Want to display a popup message on schedule or on a specific event or trigger? You can do it using Task Scheduler. Here’s how.
It is not often, but there will be times when you need to display a quick message on schedule or on a specific event, like opening a program or changing a Windows setting. For example, maybe you want to remind users to shut down the computer at a particular time.
No matter the use case, you can use the good old Task Scheduler to show a message in a popup window. Let me show you how to use the Task Scheduler to show a popup message in Windows.
Table of contents:
- What is Task Scheduler
- How to display a popup message in Windows
- What happened to the ‘Display a message’ option?
What is Task Scheduler
Task Scheduler is one of the most versatile programs in Windows. Using it, you can schedule different kinds of tasks to automate regular Windows activities. For example, you can use it to delay startup programs.
As this article shows, you can also use the Task Scheduler to display timely messages using a pop-up window. These popup messages are helpful for quick alerts and information.
We will use the Task Scheduler to show a popup message in Windows. Here’s how.
- Press the “Start” button.
- Search and open “Task Scheduler.”
- Click “Create basic task.”
- Set a “Name.”
- Press “Next” to continue.
- Choose a trigger of your choice.
- Press “Next” to continue.
- Configure the trigger as needed.
- Press “Next” to go to the next stage.
- Select the “Start a program” option.
- Press “Next.”
- Type “msg” in the “Program/Script” field.
- Type “* Replace_with_your_message” in the “Add arguments” field.
- Press “Next.”
- Click the “Finish” button.
- With that, Windows displays the message in a popup window according to the trigger condition.
Steps with more details:
First, open the Task Scheduler by searching for “Task Scheduler” in the Start menu.
Click on the “Create Basic Task” option on the right sidebar of the Task Scheduler.
Now, type the task name and description in the Name and Description fields, and click the “Next” button.
Now, select when the task should start. I want the message to appear as soon as the system starts. So, I selected the “When the computer starts” option. You can choose any trigger you want.
Note: You might need to configure additional options depending on your chosen option. For example, if you choose the Daily option, you must select a time to display the message.
After selecting a trigger, select the “Start a program” option and click “Next.” We will use Command Prompt or PowerShell to display the message window.
In this window, fill in the blank fields as below. If you want to use the command prompt, follow the command prompt method. For PowerShell, follow the PowerShell method.
Command Prompt:
- Program/Script —
msg - Arguments —
* Replace_With_Your_Message
Don’t forget to replace “Replace_With_Your_Message” with your actual message.
Important: Don’t remove * in front of the message in the Arguments field.
PowerShell:
- Program/Script —
powershell - Argument — Enter the below command
-WindowStyle hidden -Command "& {[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Windows.Forms'); [System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show('Relace_With_Your_Message','Message_Title')}"Don’t forget to replace “Replace_With_Your_Message” with your actual message and “Message_Title” with a title. The title appears on the window title bar.
Click the “Next” button to continue.
In the Summary window, click the “Finish” button to complete the task creation process.
After creating the task, we can verify whether it is working. To do that, select the “Task Scheduler Library” folder on the right panel, find the task you just created in the middle panel, right-click on it, and select “Run.”
You should see a popup window with your message if everything goes correctly.
Command Prompt:
PowerShell:
From now on, the Task Scheduler will display the popup message window according to the scheduled trigger. In my case, the popup window will appear as soon as I start and log into my system.
What happened to the ‘Display a message’ option?
In older Windows versions, the Task Scheduler has a built-in option called “Display a Message” to display a message whenever you want. However, starting from Windows 8, that feature has been deprecated. That means you can no longer use it to show messages in Windows.
If you try to use the “Display a message” deprecated feature, it will show the “The task definition uses a deprecated feature” error.
The good thing is that you will get the same functionality using PowerShell or Command Prompt, as shown in the above guide.
—
That is all. It is that simple to show a popup message in Windows 10 or 11 using the Task Scheduler.
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
Here are some other Task Scheduler tips you might like:
- Open a webpage with Task Scheduler
- How to run PowerShell scripts with Task Scheduler
- Schedule system shutdown using Task Scheduler
- How to rename a scheduled task in the Task Scheduler
In respect to this,how do i create a pop up window in windows 10?
