Powershell Test Connection and Send Message to Online Computers

[tri_94]

Hi there

 

I'm looking at using powershell to send a message all online computers using code like below.

 

$name = Get-Content "d:\computersonline.txt"

 

 

#$name = read-host "Enter computer name "

#$msg = read-host "Enter your message "

$msg = "Test 1 2 3"

Invoke-WmiMethod -Path Win32_Process -Name Create -ArgumentList "msg * $msg" -ComputerName $name

 

In order for me to do this I was thinking along the lines of using powershell to query a list of computers and then export the data to a csv or txt file a list computers that are online and one maybe one with computers that are not.

 

I would also just like the computer name and no other data in the exports. and then i'd be able to use this export to send the message using the code about.

 

(I'm sure someone can tell me a far better way of doing this)

 

 

$file = "D:\Computers.txt"

Get-Content $file | ForEach-Object {

New-Object -TypeName PSCustomObject -Property @{

VMName = $_

'Ping Status' = Test-Connection -ComputerName $_ -Quiet -Count 1

}

} | Export-Csv -Path "D:\PingStatus.csv" -NoTypeInformation

 

 

Thanks for any help

[steve]

When I do something like this I tend to use active directory as my list of computers, you'll need AD users and computers from RSAT on the PC running the code. You can then do this without having to maintain a text file.

 

Even if you want to use a file, you can do this with only a single file of devices to check and not need to export the devices found. With code this you can test if the device is on, and if it is send the message.

 

The code below will list in green the devices found and in red the devices not.

 

#Option using AD OU
$rtn = $null
$msg = "Test 1 2 3"

#Using AD OU
Get-ADComputer -SearchBase "OU=Classroom1,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com" -Filter * |

ForEach-Object {

 $rtn = Test-Connection -CN $_.dnshostname -Count 1 -BufferSize 16 -Quiet

 IF($rtn -match 'True') {
       Invoke-WmiMethod -Path Win32_Process -Name Create -ArgumentList "msg * $msg" -ComputerName $_.dnshostname
       Write-host -ForegroundColor green $_.dnshostname}

 ELSE { Write-host -ForegroundColor red $_.dnshostname }

}

#Option using a file with list of hostnames
$rtn = $null
$msg = "Test 1 2 3"

$file = "D:\Computers.txt"

Get-Content $file |

ForEach-Object {

 $rtn = Test-Connection -CN $_ -Count 1 -BufferSize 16 -Quiet

 IF($rtn -match 'True') {
       Invoke-WmiMethod -Path Win32_Process -Name Create -ArgumentList "msg * $msg" -ComputerName $_
       Write-host -ForegroundColor green $_}

 ELSE { Write-host -ForegroundColor red $_}

}

[tri_94]

Thanks for that I’ll have a look at that. Only problem I would have would be that I’ve need to pull data from several ou’s and not just one. Would that be possible?

[Arthur]

Would that be possible?

Sure is.

 

$OUs = "OU=Classroom1,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com", "OU=Classroom2,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com", "OU=Classroom3,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com"

$OUs | ForEach-Object { Get-ADComputer -SearchBase $_ -Filter * }

 

@steve's script would therefore look like this...

 

$rtn = $null
$msg = "Test 1 2 3"
$OUs = "OU=Classroom1,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com", "OU=Classroom2,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com", "OU=Classroom3,OU=Computers,DC=my,DC=school,DC=com"

$OUs | ForEach-Object { Get-ADComputer -SearchBase $_ -Filter * } | ForEach-Object {

   $rtn = Test-Connection -CN $_.dnshostname -Count 1 -BufferSize 16 -Quiet

   IF ($rtn -match 'True') {
       Invoke-WmiMethod -Path Win32_Process -Name Create -ArgumentList "msg * $msg" -ComputerName $_.dnshostname
       Write-Host -ForegroundColor green $_.dnshostname
   }

   ELSE { Write-Host -ForegroundColor red $_.dnshostname }

}

[tri_94]

Brilliant thanks.