Sending Network Messages...

[bluemicrobyte]

At my school there are tons of computers (PC, Windows XP Pro). Is it possible for me to send a message to another PC in the room? Sort of like those popup messages that you can send from one user to another on a single XP home computer? In short, I am trying to find a way to send messages to my friends without getting up to walk over to them, or without them having to set up any messengers (the access is set to limited, so we couldn't do that anyways).

[Neo]

Probably not, and even if you could, you would have to know the machine name of the computer you want to send a message to, and since most schools disable the messenger service anyways...

-Neo

[hammocksleeper]

Ah! Let me teach you an old trick of the trade, young padwan.

Run a program called dxdiag from the Run... box. It comes with Windows. Just type in the name, you don't have to worry about what folder it's in or whatever.

Depending on what operating system you're running the layout might be a little different, but look for something that says "Test DirectPlay" and click it. Type in a username and if you have a choice, select the "tcp/ip" option, and create a new session. If it asks you what port, I'm not really sure what you should put here (try port 80). The other dude you want to chat with should do the same thing, hit "Test DirectPlay" but instead of creating a new session, join the existing one. A little chat applet comes up and you can talk to each other over the network.

note, if y'all's computers have the run box disabled, you will find the dxdiag program in the windows\system folder.

[bluemicrobyte]

I'm looking for something that doesn't require the second (receiving) computer to do anything. Also, it doesn't NEED to be two way chat, it could be more of a single message, you know how with XP home if you have two user accounts and they are both logged on you can use task manager to send a message to the other user and when that user logs on they get a popup message. I suspect this is possible because once I got a message popup like that that said "Message from <computer lab # goes here> Greetings" or something like that.

[Garrec]

My high school used Novell networking, and sometimes we could send single popup messages to other people who were also logged in. Usually the admins disabled this, as a few people would... broadcast inappropriate messages to everyone on the network.

How did we do this? Well, after we logged in, the Novell icon would be added to the system tray. Right clicking that would bring up a menu. One of the options was something like Novell Tools->Send. Then we would have to browse a list of everyone who's logged in, and select who would receive the message.

[Mindslaver]

Assuming you're on XP...

Run the command prompt. If the Run thing is blocked, then create a batch file using a text editor, and make it look like this:


start cmd.exe


Save it as cmd.bat or something.

Then, open up cmd.

Type in "net send". I don't remember the exact syntax - I'm not at school right now, or I'd test it. But now that I've told you it's "net send", you should be able to figure out the syntax.

For me, it is like this:


net send johnsmith Hello


Except I can't remember if Hello would be in quotes or not.

A little dialog box should pop up in their screen, and they won't know who sent it. But if you don't specify a user name, it will send to ALL THE COMPUTERS IN THE NETWORK. That is not something you want to do.

[op6]

Thank you for asking this question, I now don't need MSN to talk to my friends across the lab. Thank you. lol

- To Garrec - my school uses Novell on EVERY computer in the school, I always hated it, but now I like it, thank you.

- To hammocksleeper - Thats one hell of a trick, thanks.

Edit - Mindslaver, can you varify your post for me(if school isn't already out for you)? And thanks to you too.

[bluemicrobyte]

Assuming you're on XP...

Run the command prompt. If the Run thing is blocked, then create a batch file using a text editor, and make it look like this:


start cmd.exe


Save it as cmd.bat or something.

Then, open up cmd.

Type in "net send". I don't remember the exact syntax - I'm not at school right now, or I'd test it. But now that I've told you it's "net send", you should be able to figure out the syntax.

For me, it is like this:


net send johnsmith Hello


Except I can't remember if Hello would be in quotes or not.

A little dialog box should pop up in their screen, and they won't know who sent it. But if you don't specify a user name, it will send to ALL THE COMPUTERS IN THE NETWORK. That is not something you want to do.

the command prompt thing is enabled, and I'll proceed to googling the exact command because I don't really want to send a message to EVERYONE lol. How do I find out a computers name? (they are all numbered, but I don't know what their exact network names are)

[Mindslaver]

Usually, the students have usernames, correct? Like their logon user name.