How to bring pop-up window to the front; Windows 10
- Press “Windows” + “R”.
- Type “inetcpl.
- Go to “Privacy” tab and select “settings”.
- The “Pop-up Blocker Settings” dialog box will appear.
- Type in a website address underneath “Address of website to allow”.
Also,how do i create a pop up message in windows? In between the two adjacent quotation marks, type the error message you wish to appear in the popup (eg. lol=msgbox(“Example”,16,”Error”)). Click File>Save As. In the ‘Save type as’ dropdown, change the setting from ‘Text Documents’ to ‘All files’.
Also question is,how do you make a pop up message?
How do I create a popup system message?
- Go to PA System. Select the PA System tool from the Tool Menu in the Administration Workspace.
- Click Create Popup. Zoom.
- Enter the popup information. Zoom.
- View the popup message. Zoom.
- Admin users may also click the Preview button to preview a popup message. Zoom.
How do I create a pop up on my computer?
Change your default pop-ups & redirects settings
- On your computer, open Chrome .
- At the top right, click More. Settings.
- Click Privacy and security. Site Settings.
- Click Pop-ups and redirects.
- Choose the option you want as your default setting.
Things to consider
Below are some things to consider when trying to figure out how to create a popup message in windows 10.
What creates a pop up window?
A pop-up window is a window that appears on top of a help topic. Pop-up windows remain on the screen until users click anywhere inside or outside of them. You can use pop-up windows, for example, to create pop-up glossary definitions. You can also create context-sensitive pop-up help, which is accessed from a program.
How do you make a pop up window always on top? To make the active window always on top, press Ctrl + Spacebar (or the keyboard shortcut you assigned).
How do I show messages in Windows 10?
2. Command Prompt or PowerShell – Message box
- Open Command Prompt.
- Run the following command in it.
- Edit the command as below to set your custom message and title. Replace ‘My Message’ with the message you want the message box to show. Replace “Message Title” with the title you want the message box to have.
How do I use messages on Windows 10? The Msg command has the following syntax:
- msg {UserName | SessionName | SessionID| @FileName | *} [/server:ServerName] [/time:Seconds] [/v] [/w] [Message]
- UserName – Specifies the name of the user that you want to receive the message;
- SessionName – Specifies the name of the session that you want to receive the message;
What is a popup message?
A popup notification is a message that appears on your users’ browser or desktop. They’re designed to grab your audience’s attention and engage them in some way. Toast notification. Snackbar popup.
How do I make a pop-up button click? How to Open Popup on Button Click- Step by Step Tutorial
- Step 1: Select a Business Objective & Popup Template.
- Step 2: Personalize Your On-Click Open Popup.
- Step 3: Set up Display Rules.
- Step 4: Integrate with an Email Service Provider (Optional)
- Step 5: Add Button with the Embed Code.
- Step 7: Get The Button Embed Code.
How can a developer show a pop-up message to the user?
Display a message There are two steps to displaying a message. First, you create a Snackbar object with the message text. Then, you call that object’s show() method to display the message to the user.
What is Popup Browser? A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears (“pops up”) in the foreground of the visual interface.
How do I enable popups in Internet Explorer?
To turn Pop-up Blocker on or off Open Internet Explorer, select the Tools button , and then select Internet options. On the Privacy tab, under Pop-up Blocker, select or clear the Turn on Pop-up Blocker check box, and then select OK.
How do I allow pop-ups in Microsoft edge? Microsoft Edge app help Settings > Site permissions > Pop-ups and redirects. Toggle Pop-ups and redirects off for blocking pop-ups, or toggle on to allow pop-ups on your device.
How to Make a Message Box in Windows
How do you send a message to another computer using Powershell?
Message :- Type your message which you want to send to the computers. Like Hi, “Hello, Update are being installed on your computer, pleas wait” Etc. Computer Name: – Type the computer name to which you want to send the message, if you type PC1, it will send message to PC1 computer.
Can you send a message to an IP address? 1 Answer. The answer is No. You would have to send that through an open port on the recipients PC which a firewall would surely block (Windows Firewall, router, etc..). Even if it didn’t get blocked – you’d need something to turn your message from zeros and ones to text – and display it on the users monitor.
