Can I mask an input text in a bat file?
Yes - I am 4 years late.
But I found a way to do this in one line without having to create an external script; by calling powershell commands from a batch file.
Thanks to TessellatingHeckler - without outputting to a text file (I set the powershell command in a variable, because it's pretty messy in one long line inside a for loop).
@echo off
set "psCommand=powershell -Command "$pword = read-host 'Enter Password' -AsSecureString ; ^
$BSTR=[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($pword); ^
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR)""
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%p in (`%psCommand%`) do set password=%%p
echo %password%
Originally I wrote it to output to a text file, then read from that text file. But the above method is better. In one extremely long, near incomprehensible line:
@echo off
powershell -Command $pword = read-host "Enter password" -AsSecureString ; $BSTR=[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($pword) ; [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR) > .tmp.txt & set /p password=<.tmp.txt & del .tmp.txt
echo %password%
I'll break this down - you can split it up over a few lines using caret ^, which is much nicer...
@echo off
powershell -Command $pword = read-host "Enter password" -AsSecureString ; ^
$BSTR=[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($pword) ; ^
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR) > .tmp.txt
set /p password=<.tmp.txt & del .tmp.txt
echo %password%
This article explains what the powershell commands are doing; essentially it gets input using Read-Host -AsSecureString - the following two lines convert that secure string back into plain text, the output (plaintext password) is then sent to a text file using >.tmp.txt. That file is then read into a variable and deleted.
Up to XP and Server 2003, you can make use of another included tool (VBScript) - the following two scripts do the job you want.
First, getpwd.cmd:
@echo off
<nul: set /p passwd=Password:
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('cscript /nologo getpwd.vbs') do set passwd=%%i
echo.
Then, getpwd.vbs:
Set oScriptPW = CreateObject("ScriptPW.Password")
strPassword = oScriptPW.GetPassword()
Wscript.StdOut.WriteLine strPassword
The getpwd.vbs simply uses the password object to input the password from the user and then print it to standard output (the next paragraph will explain why that doesn't show up in the terminal).
The getpwd.cmd command script is a bit trickier but it basically works as follows.
The effect of the "<nul: set /p passwd=Password: " command is to output the prompt with no trailing newline character - it's a sneaky way to emulate the "echo -n" command from the bash shell. It sets passwd to an empty string as an irrelevant side effect and doesn't wait for input since it's taking its input from the nul: device.
The "for /f "delims=" %%i in ('cscript /nologo getpwd.vbs') do set passwd=%%i" statement is the trickiest bit. It runs the VBScript with no Microsoft "advertising", so that the only line output is the password (from the VBscript "Wscript.StdOut.WriteLine strPassword".
Setting the delimiters to nothing is required to capture an entire input line with spaces, otherwise you just get the first word. The "for ... do set ..." bit sets passwd to be the actual password output from the VBScript.
Then we echo a blank line (to terminate the "Password: " line) and the password will be in the passwd environment variable after the code has run.
Now, as mentioned, scriptpw.dll is available only up to XP/2003. In order to rectify this, you can simply copy the scriptpw.dll file from the Windows\System32 folder of an XP/2003 system to the Winnt\System32 or Windows\System32 folder on your own system. Once the DLL has been copied, you will need to register it by running:
regsvr32 scriptpw.dll
To successfully register the DLL on Vista and later, you will need administrator privileges. I haven't examined the legality of such a move so cave lector.
If you're not overly keen on trying to track down and register older DLL files (for convenience or legal reasons), there is another way. Later versions of Windows (the ones that don't have the required DLL) should have Powershell available to you.
And, in fact, you really should consider upgrading your scripts to use it fully since it's a much more capable scripting language than cmd.exe. However, if you want to keep the bulk of your code as cmd.exe scripts (such as if you have a lot of code that you don't want to convert), you can use the same trick.
First, modify the cmd script so it calls Powershell rather than CScript:
@echo off
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('powershell -file getpwd.ps1') do set passwd=%%i
The Powershell script is equally simple:
$password = Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString
$password = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password)
$password = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($password)
echo $password
although with some marshalling to get the actual password text.
Remember that, to run local unsigned Powershell scripts on your machine, you may need to modify the execution policy from the (draconian, though very safe) default, with something like:
set-executionpolicy remotesigned
from within Powershell itself.
