line:

mshta "about:<script>alert('Hello, world!');close()</script>"

or

mshta "javascript:alert('message');close()"

or

mshta.exe vbscript:Execute("msgbox ""message"",0,""title"":close")

3) Here's parameterized .bat/jscript hybrid (should be saved as bat). It again uses JavaScript despite the OP request but as it is a bat it can be called as a bat file without worries. It uses POPUP which allows a little bit more control than the more popular MSGBOX. It uses WSH, but not MSHTA like in the example above.

 @if (@x)==(@y) @end /***** jscript comment ******
     @echo off

     cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" "%~nx0" %*
     exit /b 0

 @if (@x)==(@y) @end ******  end comment *********/


var wshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
var args=WScript.Arguments;
var title=args.Item(0);

var timeout=-1;
var pressed_message="button pressed";
var timeout_message="timed out";
var message="";

function printHelp() {
    WScript.Echo(title + "[-title Title] [-timeout m] [-tom \"Time-out message\"] [-pbm \"Pressed button message\"]  [-message \"pop-up message\"]");
}

if (WScript.Arguments.Length==1){
    runPopup();
    WScript.Quit(0);
}

if (args.Item(1).toLowerCase() == "-help" || args.Item(1).toLowerCase() == "-h" ) {
    printHelp();
    WScript.Quit(0);
}

if (WScript.Arguments.Length % 2 == 0 ) {
    WScript.Echo("Illegal arguments ");
    printHelp();
    WScript.Quit(1);
}

for (var arg = 1 ; arg<args.Length;arg=arg+2) {

    if (args.Item(arg).toLowerCase() == "-title") {
        title = args.Item(arg+1);
    }

    if (args.Item(arg).toLowerCase() == "-timeout") {
        timeout = parseInt(args.Item(arg+1));
        if (isNaN(timeout)) {
            timeout=-1;
        }
    }

    if (args.Item(arg).toLowerCase() == "-tom") {
        timeout_message = args.Item(arg+1);
    }

    if (args.Item(arg).toLowerCase() == "-pbm") {
        pressed_message = args.Item(arg+1);
    }

    if (args.Item(arg).toLowerCase() == "-message") {
        message = args.Item(arg+1);
    }
}

function runPopup(){
    var btn = wshShell.Popup(message, timeout, title, 0x0 + 0x10);

    switch(btn) {
        // button pressed.
        case 1:
            WScript.Echo(pressed_message);
            break;

        // Timed out.
        case -1:
           WScript.Echo(timeout_message);
           break;
    }
}

runPopup();

4) and one jscript.net/.bat hybrid (should be saved as .bat) .This time it uses .NET and compiles a small .exe file that could be deleted:

@if (@X)==(@Y) @end /****** silent jscript comment ******

@echo off
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::       compile the script    ::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
setlocal


::if exist "%~n0.exe" goto :skip_compilation

:: searching the latest installed .net framework
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%v in ('dir /b /s /a:d /o:-n "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v*"') do (
    if exist "%%v\jsc.exe" (
        rem :: the javascript.net compiler
        set "jsc=%%~dpsnfxv\jsc.exe"
        goto :break_loop
    )
)
echo jsc.exe not found && exit /b 0
:break_loop



call %jsc% /nologo /out:"%~n0.exe" "%~f0" 
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::       end of compilation    ::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:skip_compilation

::
::::::::::
"%~n0.exe" %*
::::::::
::
endlocal
exit /b 0

****** end of jscript comment ******/

import System;
import System.Windows;
import System.Windows.Forms

var arguments:String[] = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
MessageBox.Show(arguments[1],arguments[0]);

5) and at the end one single call to powershell that creates a pop-up (can be called from command line or from batch if powershell is installed):

powershell [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("""System.Windows.Forms""");[Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::show("""Hello World""", """My PopUp Message Box""")

6) And the dbenham's approach seen here

start "" cmd /c "echo(&echo(&echo              Hello world!     &echo(&pause>nul"

7) For a system tray notifications you can try this:

call SystemTrayNotification.bat  -tooltip warning -time 3000 -title "Woow" -text "Boom" -icon question

Farreaching

What's the purpose of @if (true == false) @end in your first example under #2? – Thymol

@DanHenderson in batch it will be silent if condition because of the @ . For jscript it will @if directive - documentation.help/MS-Office-JScript/jsstmconditionalif.htm. It is used to silently to enable the jscript comments . – Farreaching

Answer 7

This way your batch file will create a VBS script and show a popup. After it runs, the batch file will delete that intermediate file.