How do I chat between computers on the same network?
Tip: Send a message to PC screen on the same LAN
- Start command prompt (cmd) – type cmd in the searchbox and run the app.
- Type the command as follows: msg /SERVER:DestinationPC * /TIME:60 “This is the message to be sent to a PC named DestinationPC and closes in 60 seconds.”
- Hit enter and voila, the message is sent.
How do I create a popup box in powershell? Tutorial Powershell – Create a pop-up message
- Start a new POWERSHELL command-line prompt. Create a pop-up message using Powershell.
- Start a DOS command-line prompt. Create a pop-up message using only one command.
- Here is the command output: Congratulations! You are able to create a pop-up message using Powershell.
How do I make a message box?
How to Make a Message Box in Notepad
- Step 1: Step 1: Typing the Text. First, open Notepad and type this: x=msgbox(box text,buttons,box title)
- Step 2: Step 2: Saving the File. When you’re done, save it as a VBS(or VBScript)file. To do this, type “.
- Step 3: The End. Congratulations! You’ve done it.
How do you create a message box in Visual Basic? To support message boxes, the Visual Basic language provides a function named MsgBox. To support message boxes, the . NET Framework provides a class named.
| MsgBoxStyle | Integral Value | If the message box contains more than one button, the default button would be |
|---|---|---|
| DefaultButton2 | 256 | the second |
| DefaultButton3 | 512 | the third |
You can use PowerShell to show pop-up or toast messages to notify Windows users about important events. To get information from the user or confirm an action, you can use PowerShell to display toast (pup-up) notifications or modal dialog boxes.
Contents:
- Display a Pop-Up Message with PowerShell
- Send a Toast Notification from PowerShell Script
- Showing a Pop-Up Message on Remote Computer Using PowerShell
Display a Pop-Up Message with PowerShell
If you want to display a simple modal dialogue box on a desktop, you can use the Wscript class. To display a pop-up window with your message text and the OK button, use the following PowerShell code:
$wshell = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell
$Output = $wshell.Popup("The report generation script is successfully completed!")
Using the various properties of the Popup method, you can customize the appearance of this modal window and add action buttons to it. For example, to display a pop-up prompt with Yes and No buttons, run:
$Output = $wshell.Popup("The script completed successfully. Do you want to view a report?",0,"The report is ready",4+32)
If the user clicks Yes, the command returns 6, and if No, it returns 7. You can run an action or exit the script, depending on the user’s choice.
switch ($Output) {
7 {$wshell.Popup('Pressed No')}
6 {$wshell.Popup('Pressed Yes')}
default {$wshell.Popup('Invalid input')}
}
The general syntax and the available parameters of the Popup method:
Popup(<Text>,<SecondsToWait>,<Title>,<Type>)
Parameters:
- <
Text> — a message text (string); - <
SecondsToWait> —a number (optional). Number of seconds before the message window closes automatically; - <
Title> —string (optional). The title text (caption) of the pop-up window; - <
Type> —number (optional). A combination of flags that determine the type of buttons and icons.
Possible values for the Type flag:
- 0 — only OK button;
- 1 — OK and Cancel;
- 2 — Stop, Retry, and Skip;
- 3 — Yes, No, and Cancel;
- 4 — Yes and No;
- 5 — Retry and Cancel;
- 16 — Stop icon;
- 32 — Question icon;
- 48 — Exclamation icon;
- 64 — Information icon.
The Popup method returns an integer value that allows you to know which button a user has clicked. Possible values:
- -1 — timeout;
- 1 — OK button;
- 2 — Cancel button;
- 3 — Stop button;
- 4 — Retry button;
- 5 — Skip button;
- 6 — Yes button;
- 7 — No button.
Use the Windows Forms class when you need to prompt the user for information.
