Send Multiple Remote Desktop Sessions A Command

Question

I use Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection Manager to administer users on my network. I am looking for a way, or another program, that will allow me to send a command to all of my logged in remote connections at once. So if I am connected to 10 PCs, I can send them all a command to run a batch file, or maybe start a program. Something like \\server\folder\run.bat.

Anyone have any advice?

Answer 1

You can execute the same command simultaneously on multiple computers using PSEXEC.EXE from Microsoft's SysInternals toolkit. To run a command on multiple remote computers:

1. Create the text file PCNAMES.TXT
2. Put the remote computer names in the text file, one per line
3. Run PSEXEC.EXE using the following syntax:
   PSEXEC.EXE @PCNAMES.TXT -s Command_To_Run.exe

This will run Command_To_Run.exe in the context of the remote computer's SYSTEM account and it assumes the executable is in the system path on the remote machine.

PSEXEC command line options relevant to your situation:

-c         Copy the specified program to the remote system for execution. If you omit this
           option the application must be in the system path on the remote system.
-d         Don't wait for process to terminate (non-interactive).
-u         Specifies optional user name for login to remote computer.
-p         Specifies optional password for user name. If you omit this you will be prompted
           to enter a hidden password.
-s         Run the remote process in the System account.  The remote command will only
           have access to local resources on the remote computer.

Examples:

1. Copy Command_To_Run.exe from your local computer to the remote PC (-c switch) then execute it there:
   PSEXEC.EXE @PCNAMES.TXT -c Command_To_Run.exe

2. Use a different user account/password (-u and -p switches) to run the remote command. Useful when accessing network resources from the remote PC:
   PSEXEC.EXE @PCNAMES.TXT -u UserName -p Password Command_To_Run.exe