Msg.exe is missing in Windows 10/11?

Msg.exe is a built-in console tool that can send a message to a user on the same network.

On Windows Home editions, you’ll see the following error when trying to run msg.exe:

'msg.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

That’s because the tool is available only in Windows 10/11 Pro and higher editions. This article explains how to get a copy of msg.exe for Home Edition users.

Get Msg.exe in Windows 10/11 Home Edition

Msg.exe doesn’t need any third-party DLLs to work. You can source Msg.exe using different ways. Pick one of the methods below:

Option 1: Download Msg.exe from Microsoft

You can download Msg.exe from the following links:

x64 10.0.22621.1
https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols/msg.exe/BC9D4830c000/msg.exe

x64 10.0.19041.1
https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols/msg.exe/84EB6AACc000/msg.exe

Note: Downloading msg.exe from the above link(s) will save the file with a random name and a .blob extension. After downloading the file, rename it to Msg.exe.

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Option 2: Copy Msg.exe from a Windows 10/11 Pro computer.

Source the file from another computer (of the same bitness — x86 vs. x64) and copy it to the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

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Option 3: Get Msg.exe from the Windows 10 or 11 ISO

Download the Windows 10 or 11 ISO using the Media Creation Tool. ISOs supplied by Microsoft are multi-edition ISOs.

Mount the ISO and open the “Sources\Install.wim” or “Sources\Install.esd” using 7-Zip.

Check index #6, which is usually the “Professional Edition”, assuming you have the official Windows 10/11 (22H2) ISO. The following location contains msg.exe.

\sources\install.esd\6\Windows\System32\msg.exe

Copy it to a folder and then move the file to C:\Windows\System32.

For more information, see the article How to Extract Specific Files from Windows 10/11 ISO (Install.wim)

Hope that info helps.