Batch File Beep

[Marvinator]

Hello, I hope I am placing this correctly.

Can anyone help me get a batch file to emit a beep through the PC Speaker in WinPE? We use Winpe for imaging new machines and an audible beep would help in knowing when the process is completed.

I've tried Echo Ctl+G and any combination of that I can think of. There has to be a way to do this, it just escapes me at the moment.

 

[MatildaPersson]

I found this.

"Put the following into your command prompt:

@echo [CTRL+G] > "noise.txt"
start noise.txt

Remember to replace "[CTRL+G]" with you actually pressing those buttons.

When you are done, put in this code:

del noise.txt"

That's what you did, yes?

 

[hairystuff]

are you sure the pc speaker is connected, (echo <Ctrl+G>) that should work.

 

[Cons29]

i tried it, does not work for me, i also did something similar years back. i changed the prompt of the command prompt and added beeps.

maybe its not supported anymore?

 

[Marvinator]

yes, that is exactly what I've tried.
using the syntax start noise.txt, WinPE opens the file in Notepad. (I didn't even know notepad was included in WinPE)

i've tried renaming the file to noise.bat, but this also does not do what I need.

And yes, the speaker is connected. (These are new machines and pc speakers are all connected.) In the past we used Ghost to image our machines, and ghost would beep, through the PC Speaker, every time it completed it's imaging, also in the WinPE environment. Occasionally I have to use Ghost again, and it still beeps.

 

[hairystuff]

hmm, I've just tried it on 2 seperate laptops with winxp(x86) an they both beep but I just tried it on a pc (winxp (x64)) and no joy, speaker is definitely connected.

 

[Marvinator]

Same for me. Now if I can just figure out why it won't work in WinPE....

 

[Marvinator]

It has taken more than a couple of years, but we've found a few things AND created a work around which actually works!

First of all, the ability to play through the PC Speakers in WinPE was removed by Microsoft. Having to add drivers for each and every model we image seemed to be counter productive so we kept looking.

With the help of a co-worker, we've finally done it and I submit it here for anyone else who may have the same issues.

1) Our Imaging Batch file now sends a small text file (less than a dozen characters) to a folder on our Image Server.

2) A Server Batch file runs constantly on the Image Server which checks this folder every 30 seconds looking for the text file.

3) When it finds the text file, the Server Batch file a) deletes the text file, and b) plays a tone.

My co-hort in crime is also the batch file king and has also made this batch file send emails to us noting which machine on the workbench has finished imaging.

I want to thank you all for your input and help.

marv