How to send a simple email from a Windows batch file?

34
votes

I'm running Windows 2003 Service Pack 2. I have a batch file that runs on demand. I want to have an email sent every time the batch file runs. The email is simple, just a sentence indicating that the batch file ran; it is the same every time.

I've tried a couple of things to get this done. I thought of telnet, but I can't figure out how to redirect a set of commands into telnet; Windows batch files don't have a Unix-style "here document," and calling "telnet <scriptfile" where scriptfile contains the commands to send an email didn't work. I also found a couple of solutions on the internet using CDO.Message, but I've never used that before and I kept getting error messages that I don't understand.

How can I send a simple email from a Windows batch file?

8
windowsemailbatch-file
This might help. It explains how to do it from command line or using telnet – vaichidrewar
There is no directory \Inetpub\mailroot\pickup, so the pickup method doesn't work. I'm not allowed to install any software on the machine, so the blat method doesn't work. I don't want to do this manually, so the telnet method doesn't work. And I don't have ASP, so that method doesn't work. Any other ideas? – user448810
possible duplicate of sending mail from Batch file – user565869

8 Answers

24
votes

Max is on he right track with the suggestion to use Windows Scripting for a way to do it without installing any additional executables on the machine. His code will work if you have the IIS SMTP service setup to forward outbound email using the "smart host" setting, or the machine also happens to be running Microsoft Exchange. Otherwise if this is not configured, you will find your emails just piling up in the message queue folder (\inetpub\mailroot\queue). So, unless you can configure this service, you also want to be able to specify the email server you want to use to send the message with. To do that, you can do something like this in your windows script file:

Set objMail = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
Set objConf = CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
Set objFlds = objConf.Fields
objFlds.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = 2 'cdoSendUsingPort
objFlds.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = "smtp.your-site-url.com" 'your smtp server domain or IP address goes here
objFlds.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport") = 25 'default port for email
'uncomment next three lines if you need to use SMTP Authorization
'objFlds.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername") = "your-username"
'objFlds.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword") = "your-password"
'objFlds.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpauthenticate") = 1 'cdoBasic
objFlds.Update
objMail.Configuration = objConf
objMail.FromName = "Your Name"
objMail.From = "your@address.com"
objMail.To = "destination@address.com"
objMail.Subject = "Email Subject Text"
objMail.TextBody = "The message of the email..."
objMail.Send
Set objFlds = Nothing
Set objConf = Nothing
Set objMail = Nothing
14
votes

I've used Blat ( http://www.blat.net/ ) for many years. It's a simple command line utility that can send email from command line. It's free and opensource.

You can use command like "Blat myfile.txt -to fee@fi.com -server smtp.domain.com -port 6000"

Here is some other software you can try to send email from command line (I've never used them):
http://caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Software/SendEmail/
http://www.petri.co.il/sendmail.htm
http://www.petri.co.il/software/mailsend105.zip
http://retired.beyondlogic.org/solutions/cmdlinemail/cmdlinemail.htm

Here ( http://www.petri.co.il/send_mail_from_script.htm ) you can find other various way of sending email from a VBS script, plus link to some of the mentioned software

The following VBScript code is taken from that page

Set objEmail = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
objEmail.From = "me@mydomain.com"
objEmail.To = "you@yourdomain.com"
objEmail.Subject = "Server is down!"
objEmail.Textbody = "Server100 is no longer accessible over the network."
objEmail.Send

Save the file as something.vbs

Set Msg = CreateObject("CDO.Message")

With Msg

 .To = "you@yourdomain.com"
 .From = "me@mydomain.com"
 .Subject = "Hello"
 .TextBody = "Just wanted to say hi."
 .Send

End With

Save the file as something2.vbs

I think these VBS scripts use the windows default mail server, if present. I've not tested these scripts...