1.Pure batch solution that (ab)uses XCOPY command and its /P /L switches found here (some improvements on this could be found here ):
:: Hidden.cmd
::Tom Lavedas, 02/05/2013, 02/20/2013
::Carlos, 02/22/2013
::https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.msdos.batch.nt/f7mb_f99lYI
@Echo Off
:HInput
SetLocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
Set "FILE=%Temp%.\T"
Set "FILE=.\T"
Keys List >"%File%"
Set /P "=Hidden text ending with Ctrl-C?: " <Nul
Echo.
Set "HInput="
:HInput_
For /F "tokens=1* delims=?" %%A In (
'"Xcopy /P /L "%FILE%" "%FILE%" 2>Nul"'
) Do (
Set "Text=%%B"
If Defined Text (
Set "Char=!Text:~1,1!"
Set "Intro=1"
For /F delims^=^ eol^= %%Z in ("!Char!") Do Set "Intro=0"
Rem If press Intro
If 1 Equ !Intro! Goto :HInput#
Set "HInput=!HInput!!Char!"
)
)
Goto :HInput_
:HInput#
Echo(!HInput!
Goto :Eof
1.2 Another way based on replace command
@Echo Off
SetLocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion
Set /P "=Enter a Password:" < Nul
Call :PasswordInput
Echo(Your input was:!Line!
Goto :Eof
:PasswordInput
::Author: Carlos Montiers Aguilera
::Last updated: 20150401. Created: 20150401.
::Set in variable Line a input password
For /F skip^=1^ delims^=^ eol^= %%# in (
'"Echo(|Replace.exe "%~f0" . /U /W"') Do Set "CR=%%#"
For /F %%# In (
'"Prompt $H &For %%_ In (_) Do Rem"') Do Set "BS=%%#"
Set "Line="
:_PasswordInput_Kbd
Set "CHR=" & For /F skip^=1^ delims^=^ eol^= %%# in (
'Replace.exe "%~f0" . /U /W') Do Set "CHR=%%#"
If !CHR!==!CR! Echo(&Goto :Eof
If !CHR!==!BS! (If Defined Line (Set /P "=!BS! !BS!" <Nul
Set "Line=!Line:~0,-1!"
)
) Else (Set /P "=*" <Nul
If !CHR!==! (Set "Line=!Line!^!"
) Else Set "Line=!Line!!CHR!"
)
Goto :_PasswordInput_Kbd
2.Password submitter that uses a HTA pop-up . This is a hybrit .bat/jscript/mshta file and should be saved as a .bat:
<!-- :
:: PasswordSubmitter.bat
@echo off
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%p in ('mshta.exe "%~f0"') do (
set "pass=%%p"
)
echo your password is %pass%
exit /b
-->
<html>
<head><title>Password submitter</title></head>
<body>
<script language='javascript' >
window.resizeTo(300,150);
function entperPressed(e){
if (e.keyCode == 13) {
pipePass();
}
}
function pipePass() {
var pass=document.getElementById('pass').value;
var fso= new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject').GetStandardStream(1);
close(fso.Write(pass));
}
</script>
<input type='password' name='pass' size='15' onkeypress="return entperPressed(event)" ></input>
<hr>
<button onclick='pipePass()'>Submit</button>
</body>
</html>
3.A self-compiled .net hybrid .Again should be saved as .bat .In difference with other solutions it will create/compile a small .exe file that will be called (if you wish you can delete it). Also requires installed .net framework but that's rather not a problem:
@if (@X)==(@Y) @end /* JScript comment
@echo off
setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%v in ('dir /b /s /a:-d /o:-n "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\*jsc.exe"') do (
set "jsc=%%v"
)
if not exist "%~n0.exe" (
"%jsc%" /nologo /out:"%~n0.exe" "%~dpsfnx0"
)
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %%p in ('"%~n0.exe"') do (
set "pass=%%p"
)
echo your password is !pass!
endlocal & exit /b %errorlevel%
*/
import System;
var pwd = "";
var key;
Console.Error.Write("Enter password: ");
do {
key = Console.ReadKey(true);
if ( (key.KeyChar.ToString().charCodeAt(0)) >= 20 && (key.KeyChar.ToString().charCodeAt(0) <= 126) ) {
pwd=pwd+(key.KeyChar.ToString());
Console.Error.Write("*");
}
if ( key.Key == ConsoleKey.Backspace && pwd.Length > 0 ) {
pwd=pwd.Remove(pwd.Length-1);
Console.Error.Write("\b \b");
}
} while (key.Key != ConsoleKey.Enter);
Console.Error.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine(pwd);