Let's say that they were "stalinj". When they are logged on, go to command prompt, type in the following:
net send stalinj st00pid dictator
At first, test it out by sending the message to yourself.

[bluemicrobyte]

1) that would be so cool if I could just type in their username to send them a message.

2) After thorough investigation of some stuff I have determined that each computer has a number (not the one it's labeled as with paper) that is part of a name. For instance the ones in the computer lab are CL1_PC_###

I shall proceed to writing down all of the computer numbers and their coresponding network number so that I can mess with my friends! Muahahahaha! (I tested it earlier today and my friend said he got a messag that said "boo" which is what I sent)

[Mindslaver]

Why can't you type in their username? Does it not work for some reason? It works just fine at my school.

But you can definitely get the computer numbers and get it to work. Have you tried it with usernames?

[bluemicrobyte]

Why can't you type in their username? Does it not work for some reason? It works just fine at my school.

But you can definitely get the computer numbers and get it to work. Have you tried it with usernames?

because we don't log onto the computers with usernames, the accounts on every computer are admin, student, and something else. Everyone logs onto student with the same password and the computer uses a preset name on the network that represents its location. Student files are stored on a server that you can log onto via network connections with your own user name and password.

[Mindslaver]

because we don't log onto the computers with usernames, the accounts on every computer are admin, student, and something else. Everyone logs onto student with the same password and the computer uses a preset name on the network that represents its location. Student files are stored on a server that you can log onto via network connections with your own user name and password.
Oh yes, our school used to be like that. In that case, you have to find the computer labels. I think you are already in the process of doing that.

In that case, you must be very careful that you are typing in the correct number. If you are off by one digit, the message could go to the wrong person, and problems ensue thereafter.

Do people use the same computers every day? From day to day, would they have the same computer? Although it's unlikely, it would simplify things.

[bluemicrobyte]

Nope. The main student PC computers are in the computer lab (though there are many other locations around campus to use computers) and each PC is physically labled by a two digit number like 4-3 or 6-4, first number being the row and second number being the computer in the row. Students can work on any computer they want any time so theres no way of telling whos on the computer without going to the lab and looking. Each PC in that lab has a network name such as CL1_PC_0## where ## is a number from 1-something. I'm in the process of going to every single PC and writing down its number so I can send messages to someone if I know what physical number (6-2) they are on. Other computers such as the ones in the library have names like Library_## and teacher computers have innitials and last names. Deans and president computers and other official ish computers have other types of names (I've done a /net view and figured all this out).

Just out of curiosity, is there any way to link this message thing to macs? There are tons of macs around campus as well as a few other computer labs with only macs and it would be cool if I could message to them too.

[TranquilNightElf]

You can type
net send <IP address of the pc> <message>

If you don't know the username/name of the computer. Be careful about specifying the IP address though.
Of course this is limited by your knowledge of who is on which PC.
The message doesn't have to be in quotes ...

[Mindslaver]

Be careful if you're using TranquilNightElf's technique. It is more than likely that your school has a shared IP, so sending it to a certain IP address would probably redirect the message to every computer on that IP address.

[bluemicrobyte]

Well I made the terrible mistake of teaching my friends how to use net send :P They over-used it and "got caught" and were asked to not use it hehe. Hopefully they wont dissable the command prompt.....that's the last time I teach non-computer geeks how to do computer geek stuff lol

[Markpyro]

when I try Mindslaver's trick, it gives me this:

The command SEND is unknown. For a list of valid commands, type NET HELP at
the command prompt.
For help, type NET /? at the command prompt.

[hammocksleeper]

when I try Mindslaver's trick, it gives me this:

The command SEND is unknown. For a list of valid commands, type NET HELP at
the command prompt.
For help, type NET /? at the command prompt.


Because you don't have XP.

[Markpyro]

Ahh, that makes sense. Can I send messages from XP to 98, though?