The advantage of using MSGBOX is that it is really customaziable (change the title, the icon etc) while MSG.exe isn't as much.

echo MSGBOX "YOUR MESSAGE" > %temp%\TEMPmessage.vbs
call %temp%\TEMPmessage.vbs
del %temp%\TEMPmessage.vbs /f /q

Mafalda

Answer 8

Here's a PowerShell variant that doesn't require loading assemblies prior to creating the window, however it runs noticeably slower (~+50%) than the PowerShell MessageBox command posted here by @npocmaka:

powershell (New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell).Popup("""Operation Completed""",0,"""Done""",0x0)

You can change the last parameter from "0x0" to a value below to display icons in the dialog (see Popup Method for further reference):

         0x10 Stop
         0x20 Question Mark
         0x30 Exclamation Mark
         0x40 Information Mark

Adapted from the Microsoft TechNet article PowerTip: Use PowerShell to Display Pop-Up Window.

Arne

The second parameter is nSecondsToWait Optional. Numeric value indicating the maximum number of seconds you want the pop-up message box displayed. If nSecondsToWait is zero (the default), the pop-up message box remains visible until closed by the user. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/… – Odeen

Answer 9

echo X=MsgBox("Message Description",0+16,"Title") >msg.vbs

–you can write any numbers from 0,1,2,3,4 instead of 0 (before the ‘+’ symbol) & here is the meaning of each number:

0 = Ok Button  
1 = Ok/Cancel Button  
2 = Abort/Retry/Ignore button  
3 = Yes/No/Cancel  
4 = Yes/No  

–you can write any numbers from 16,32,48,64 instead of 16 (after the ‘+’ symbol) & here is the meaning of each number:

16 – Critical Icon  
32 – Warning Icon  
48 – Warning Message Icon   
64 – Information Icon  

Wickedness

How do you get a response from the VB script? – Doorplate

Answer 10

Msg * "insert your message here"

works fine, just save as a .bat file in notepad or make sure the format is set to "all files"

Prosecute

The docs say that "*" will "Send message to all sessions on specified server", ie. will break on terminal services or fast user switching – Greatgranduncle

you could use msg %SESSIONNAME% msg – Greatgranduncle

Answer 11

msg * /time:0 /w Hello everybody!

This message waits forever until OK is clicked (it lasts only one minute by default) and works fine in Windows 8.1

Asante

The same answer is present since 2009 – Lefevre

Oops >_< Please delete it :) – Asante

?how to insert new-line (blank lines) in the text – Witching

msg * /time:0 /w <C:\Somewhere\Message.txt where in the file is normal text (containing CrLf's). – Asante

Answer 12

In order to do this, you need to have a small program that displays a messagebox and run that from your batch file.

You could open a console window that displays a prompt though, but getting a GUI message box using cmd.exe and friends only is not possible, AFAIK.

Piperpiperaceous

a prompt might do it... do you have more on that? – Butanol

echo "xx", pause, or set /p var=prompt are cmd.exe options – Piperpiperaceous

Answer 13

Following on @Fowl's answer, you can improve it with a timeout to only appear for 10 seconds using the following:

mshta "javascript:var sh=new ActiveXObject( 'WScript.Shell' ); sh.Popup( 'Message!', 10, 'Title!', 64 );close()"

See here for more details.

Mezzo

Detected as virus xD – Wallsend

Answer 14

You can invoke dll function from user32.dll i think Something like

Rundll32.exe user32.dll, MessageBox (0, "text", "titleText", {extra flags for like topmost messagebox e.t.c})

Typing it from my Phone, don't judge me... otherwise i would link the extra flags.

