Turn monitors on and off

[[global:former-user]]

I get an error when running the monitor off command:

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::SendMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,2)
Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Unexpected character '\'
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Newline in constant
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Invalid expression term ''
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : ) expected
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : Invalid token '"user32.dll")]^public stati...' in
class, struct, or interface member declaration
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(7) :     {
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(8) : >>>     [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static extern int
SendMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);
c:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\xzybaz5r.0.cs(9) :
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Power...peCompilerError:AddTypeCompilerError) [Add-Type], Except
   ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SOURCE_CODE_ERROR,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

Add-Type : Cannot add type. Compilation errors occurred.
At line:1 char:13
+ powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport(\"user32.dll\")]^public static exter ...
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Add-Type], InvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : COMPILER_ERRORS,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddTypeCommand

(Just a note: I've been using Nircmd to do this, it does the same)

Trenton Lawson

@Russ Is it possible one of my apps could be preventing it? Such as Wallpaper Engine which creates live wallpapers.

Russ

@Trenton-Lawson, it's possible because I don't know specifically why it's doing that, but I doubt that's it. It seems more like a hardware problem.

Trenton Lawson

@Russ Any idea on what piece of hardware might be causing the issue? If not no worries

Russ

@Trenton-Lawson, maybe the video card or monitor, but it might even be the motherboard because of what you told me about the keyboard and mouse flashing.

Xander

NirCMD (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html) can do this with a single command: nircmd.exe monitor off

raeyatd

someone help me!!! when I use the command 'wscript d: \ scripts \ key.vbs PRTSC' it says that the script file 'd: \ scripts \ key.vbs' could not be found.

raeyatd

@raeyatd said in Turn monitors on and off:

someone help me!!! when I use the command 'wscript d: \ scripts \ key.vbs PRTSC' it says that the script file 'd: \ scripts \ key.vbs' could not be found.

@Russ please

Russ

@raeyatd, for that to work, you'd need to have a drive with a scripts folder in the root of it, and you'd need to create the key.vbs file. If you don't have a drive, you could use your drive.

These are the contents of that key.vbs for quick reference:

Dim Wsh
Set Wsh = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Wsh.SendKeys "{" + WScript.Arguments.Item(0) +"}"

Rhadson Matias

@Russ

I have more than one monitor, can you choose which one to turn off?

Russ

@Rhadson-Matias, I don't know of any tools that can turn specific monitors off. I'll have to do some research.

At first I thought you were asking if you can shutdown a second computer. For that you could say something like this:

Alexa, turn off power on laptop.

Power is the voice word for the command on the computer with laptop as its voice word.

SniperVB

@Russ Hii, did you find a way to turn a specific monitor off? Or at least just a second screen?

Xander

"Enable/disable/configure multiple monitors on Windows"
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multi_monitor_tool.html

MultiMonitorTool.exe /disable \.\DISPLAY3

And, for single monitors, my comment from a year ago still works.

Fernando Montes Vázquez

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