Send a message to your computers using PDQ Deploy
Posted by Shane Corellian on Mon, Dec 19, 2011
In my previous blog I discussed how you can use PDQ Inventory to send messages (via msg.exe) to your computers using the Remote Command feature. Today I will show you how you can do the same thing in PDQ Deploy. If you are using the free version of PDQ Deploy then you should probably use a script (a simple batch file will do).
I created a batch file with the following command:
msg * /TIME:%1 %2
The variables (%1 and %2) aren't necessary if you want to just hard code the timeout value (%1) and the message (%2) you want to display. I am using the variables to illustrate that you can use the same script to send many different messages. Othewise you'd have to change the script for each message you want to send. The only caveat to using the variables is that you need to encapsulate the Message part of your MSG command in quotes. The image below is the Installer window showing that I am calling the SendMessage.bat (contents above) and passing in the Timeout (%1) and Message body (%2).
Below you can view a video example of sending this message using the free PDQ Deploy.
In an upcoming article I will demonstrate how to use PDQ Deploy Pro to send a message before or after a deployment. This can be useful when you want to send a "heads up" message to your users that an installation is going to begin or to let them know when an installation is complete.
