Sending a message to Win 7 host with msg.exe
Hi, I'm trying to send a message with the msg.exe to a Win 7 host. But I always got the error "Error [5]:Access is denied". What I have to do to get the permission to send a message to the host?
October 7th, 2009 10:06am

Hi Sven, Could you please take following steps to troubleshoot the issue?1. Open the Registry Editor.2. In the left pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server 3. In the right pane, ensure value of AllowRemoteRPC key is 1. If not, please change it to 1. 4. Quit Registry Editor and Reboot the computer. 5. Run MSG command in a elevated CMD window. Hope it helps.
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October 8th, 2009 5:37am

I completed this registry fix and for the first time ever, I was successfully sending messages to all the computers in my network! I was so happy. then, a few hours later, and ever since, when i try to send a message it says "USERNAME does not exist or is disconnected" where USERNAME is the name of the user i'm trying to send a message to. this is so frustrating because it was working FINE after the registry fix, and nothing changed except the time of day.. and now it wont work. i checked and the AllowRemoteRPC value is still "1". i can type NET VIEW and all the other computers in the network show up. i can still share files through homegroup and print remotely. this is stupid. i hate windows 7. NOW what???
October 29th, 2009 5:22am

Hi Sven and Ronnie,Please let me first describe about my expierences with msg.exe between different computers: After setting the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server to 1 (on all involved computers) msg.exe works between two Windows7 Enterprise hosts and between a Terminalserver (Windows Server 2008 & Windows Server 2003) and a Windows7 host as administrator@domain and as one and the same user@domain! That means, that user administrator@domain can send messages to any user@domain (on any host) with the command:msg username /server:hostname messageand user halodrio@domain can send messages with the same command to all users hallodrio@domain on any host (regardless the group membership of halodrio). If any other user@domain tries to send halodrio a message the error "hallodrio does not exist or is disconnected" appears. But if the user hallodrio@domain is in the administrator group of the target host the message appears correct! This works really only if hallodrio@domain is in the adminstrator group (it does not work neither hallodrio is in the Remote Desktop User group nor in the Power User group).To clarify:User hallodrio@domain has to be in the Administrator group on the target host to be possible sending a message to any user@domain on the target host!I'd like to note why we are using this command. We are running batch jobs which take sometimes a lot of time (several days or weeks) and for these big jobs it's often essential to check the processed intermediate data (to see that everything goes wright) and these messages should receive all involved collegues. Of course it's not a solution to put all these users in the Administrator group!So I hope anybody in this forum knows which permissions are exactly required on the target host for receiving a message with msg.exe?! Then it should be easy to give these permissions the users from whom are wanted to receive messages (without giving them administrator rights).
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April 15th, 2010 10:03am

Hi Guys, we have over 500 windows 7 ent stations, i was wondering if there is a way of sending a message using msg.exe from a server to users of a specific group ? many thanks for your help Ryan
August 12th, 2010 4:15am

Does anyone have any updates on this issue? I want to send a message to all users in my domain at once, for notifications purposes. We used to ( "net send * Hello" ) This command used to send a message to the entire domain computers. I tried "msg * Hello" but the only one who is getting this message is ME. I have tried this "msg * /server dc.domain.local" and the results was just one msg on the dc screen. Regards Black Spider
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January 26th, 2011 9:10am

Having same issues as Black Spider. We arn't operating with a server, just a handful of computers in a Windows 7 Homegroup. when i try a 'cmd: netview' I see all of the pc's listed. The cmd i've been trying is >msg Reception /server:reception-pc "message" I get "Reception does not exist or is disconnected" I have the Reg. key on all PC's to allow remote rpc. Even my send to all >msg * "message" only sends the message to myself. Am i missing a step for Home group messaging? should the Severname be my homegroup, or the target pc?
February 9th, 2011 2:49pm

dont know if this helps but msg /server:IP console TEXT ex. msg /server:101.01.111.10 console hello
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February 14th, 2011 4:44pm

Hi Sven and Ronnie, Please let me first describe about my expierences with msg.exe between different computers: After setting the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server to 1 (on all involved computers) msg.exe works between two Windows7 Enterprise hosts and between a Terminalserver (Windows Server 2008 & Windows Server 2003) and a Windows7 host as administrator@domain and as one and the same user@domain! That means, that user administrator@domain can send messages to any user@domain (on any host) with the command: msg username /server:hostname message and user halodrio@domain can send messages with the same command to all users hallodrio@domain on any host (regardless the group membership of halodrio). If any other user@domain tries to send halodrio a message the error "hallodrio does not exist or is disconnected" appears. But if the user hallodrio@domain is in the administrator group of the target host the message appears correct! This works really only if hallodrio@domain is in the adminstrator group (it does not work neither hallodrio is in the Remote Desktop User group nor in the Power User group). To clarify: User hallodrio@domain has to be in the Administrator group on the target host to be possible sending a message to any user@domain on the target host! I'd like to note why we are using this command. We are running batch jobs which take sometimes a lot of time (several days or weeks) and for these big jobs it's often essential to check the processed intermediate data (to see that everything goes wright) and these messages should receive all involved collegues. Of course it's not a solution to put all these users in the Administrator group! So I hope anybody in this forum knows which permissions are exactly required on the target host for receiving a message with msg.exe?! Then it should be easy to give these permissions the users from whom are wanted to receive messages (without giving them administrator rights). Hi, Did you find a solution for your problem? I have exactly the same and I tried to modify DCOM security without success. Thank you.
July 8th, 2011 3:51am

I ran into an issue where MSG wasn't sending. Command: MSG * /SERVER:computer.domain.com Hello I found that if I used the IP it would get sent. I tried adding a period to the end of .com and it sent. So it seems to be an issue with DNS and/or IPv6. Command: MSG * /SERVER:192.168.1.1 Hello or MSG * /SERVER:computer.domain.com. Hello
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January 10th, 2012 12:18pm

Isn't it too hard to fix? Maybe third-party software will solve your problem. I mean LanTalk Lan messenger, which have command line interface to send messages and special read-only mode of the client to avoid chatting.
May 5th, 2012 10:59am

Isn't it too hard to fix? Maybe third-party software will solve your problem. I mean LanTalk Lan messenger, which have command line interface to send messages and special read-only mode of the client to avoid chatting.
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May 5th, 2012 10:59am

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