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
$input = [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::InputBox("Enter your username:", " Require user input", "")
To process user input:
if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($input)) {
Write-Host " No information provided"
} else {
Write-Host " You have entered $input"
}
If you want to display a modal dialogue on top of all windows on the desktop:
($ModalTop = New-Object 'System.Windows.Forms.Form').TopMost = $True
[System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($ModalTop,"Your text", " Your Caption", 4, 48)
Send a Toast Notification from PowerShell Script
Use the Windows Forms class to display more attractive toast (balloon) notifications. The following PowerShell code displays a pop-up message next to the Windows notification bar that disappears after 20 seconds.
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
$global:balmsg = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
$path = (Get-Process -id $pid).Path
$balmsg.Icon = [System.Drawing.Icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon($path)
$balmsg.BalloonTipIcon = [System.Windows.Forms.ToolTipIcon]::Warning
$balmsg.BalloonTipText = ‘This is a pop-up message text for the Windows user'
$balmsg.BalloonTipTitle = "Attention $Env:USERNAME"
$balmsg.Visible = $true
$balmsg.ShowBalloonTip(20000)
To create PowerShell pop-up notifications in Windows, you can use the third-party BurntToast module from the PowerShell gallery. Install the module:
Install-Module -Name BurntToast
For example, now you can easily add a colorful notification to the script from the post “How to automatically disable Wi-Fi when Ethernet cable is connected”:
New-BurntToastNotification -Text " Wi-Fi network disconnection", " Since your device was connected to a high-speed Ethernet LAN, you have been disconnected from your Wi-Fi network" -AppLogo C:\PS\changenetwork.png
Showing a Pop-Up Message on Remote Computer Using PowerShell
You can use PowerShell to send a toast message to a user on a remote computer. First, list the user sessions on the remote computer (in the case of an RDS server):
qwinsta /server:Mun-RDS1
To send a pop-up message to a specific user session on a remote computer:
MSG jsmith /server:Mun-RDS1 "Please restart the SUPGUI client in 5 minutes!”
If you want to send a popup message to all users, use * instead of the username:
MSG * /server:Mun-RDS1 " The server will be restarted in 10 minutes. Save your files and open documents!"
To send a pop-up graphical notification to a remote computer, you can use the RemoteSendToasNotification.ps1 script from our GitHub repo ( https://github.com/maxbakhub/winposh/blob/main/WindowsDesktopManagement/RemoteSendToasNotification.ps1). The Invoke-Command cmdlet that is used to establish the connection requires that WinRM be enabled and configured on the remote computer.
The built-in Mail app for Windows 10 isn’t the most full-featured email client you can find, but it’s a nice, light alternative to a web client. One thing you may be wondering, however, is why you aren’t seeing pop-up Action Center notifications when you receive new emails.
Easy! You have to turn them on first. But let me warn you: once you turn on notifications you’ll get notified for every mail message you receive. Firing up your PC in the morning means a barrage of new mail notifications that come in one by freakin’ one.
Getting notified
The Windows 10 Settings app.
To start, make sure app notifications are active. They should be by default, but let’s just check in case you turned them off. Open the Settings app and go to System > Notifications & Actions. Under “Notifications” make sure the slider for “Show app notifications” says “On.”
Next, scroll down to “Show notifications from these apps” and make sure the slider for Mail is also turned on.
You need to enable notification banners for Windows 10’s mail app to know when new mail comes in.
Now open the Mail app, select the acocunt you want to see notifications for, and then click on the Settings cog at the bottom of the left-hand navigation panel.
A Settings panel will pop out from the right side. Select Options and scroll down to the “Notifications” section at the bottom. By default, the Show in action center slider will be turned on by default, but that just allows notifications to appear in the slide-out Action Center panel.
To actually see notifications as new messages roll in you have to check the box for “Show a notification banner” to see banners pop-out in the lower right corner of your screen. If you’d like to hear the Windows 10 chime each time you get a new notification click the box next to “Play a sound as well.”
Once that’s done, click away from the Options panel to make it disappear. That’s it! Your Action Center notifications for the Mail app are ready to roll.
If you want to see notifications for multiple accounts, open that account’s inbox in the Mail, app, click the Settings cog and repeat the process above.
Some popup notifications are helpful. They save time, consolidate different types of information into a single location and draw your attention to important items that need feedback. However, they can also be a huge distraction by interrupting what you are currently doing.
