Windows MessageBox Utility

A lightweight command-line tool for displaying Windows message boxes with customizable icons, buttons, and timeout options. Perfect for batch scripts, automation, and system administration tasks.

Features

• 🖼️ Multiple icon styles (Error, Warning, Information, Question)
• 🔘 Various button combinations (OK, OK/Cancel, Yes/No, etc.)
• ⏱️ Configurable timeout
• 🎨 Colored console output
• 💻 Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 compatible
• 📦 Single executable, no dependencies

Installation

Option 1: Download Pre-built Binary

A precompiled binary (messagebox.exe) is available in the sources page. Simply download and use it!

Option 2: Build from Source

Prerequisites

• GCC compiler (MinGW or similar)
• Windows SDK

Build Steps

gcc -s -Os -o messagebox.exe messagebox.c -luser32 -lkernel32

Usage

messagebox.exe "message" "title" ICON_TYPE BUTTON_TYPE [timeout]

Parameters

• message: Text to display in the message box
• title: Window title
• ICON_TYPE: One of ERROR, WARNING, INFORMATION, QUESTION
• BUTTON_TYPE: One of OK, OKCANCEL, RETRYCANCEL, YESNO, YESNOCANCEL
• timeout: (Optional) Timeout in seconds (default: 15)

Examples

# Simple information message
messagebox.exe "Hello World!" "Greetings" INFORMATION OK

# Confirmation dialog with 10-second timeout
messagebox.exe "Delete this file?" "Confirm" QUESTION YESNOCANCEL 10

# Error message
messagebox.exe "Failed to save file!" "Error" ERROR OK

# Warning with retry option
messagebox.exe "Connection lost. Retry?" "Warning" WARNING RETRYCANCEL

Return Values

The program outputs one of the following:

• OK
• Cancel
• Yes
• No
• Retry
• Timeout

Use Cases

• Batch script user interactions
• System administration tasks
• Automated testing
• User notifications
• Confirmation dialogs

License

The project is licensed under the terms of the MIT License.

Author

Zig Zag

Acknowledgments

• Windows API documentation
• Open source community