Can I mask an input text in a bat file

Question

I am writing a batch file for execute some other programs. In this case I need to prompt for a password. Do I have any way to mask the input text. I don't need to print ******* characters instead of input characters. Linux's Password prompt behaviour (Print nothing while typing) is enough.

@echo off
SET /P variable=Password : 
echo %variable%
Pause

This will read the input but I cant mask the text using this approach.

Answer 1

I would probably just do:

..
echo Before you enter your password, make sure no-one is looking!
set /P password=Password:  
cls
echo Thanks, got that.
.. 

So you get a prompt, then the screen clears after it's entered.

Note that the entered password will be stored in the CMD history if the batch file is executed from a command prompt (Thanks @Mark K Cowan).

If that wasn't good enough, I would either switch to python, or write an executable instead of a script.

I know none of these are perfect soutions, but maybe one is good enough for you :)

Answer 2

I used Blorgbeard's above solution which is actually great in my opinion. Then I enhanced it as follows:

1. Google for ansicon
2. Download zip file and sample text file.
3. Install (that means copy 2 files into system32)

Use it like this:

@echo off
ansicon -p
set /p pwd=Password:ESC[0;37;47m
echo ESC[0m

This switches the console to gray on gray for your password entry and switches back when you are done. The ESC should actually be an unprintable character, which you can copy over from the downloaded sample text file (appears like a left-arrow in Notepad) into your batch file. You can use the sample text file to find the codes for all color combinations.

If you are not admin of the machine, you will probably be able to install the files in a non-system directory, then you have to append the directory to the PATH in your script before calling the program and using the escape sequences. This could even be the current directory probably, if you need a non-admin distributable package of just a few files.

