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I've been researching trying to find as much information as I can, but I'm falling short on being able to execute this.

I'd like to use the msg command to send a message to someone on the same network as me. Both computers are Windows 10 Pro.

Unfortunately it seems like a lot has changed before Windows 10, msg replaced net use, msg requires certain permissions which are configured in certain administrative tools which seem to have been removed from Windows 10, etc.

Essentially what I believe is happening is that if user A is trying to send a message to user B that user A needs the message permission of the Remote Desktop Services permissions on User B's computer. From what I can tell, you're supposed to configure these permissions in Windows Administrative Tool called Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration, which has been removed from Windows 10.

What I've been trying is, say I'm user A attempting to message user B:

msg userB /server:userB'sComputerName Hello! Then the command returns: userB does not exist or is disconnected

On the other hand, msg /server:localhost * Hi works as expected, I get a message box saying "Hi" - so the command works, I just need to know how to use it across the network to another Windows 10 machine.

Any guidance appreciated.

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  • I'm not sure what you mean by "It has been removed." Msg.exe exists on my computer and the other person's computer. I believe the command doesn't exist on Windows 10 Home, but Pro has it. Do you have a source that states it's removed?
    – Tyler N
    Nov 4, 2019 at 15:52
  • msg /SERVER:DestinationPC * /TIME:60 "This is the message to be sent to a PC named DestinationPC and closes in 60 seconds." This works for me on Win10 to Srv2012R2 - is the PC you want to send to in the same network, and does your current user have access to that pc?
    – SimonS
    Nov 4, 2019 at 16:07
  • @SimonS Yes we are on the same network and I'm not sure which access I specifically need in order to execute this command - that could very well be my problem, do you know which access I would need?
    – Tyler N
    Nov 4, 2019 at 16:13
  • @John - You might not need it, but the author does, please keep out of scope commentary to a minimum.
    – Ramhound
    Nov 4, 2019 at 17:28

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I found either the answer, or hopefully just an answer.

The user attempting to send the message has to be remote desktop user and an administrator on the recipient's computer

I was able to send a message from user A's computer to user B's computer, using the msg command, and it required that I made user A an administrator on user B's computer. I do so by:

Adding the user as a Remote Desktop User

Win+R > lusrmgr.msc > Groups > Remote Desktop Users > Add > User Name

Adding the user as an administrator account

Win+R > lusrmgr.msc > Groups > Administrators > Add > User Name

I really don't like this solution as you give the user entire administrator control simply to send a message, but this is how I was able to make it work, hopefully there exists a more fine-tuned way to give them specific access to messaging only but I haven't found that yet.

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