Algo

I can get rundll32.exe user32.dll,MessageBoxA X to display a messagebox with X as the title when I do it in the Run box. No matter what I make X be I cannot get it to be interpreted as multiple parameters - everything goes into the title. So rundll32.exe user32.dll,MessageBoxA (0, "MyTitle", "MyText", 0) displays a messagebox with a title of (0, "MyTitle", "MyText", 0) But I cannot get it to work AT ALL from the command line - only from the Run box. On the command line it does nothing at all. Does it work for sure from a command line or from a batch file or only from the Run box? – Astilbe

rundll32.exe as per doc can run only those procedures that were specifically designed for this purpose, because they must parse the "optional arguments" part. MessageBox-ish functions were not designed this way. Why it works via Win+R (Run box), it's still a big question! – Exemplify

Answer 15

You can use Zenity, which posts regular releases on download.gnome.org. Zenity allows for the execution of dialog boxes in command-line and shell scripts. More info can also be found on Wikipedia.

It is cross-platform, but I couldn't find a recent win32 build. Unfortunately placella.com went offline. A Windows installer of v3.20 (from March 2016) can be found here.

Shandra

Answer 16

This application can do that, if you convert (wrap) your batch files into executable files.

---

1. Simple Messagebox

   %extd% /messagebox Title Text
   

---

2. Error Messagebox

   %extd% /messagebox  Error "Error message" 16
   

3. Cancel Try Again Messagebox

   %extd% /messagebox Title "Try again or Cancel" 5
   

---

4) "Never ask me again" Messagebox

%extd% /messageboxcheck Title Message 0 {73E8105A-7AD2-4335-B694-94F837A38E79}

Paste

Answer 17

Here is my batch script that I put together based on the good answers here & in other posts

You can set title timeout & even sleep to schedule it for latter & \n for new line

Name it popup.bat & put it in your windows path folder to work globally on your pc

For example popup Line 1\nLine 2 will produce a 2 line popup box (type popup /? for usage)

Here is the code

<!-- : Begin CMD
@echo off
cscript //nologo "%~f0?.wsf" %*
set pop.key=[%errorlevel%]
if %pop.key% == [-1] set pop.key=TimedOut
if %pop.key% == [1]  set pop.key=Ok
if %pop.key% == [2]  set pop.key=Cancel
if %pop.key% == [3]  set pop.key=Abort
if %pop.key% == [4]  set pop.key=Retry
if %pop.key% == [5]  set pop.key=Ignore
if %pop.key% == [6]  set pop.key=Yes
if %pop.key% == [7]  set pop.key=No
if %pop.key% == [10] set pop.key=TryAgain
if %pop.key% == [11] set pop.key=Continue
if %pop.key% == [99] set pop.key=NoWait
exit /b 
-- End CMD -->

<job><script language="VBScript">
'on error resume next
q   =""""
qsq =""" """
Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments
Set objShell= WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Popup       =   0
Title       =   "Popup"
Timeout     =   0
Mode        =   0
Message     =   ""
Sleep       =   0
button      =   0
If objArgs.Count = 0 Then 
    Usage()
ElseIf objArgs(0) = "/?" or Lcase(objArgs(0)) = "-h" or Lcase(objArgs(0)) = "--help" Then 
    Usage()
End If
noWait = Not wait() 
For Each arg in objArgs
    If (Mid(arg,1,1) = "/") and (InStr(arg,":") <> 0) Then haveSwitch   =   True
Next
If not haveSwitch Then 
    Message=joinParam("woq")
Else
    For i = 0 To objArgs.Count-1 
        If IsSwitch(objArgs(i)) Then 
            S=split(objArgs(i) , ":" , 2)
                select case Lcase(S(0))
                    case "/m","/message"
                        Message=S(1)
                    case "/tt","/title"
                        Title=S(1)
                    case "/s","/sleep"
                        If IsNumeric(S(1)) Then Sleep=S(1)*1000
                    case "/t","/time"
                        If IsNumeric(S(1)) Then Timeout=S(1)
                    case "/b","/button"
                        select case S(1)
                            case "oc", "1"
                                button=1
                            case "ari","2"
                                button=2
                            case "ync","3"
                                button=3
                            case "yn", "4"
                                button=4
                            case "rc", "5"
                                button=5
                            case "ctc","6"
                                button=6
                            case Else
                                button=0
                        end select
                    case "/i","/icon"
                        select case S(1)
                            case "s","x","stop","16"
                                Mode=16
                            case "?","q","question","32"
                                Mode=32
                            case "!","w","warning","exclamation","48"
                                Mode=48
                            case "i","information","info","64"
                                Mode=64
                            case Else 
                                Mode=0
                        end select
                end select
        End If
    Next
End If
Message = Replace(Message,"/\n", "°"  )
Message = Replace(Message,"\n",vbCrLf)
Message = Replace(Message, "°" , "\n")
If noWait Then button=0