Answer 3

@echo off
color 0f
MODE CON COLS=132 LINES=50
:start
cls
choice /C ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!?.# /N /CS /M Please enter your password to continue. (Valid characters include all letters, numbers, and ! ? .) Press # to submit: 
SET ecode=%ERRORLEVEL%
IF %ecode% EQU 66 goto submit
IF %ecode% EQU 1 SET out=A
IF %ecode% EQU 2 SET out=B
IF %ecode% EQU 3 SET out=C
IF %ecode% EQU 4 SET out=D
IF %ecode% EQU 5 SET out=E
IF %ecode% EQU 6 SET out=F
IF %ecode% EQU 7 SET out=G
IF %ecode% EQU 8 SET out=H
IF %ecode% EQU 9 SET out=I
IF %ecode% EQU 10 SET out=J
IF %ecode% EQU 11 SET out=K
IF %ecode% EQU 12 SET out=L
IF %ecode% EQU 13 SET out=M
IF %ecode% EQU 14 SET out=N
IF %ecode% EQU 15 SET out=O
IF %ecode% EQU 16 SET out=P
IF %ecode% EQU 17 SET out=Q
IF %ecode% EQU 18 SET out=R
IF %ecode% EQU 19 SET out=S
IF %ecode% EQU 20 SET out=T
IF %ecode% EQU 21 SET out=U
IF %ecode% EQU 22 SET out=V
IF %ecode% EQU 23 SET out=W
IF %ecode% EQU 24 SET out=X
IF %ecode% EQU 25 SET out=Y
IF %ecode% EQU 26 SET out=Z
IF %ecode% EQU 27 SET out=a
IF %ecode% EQU 28 SET out=b
IF %ecode% EQU 29 SET out=c
IF %ecode% EQU 30 SET out=d
IF %ecode% EQU 31 SET out=e
IF %ecode% EQU 32 SET out=f
IF %ecode% EQU 33 SET out=g
IF %ecode% EQU 34 SET out=h
IF %ecode% EQU 35 SET out=i
IF %ecode% EQU 36 SET out=j
IF %ecode% EQU 37 SET out=k
IF %ecode% EQU 38 SET out=l
IF %ecode% EQU 39 SET out=m
IF %ecode% EQU 40 SET out=n
IF %ecode% EQU 41 SET out=o
IF %ecode% EQU 42 SET out=p
IF %ecode% EQU 43 SET out=q
IF %ecode% EQU 44 SET out=r
IF %ecode% EQU 45 SET out=s
IF %ecode% EQU 46 SET out=t
IF %ecode% EQU 47 SET out=u
IF %ecode% EQU 48 SET out=v
IF %ecode% EQU 49 SET out=w
IF %ecode% EQU 50 SET out=x
IF %ecode% EQU 51 SET out=y
IF %ecode% EQU 52 SET out=z
IF %ecode% EQU 53 SET out=0
IF %ecode% EQU 54 SET out=1
IF %ecode% EQU 55 SET out=2
IF %ecode% EQU 56 SET out=3
IF %ecode% EQU 57 SET out=4
IF %ecode% EQU 58 SET out=5
IF %ecode% EQU 59 SET out=6
IF %ecode% EQU 60 SET out=7
IF %ecode% EQU 61 SET out=8
IF %ecode% EQU 62 SET out=9
IF %ecode% EQU 63 SET out=!
IF %ecode% EQU 64 SET out=?
IF %ecode% EQU 65 SET out=.
SET code=%out%
SET show=*
:loop
cls
choice /C ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!?.# /N /CS /M Please enter your password to continue. (Valid characters include all letters, numbers, and ! ? .) Press # to submit: %code%
SET ecode=%ERRORLEVEL%
IF %ecode% EQU 66 goto submit
IF %ecode% EQU 1 SET out=A
IF %ecode% EQU 2 SET out=B
IF %ecode% EQU 3 SET out=C
IF %ecode% EQU 4 SET out=D
IF %ecode% EQU 5 SET out=E
IF %ecode% EQU 6 SET out=F
IF %ecode% EQU 7 SET out=G
IF %ecode% EQU 8 SET out=H
IF %ecode% EQU 9 SET out=I
IF %ecode% EQU 10 SET out=J
IF %ecode% EQU 11 SET out=K
IF %ecode% EQU 12 SET out=L
IF %ecode% EQU 13 SET out=M
IF %ecode% EQU 14 SET out=N
IF %ecode% EQU 15 SET out=O
IF %ecode% EQU 16 SET out=P
IF %ecode% EQU 17 SET out=Q
IF %ecode% EQU 18 SET out=R
IF %ecode% EQU 19 SET out=S
IF %ecode% EQU 20 SET out=T
IF %ecode% EQU 21 SET out=U
IF %ecode% EQU 22 SET out=V
IF %ecode% EQU 23 SET out=W
IF %ecode% EQU 24 SET out=X
IF %ecode% EQU 25 SET out=Y
IF %ecode% EQU 26 SET out=Z
IF %ecode% EQU 27 SET out=a
IF %ecode% EQU 28 SET out=b
IF %ecode% EQU 29 SET out=c
IF %ecode% EQU 30 SET out=d
IF %ecode% EQU 31 SET out=e
IF %ecode% EQU 32 SET out=f
IF %ecode% EQU 33 SET out=g
IF %ecode% EQU 34 SET out=h
IF %ecode% EQU 35 SET out=i
IF %ecode% EQU 36 SET out=j
IF %ecode% EQU 37 SET out=k
IF %ecode% EQU 38 SET out=l
IF %ecode% EQU 39 SET out=m
IF %ecode% EQU 40 SET out=n
IF %ecode% EQU 41 SET out=o
IF %ecode% EQU 42 SET out=p
IF %ecode% EQU 43 SET out=q
IF %ecode% EQU 44 SET out=r
IF %ecode% EQU 45 SET out=s
IF %ecode% EQU 46 SET out=t
IF %ecode% EQU 47 SET out=u
IF %ecode% EQU 48 SET out=v
IF %ecode% EQU 49 SET out=w
IF %ecode% EQU 50 SET out=x
IF %ecode% EQU 51 SET out=y
IF %ecode% EQU 52 SET out=z
IF %ecode% EQU 53 SET out=0
IF %ecode% EQU 54 SET out=1
IF %ecode% EQU 55 SET out=2
IF %ecode% EQU 56 SET out=3
IF %ecode% EQU 57 SET out=4
IF %ecode% EQU 58 SET out=5
IF %ecode% EQU 59 SET out=6
IF %ecode% EQU 60 SET out=7
IF %ecode% EQU 61 SET out=8
IF %ecode% EQU 62 SET out=9
IF %ecode% EQU 63 SET out=!
IF %ecode% EQU 64 SET out=?
IF %ecode% EQU 65 SET out=.
SET code=%code%%out%
SET show=%show%*
goto loop
:submit
cls
SET password=%code%
IF %password% EQU 0cZrocks! SET result=1
IF ELSE SET result=2
IF %result% EQU 1 echo password correct
IF %result% EQU 2 echo password incorrect
timeout /T 2 /NOBREAK >nul
cls
IF %result% EQU 1 goto end
IF ELSE goto start
:end

Answer 4

another alternative is my EditV32 (x86) or EditV64 (x64) command-line tools. For example:

editv32 -m -p "Password: " PWD

-m means "masked input" and -p is the prompt. The user's input is stored in the PWD environment variable. You can get it here:

www.westmesatech.com/editv.html

Answer 5

UPDATE:
I added two new methods that instead of utilizing cls to hide the input they create a new pop-up with one line only.

