clarkeTECH
Net Send Tutorial
by: Brian Clarke

August 18, 2004
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You may have heard of net send. It's used mostly by network administrators to tell network users important information. An example would be if the server was going down for maintenance, the administrator would send out a message to the entire Workgroup. A Workgroup is a subdivision of a network that groups computers or employees performing similar or related tasks (like a certain department).

The following is the syntax of the net send command:
net send {name | * | /domain[:name] | /users} message

Formatting legend

Format
Meaning
Italic Information that the user must supply
Bold Elements that the user must type exactly as shown
Between brackets ([]) Optional items
Between braces ({}; choices separated by pipe (|). Example: {even|odd} Set of choices from which the user must choose only one

The syntax above may be a little confusing. It basically boils down to this:
net send name message 

Replace name with a username (ex: bclarke), a computer name (ex: RM229-WS08), a domain (ex: mshome), or an asterisk (*). Replacing name with * will send the message to every user on the network. Replacing name with a domain will send your message to all the computers on that domain.

Replace message with your message (duh).

After you done typing net send name message hit enter and you will be told if you message has been successfully delived.

The following is what the recipient of you message will see. The white boxes and green text was added to explain what some of the things are.

Be advised that administrators have the ability to see who sent messages and to whom they were sent to. They could also see the message.

Copyright © 2006 Brian Clarke. All Rights Reserved.