Wscript.Sleep(sleep)
Popup   = objShell.Popup(Message, Timeout, Title, button + Mode + vbSystemModal)
Wscript.Quit Popup

Function IsSwitch(Val)
    IsSwitch        = False
    If Mid(Val,1,1) = "/" Then
        For ii = 3 To 9 
            If Mid(Val,ii,1)    = ":" Then IsSwitch = True
        Next
    End If
End Function

Function joinParam(quotes)
    ReDim ArgArr(objArgs.Count-1)
    For i = 0 To objArgs.Count-1 
        If quotes = "wq" Then 
            ArgArr(i) = q & objArgs(i) & q 
        Else
            ArgArr(i) =     objArgs(i)
        End If
    Next
    joinParam = Join(ArgArr)
End Function

Function wait()
    wait=True
    If objArgs.Named.Exists("NewProcess") Then
        wait=False
        Exit Function
    ElseIf objArgs.Named.Exists("NW") or objArgs.Named.Exists("NoWait") Then
        objShell.Exec q & WScript.FullName & qsq & WScript.ScriptFullName & q & " /NewProcess: " & joinParam("wq") 
        WScript.Quit 99
    End If
End Function

Function Usage()
    Wscript.Echo _
                     vbCrLf&"Usage:" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      popup followed by your message. Example: ""popup First line\nescaped /\n\nSecond line"" " _
                    &vbCrLf&"      To triger a new line use ""\n"" within the msg string [to escape enter ""/"" before ""\n""]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"" _
                    &vbCrLf&"Advanced user" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      If any Switch is used then you must use the /m: switch for the message " _
                    &vbCrLf&"      No space allowed between the switch & the value " _
                    &vbCrLf&"      The switches are NOT case sensitive " _
                    &vbCrLf&"" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      popup [/m:""*""] [/t:*] [/tt:*] [/s:*] [/nw] [/i:*]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      Switch       | value |Description" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      -----------------------------------------------------------------------" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /m: /message:| ""1 2"" |if the message have spaces you need to quote it " _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /t: /time:   | nn    |Duration of the popup for n seconds " _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |<Default> untill key pressed" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /tt: /title: | ""A B"" |if the title have spaces you need to quote it " _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       | <Default> Popup" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /s: /sleep:  | nn    |schedule the popup after n seconds " _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /nw /NoWait  |       |Continue script without the user pressing ok - " _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       | botton option will be defaulted to OK button " _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /i: /icon:   | ?/q   |[question mark]"  _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | !/w   |[exclamation (warning) mark]"  _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | i/info|[information mark]"  _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | x/stop|[stop\error mark]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | n/none|<Default>" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   |       |" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      /b: /button: | o     |[OK button] <Default>"  _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | oc    |[OK and Cancel buttons]"  _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | ari   |[Abort, Retry, and Ignore buttons]"  _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | ync   |[Yes, No, and Cancel buttons]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | yn    |[Yes and No buttons]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | rc    |[Retry and Cancel buttons]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                   | ctc   |[Cancel and Try Again and Continue buttons]" _
                    &vbCrLf&"      --->         | --->  |The output will be saved in variable ""pop.key""" _
                    &vbCrLf&"" _
                    &vbCrLf&"Example:" _
                    &vbCrLf&"        popup /tt:""My MessageBox"" /t:5 /m:""Line 1\nLine 2\n/\n\nLine 4""" _
                    &vbCrLf&"" _
                    &vbCrLf&"                     v1.9 By RDR @ 2020"
    Wscript.Quit
End Function

</script></job>

Sternum

Answer 18

Bat file:

@echo off
echo wscript.Quit((msgbox("question?",4+32+256, "title")-6) Mod 255) > %temp%\msgbox.vbs
start /wait %temp%\msgbox.vbs
rem echo wscript returned %errorlevel%
if errorlevel 1 goto error
echo We have Yes
goto end
:error
echo We have No
:end
del %temp%\msgbox.vbs /f /q

Smart

Answer 19

I would create a batch subroutine MSGBOX like shown below which you can call then via

call :MSGBOX "Test-Message 1" "Test-Title 1"

as often you want.

