How to delay a batch file in MS Win XP?

I have a batch file that needs to run about 1 min after windows has booted up to the desktop?

Looking at the DELAY command but don't seem to work.

Any ideas?

Sleep 60

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...s/default.mspx

There is no simple way to make the process sleep for a set time without an external utility.

However as a workaround insert a line similar to this:

ping 1.1.1.1 -n 60 -w 1000 > null

This will ping a non existent address 60 times with a 1000ms timeout with the result of causing a 1 minute delay.

It will redirect the ping output to null so that the ping will not display any output on screen.

HTH

didn't there used to be a pause function - press any key to continue thingy?

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by slloyd

I have a batch file that needs to run about 1 min after windows has booted up to the desktop?

Looking at the DELAY command but don't seem to work.

Any ideas?

On linux I would launch the batch file (script) at boot time, have it evaluate the results of the uptime command - if uptime > 60 secs then leave the loop, else sleep for 10 seconds, then execute the body of the code then exit.

in pseudocode

while (loop!=1)
{
get uptime
if uptime < 60
{
sleep 10
}
else
{
loop=1
}
do stuff
end

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

On linux I would launch the batch file (script) at boot time, have it evaluate the results of the uptime command - if uptime > 60 secs then leave the loop, else sleep for 10 seconds, then execute the body of the code then exit.

in pseudocode

while (loop!=1)
{
get uptime
if uptime < 60
{
sleep 10
}
else
{
loop=1
}
do stuff
end

Extremely helpful, for a Windows desktop.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Baph

Extremely helpful, for a Windows desktop.

Well I have no idea what can cannot be done on a Windows platform - I dont code for that.

But if he can work out how to get a windows box to tell him how long its been up for, then can use that in a comparison, then what I have written WILL help - hence pseudocode and not Perl

You really should change your nick to [pedant]Baph[/pedant]

Oh wait, got to go throw some stones from my glass house

[ophic]

you can record and test the %TIME% variable for 1 minute elapsed.

The question i'd be asking is why do you want something to run 1 minute after login. If we know the nature of what you're trying to achieve, perhaps there's a more elegant way to achieve it?

Originally Posted by ophic

If we know the nature of what you're trying to achieve, perhaps there's a more elegant way to achieve it?

+1.

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Format and install Linux

Just don't ask him!

Originally Posted by RatchetJob

However as a workaround insert a line similar to this:

ping 1.1.1.1 -n 60 -w 1000 > null

This will ping a non existent address 60 times with a 1000ms timeout with the result of causing a 1 minute delay.

It will redirect the ping output to null so that the ping will not display any output on screen.

HTH

This seemed to work for me as an interim solution.

I needed this because I had the following situation:-

PC is on a WORKGROUP network, separate from the DOMAIN network. Needs to print to the DOMAIN printer, so connecting the Network Printer via IP address works, but once the PC was rebooted and you tried to access the printer, it came back with the error message Access Denied.

Even if I add the Group EVERYONE Full Control rights to the SHARED printer, it still doesn't connect.

The only way I found to be able to access the printer after the PC had rebooted was running the following unattended command:-

net use \\IP ADDRESS of Server\Printer Share Name /USER:Administrator@Domain Password /persistent:yes

So now, I have now added the ping 1000 command to the beginning of the script as supplied by RatchJob, and this delays enough time for all services to start and the command to complete successfully.