4
votes

If PowerShell is available, the Send-MailMessage commandlet is a single one-line command that could easily be called from a batch file to handle email notifications. Below is a sample of the line you would include in your batch file to call the PowerShell script (the %xVariable% is a variable you might want to pass from your batch file to the PowerShell script):

--[BATCH FILE]--

:: ...your code here...
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe  -windowstyle hidden -command C:\MyScripts\EmailScript.ps1 %xVariable%

Below is an example of what you might include in your PowerShell script (you must include the PARAM line as the first non-remark line in your script if you included passing the %xVariable% from your batch file:

--[POWERSHELL SCRIPT]--

Param([String]$xVariable)
# ...your code here...
$smtp = "smtp.[emaildomain].com"
$to = "[Send to email address]"
$from = "[From email address]" 
$subject = "[Subject]" 
$body = "[Text you want to include----the <br> is a line feed: <br> <br>]"    
$body += "[This could be a second line of text]" + "<br> "

$attachment="[file name if you would like to include an attachment]"
send-MailMessage -SmtpServer $smtp -To $to -From $from -Subject $subject -Body $body -BodyAsHtml -Attachment $attachment -Priority high
0
votes

If you can't follow Max's suggestion of installing Blat (or any other utility) on your server, then perhaps your server already has software installed that can send emails.

I know that both Oracle and SqlServer have the capability to send email. You might have to work with your DBA to get that feature enabled and/or get the privilege to use it. Of course I can see how that might present its own set of problems and red tape. Assuming you can access the feature, it is fairly simple to have a batch file login to a database and send mail.

A batch file can easily run a VBScript via CSCRIPT. A quick google search finds many links showing how to send email with VBScript. The first one I happened to look at was http://www.activexperts.com/activmonitor/windowsmanagement/adminscripts/enterprise/mail/. It looks straight forward.

0
votes
$emailSmtpServerPort = "587"
$emailSmtpUser = "username"
$emailSmtpPass = 'password'
$emailMessage = New-Object System.Net.Mail.MailMessage
$emailMessage.From = "[From email address]"
$emailMessage.To.Add( "[Send to email address]" )
$emailMessage.Subject = "Testing e-mail"
$emailMessage.IsBodyHtml = $true
$emailMessage.Body = @"
<p>Here is a message that is <strong>HTML formatted</strong>.</p>
<p>From your friendly neighborhood IT guy</p>
"@
$SMTPClient = New-Object System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient( $emailSmtpServer , $emailSmtpServerPort )
$SMTPClient.EnableSsl = $true
$SMTPClient.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential( $emailSmtpUser , $emailSmtpPass );
$SMTPClient.Send( $emailMessage )
0
votes

It works for me, by using double quotes around variables.

I am using batch script to call powershell Send-MailMessage

Batch Script:send_email.bat

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe  -command 'E:\path\send_email.ps1

Pwershell Script send_email.ps1

Send-MailMessage -From "noreply@$env:computername" -To '<target_email@example.com>' -Subject 'Blah Blah' -SmtpServer  'smtp.domain.com'  -Attachments 'E:\path\file.log' -BODY "Blah Blah on Host: $env:computername "
0
votes

I struggled with the same problem and finally found a simple soultion. I know this is an outdated post. But still writing if it can help someone like me who is searching for it.

You can send simple mail using Powershell script. Make sure to connect this in your bat file

$Outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
$Mail = $Outlook.CreateItem(0)
$Mail.To = "hi@company.com"
$Mail.Subject = "hello"
$Mail.Body ="Hello. I am here to wish you"
$Mail.Send()

This post helped me Send E-Mail using powershell

0
votes

I struggled with the same problem and finally found a simple soultion. I know I am late to answer this question. But still writing if it can help someone like me who is searching for it.

You can send simple mail using Powershell script. Make sure to connect this in your bat file

$Outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
$Mail = $Outlook.CreateItem(0)
$Mail.To = "hi@company.com"
$Mail.Subject = "hello"
$Mail.Body ="Hello. I am here to wish you"
$Mail.Send()

Using this, you need not use any other party apps or install anything extra. It just needs Outlook. I hope that will be already there in many office accounts. This post helped me Send E-Mail using powershell