For example:

@ECHO OFF

:: call message box sub-routine
call :MSGBOX "Test-Message 1" "Test-Title 1"
call :MSGBOX "Test-Message 2" "Test-Title 2"

:END
EXIT /B


::::::::::::::::
:: sub-routines

:MSGBOX
:: 1. parameter: message
:: 2. parameter: title

:: find temporary name for VBS file
:uniqueLoop
set "uniqueFileName=%tmp%\msgbox~%RANDOM%.vbs"
if exist "%uniqueFileName%" goto :uniqueLoop

:: write to temporary VBS file, execute, delete file
echo msgbox"%~1",vbInformation , "%~2"> %uniqueFileName% 
%uniqueFileName% 
erase %uniqueFileName%
EXIT /B

Vagabondage

Answer 20

msg * /server:127.0.0.1 Type your message here

Benfield

Windows cmd.exe says: 'msg' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. – Precept

@AnthonyHatzopoulos that is because it is only supported in XP – Outpoint

@Outpoint XP and later, actually – Aforesaid

@JesanFafon no, it was discontinued after XP... I think you mean XP and earlier – Outpoint

@Outpoint On Windows 8.1, where msg returns C:\Windows\System32\msg.exe. I think you are thinking of net send – Aforesaid

Answer 21

A better option

set my_message=Hello world&& start cmd /c "@echo off & mode con cols=15 lines=2 & echo %my_message% & pause>nul"

---

Description:
lines= amount of lines,plus 1
cols= amount of characters in the message, plus 3 (However, minimum must be 15)

Auto-calculated cols version:

set my_message=Hello world&& (echo %my_message%>EMPTY_FILE123 && FOR %? IN (EMPTY_FILE123 ) DO SET strlength=%~z? && del EMPTY_FILE123 ) && start cmd /c "@echo off && mode con lines=2 cols=%strlength% && echo %my_message% && pause>nul"

Undress

@Macaroni comment works (start cmd /c "@echo off & mode con cols=18 lines=2 & echo My Popup Message & pause>nul"). Yours doesn't. It echos the message but fails to set the window size returning The screen cannot be set to the number of lines and columns specified. at least in my Windows 7. – Phile

@Phile I have updated the answer. it should work now for everyone, revise it. – Undress

It works indeed... provided that there is not a file named x in the current directory or you don't mind losing it. – Phile

You took a perfectly working comment and broke it. Then you tried to add some value (I'll grant you that) but then at the price of losing any file with a not-so-unlikely name. If someone, (out of curiosity) gives your code a try with such a bad luck it will lose the file for good. Additionally, if there exists a folder named x, your command just fails. Don't thank me and please just fix your code. You don't even need to use a one-liner. And if you think your code is so good, please post it in Code Review. – Phile

what an ingratitude.... I havent broke, but updated, explained and even gave automatic solution... (but there are people like you, who i can't satisfy). good luck – Undress

(Sorry for this multipart message but it seems I must explain obvious things.) OK, EMPTY_FILE123 is an unlikely name for an important file or folder. By the way, you don't know me so please don't pigeonhole me, stop playing the victim and changing the subject (unlike you, I'm not emotionally involved here -- ingratitude??). Back to the topic, IMHO your code was risky before and now is just a lazy hack (oms, you own 25.4k rep). Do you want more reasonable criticism? ... – Phile

... You known that finding out the length of a string is not a trivial task without creating a temp file; but you could (and should) have made a subroutine! In fact, making this a one-liner makes no sense because you have to hardcode the message so why on Earth would you need auto cols? You could have hardcoded the width as well! You are actually hardcoding a filename in a one-liner with a hardcoded message that auto calculates the cols?! (The original comment was just a sample to show the technique.) ... – Phile

... And what if many concurrent instances of a batch use this name in the same folder? What a mess... You can do better and you know (and I know you know...) but don't expect people to upvote this as a useful answer. So don't rest on your laurels, live up to your reputation and properly finish off the job. – Phile

@Phile ok, the answer is not for you, i understand. but there are other whom it will help. thnx. – Undress

Answer 22

it needs ONLY to popup when inside a vm, so technically, there should be some code like:

if %machine_type% == virtual_machine then
   echo message box code
else
   continue normal installation code

Captor

downvote because the the installation won't be continued if (%machine_type% == virtual_machine)==true – Petasus