Though Windows 10 notifications can feel like popups that come from web browsers, they are very different. The best way to make sure notifications are working to your benefit, rather than being a detriment, is to configure them for your unique needs. This post covers different types of Windows notifications and how to manage them.
Windows 10 notifications appear on your screen as pop-ups that slide out from the right onto your desktop. If ignored, they will slide back off the screen or you can click the x on them to move them off the screen more quickly. To access the notification panel where these popup notifications come from, click the text bubble located in the right corner of the taskbar.
NOTE: The bubble fills in with white when there are notifications and only has a white outline when no notifications are present.
The top half of the notification panel is reserved for notifications and actions. Notifications are sorted into groups based on what generated them, including but not limited to:
- Security and maintenance
- Printing
- Storage settings
- Windows explorer
- USB devices
- Third-party applications and more
There are several ways notifications can be configured as well as multiple ways to modify these settings.
NOTE: The settings available for notification actions and quick actions often vary by device. As such, my images may differ from what you see on your device.
Modifying notifications
Notification types can be disabled directly inside the notification panel. In the notification panel, notifications are displayed at the top while Quick Action buttons are located at the bottom.
- Click on the notification button in the bottom corner to access the notification panel.
- Right-click on a notification from the type you want to remove.
- In the pop-up menu, select the «Turn off notications for ‘XXX’» option.
To enable or disable notification types, access them via Settings. The top section of notification settings list displays the Quick Action buttons. The next section shows items than can only be toggled off and on. The bottom section is a list of programs and system services that have more options available including their notification type, alerting, priority and the number of them to display at any one time.
To enable or disable certain notification types:
- Click the Windows start button and click the Settings menu.
- Click the «System» icon to access display, sound, notifications and power settings.
- In the left menu, click «Notifications and actions».
- Scroll to the Notifications section and toggle notification types on or off as desired.
Scroll down to modify program notifications and actions. Toggle notifications on and off based on your needs. To modify specific notification and action settings of anything that is enabled, click on the category or program name.
Go through the additional notification and action settings and change settings as desired to meet your unique needs.
Quick Actions
The lower half of the notification panel is reserved for quick actions. Some shortcuts that can be pinned in the quick actions section include, but are not limited to:
- Tablet mode
- Connect
- Network connectivity
- All settings for the notification panel
- Airplane mode
- Location
- Focus assist
- Mobile hotspot
- Night light
- Bluetooth
- VPN
- Battery saver
- Project to external devices
- Nearby sharing
If the Quick Actions buttons take up too much space, consider collapsing the menu rather than removing pinned buttons. Collapsing the menu shrinks the menu to a single row of buttons rather than the standard 3-4 rows. To collapse the quick action menu, click the «Collapse» button above the buttons. To see all the buttons, click the «Expand» button shown above the buttons when they are collapsed.
If there are items you never use, or want to be sure you nor anyone else never accidentally clicks, it is easy to unpin these buttons. A great example is the tablet mode button which greatly changes the layout of the desktop and can be challenging to use.
There are two ways to remove buttons from the Quick Access menu:
- Remove them directly from the notification panel OR
- Remove them in the Settings menu
To add or remove quick access items from the notification panel:
- Open the notification panel.
- Right-click in the open space above the quick action buttons and click on the «Edit» button that appears.
- To remove buttons, click the pin in the corner of the existing button.
- To add buttons, click the «+Add» button and click on any of the available buttons you want to add.
- When finished, click the «Done» button at the bottom.
To add or remove quick access items from the Settings menu:
- Navigate to the «Notifications and actions» section in Settings.
- At the top under the Quick Actions section, click the button to «Add or remove quick actions».
Toggle quick action buttons on and off as desired to choose which quick actions buttons are displayed in the notification panel. Close the Settings menu once all selections have been made.
Configured notifications provide important information in a format that gives you the information you need, in a timely manner. One of the most important facets is for it to provide the information without destroying your focus as this negates the helpfulness it is intended to provide. Configuring settings and program notifications and actions is key in making sure the notifications you receive are actually helpful and increase efficiency.
As always, knowing how to fine tune settings is the key to making them work for you, rather than against you!