The drawbacks are that one method (method 2) leaves junk in the registry - "If run without proper rights", and the other one (method three) appends some junk to the script. Needless to say that it can easily be written to any tmp file and deleted I just tried to come up with an alternative.

Limitation: The password can only be alphanumeric - no other characters!

@echo off
if "%1"=="method%choice%" goto :method%choice%
::::::::::::::::::
::Your code here::
::::::::::::::::::
cls
echo :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
echo ::::                   Batch script to prompt for password!                 :::
echo :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:choice
echo.
echo 1. First method
echo.
echo 2. Second method
echo.
echo 3. Third method
echo.
set/p choice=Choose a method: 
if "%choice%" gtr "3" echo. & echo invalid option & echo. & pause & goto choice

call :vars
    set options= %num%%smAlph%%cpAlph%
    set pwdLen=6

if "%choice%" == "1" (
    set /p=Password: <nul 
    for /l %%i in (1,1,%pwdLen%) do call :password
) else (
    start /wait cmd /c call "%~f0" method%choice%
    )

call :result%choice%


::just to see if it worked!
echo.
echo The Password you entered is: "%pwd%"&pause>nul

::::::::::::::::::
::More code here::
::::::::::::::::::
exit /b





:vars
set num=1234567890
set smAlph=abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
set cpAlph=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
    set pwd=
goto :EOF


:method2
call :popUp
setx result %pwd% >nul
goto :EOF

:method3
call :popUp
    >> "%~f0" echo.
    >> "%~f0" echo :result%choice%
    >> "%~f0" echo set pwd=%pwd%
goto :EOF

:popUp
title Password
mode con lines=1 cols=30
color 5a
set /p=Password: <nul
for /l %%i in (1,1,%pwdLen%) do call :password
goto :EOF

:password
:: If you don't want case sensative remove "/cs" but remember to remove %cpAlph% from the %options%
choice /c %options% /n /cs >nul
    call SET pwd=%pwd%%%options:~%errorlevel%,1%%
    set /p =*<nul
GOTO :EOF


:result2
for /f "tokens=3" %%a in ('reg query hkcu\environment /v result') do set pwd=%%a
    setx result "" >nul
    reg delete hkcu\environment /v result /f >nul 2>&1
:result1
goto :EOF   
::You can delete from here whenever you want.

Update: I found sachadee's post to be perfect and I just added my "pop-up" quirk to it.

@Echo Off  
  SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
  if "%1"==":HInput" goto :HInput
  set r=r%random%
  start /wait cmd /c call "%~f0" :HInput

For /f "tokens=2,13 delims=, " %%a in (
    'tasklist /v /fo csv /fi "imagename eq cmd.exe"
    ^|findstr /v "Windows\\system32\\cmd.exe"
    ^|findstr "set /p=%r%"'
     ) do (
        set pid=%%a
        set Line=%%b
        set Line=!Line:%r%=!
        set Line=!Line:~,-2!
        )       
taskkill /pid %pid:"=%>nul
  goto :HIEnd


  :HInput
  SetLocal DisableDelayedExpansion
  title Password
  mode con lines=2 cols=30

Echo Enter your Code :
   Set "Line="
   For /F %%# In (
   '"Prompt;$H&For %%# in (1) Do Rem"'
   ) Do Set "BS=%%#"

  :HILoop
   Set "Key="
   For /F "delims=" %%# In (
   'Xcopy /W "%~f0" "%~f0" 2^>Nul'
   ) Do If Not Defined Key Set "Key=%%#"
   Set "Key=%Key:~-1%"
   SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
   If Not Defined Key start /min cmd /k mode con lines=1 cols=14 ^&set/p %r%!Line!=&exit
  If %BS%==^%Key% (Set /P "=%BS% %BS%" <Nul
   Set "Key="
   If Defined Line Set "Line=!Line:~0,-1!"
   ) Else Set /P "=*" <Nul
   If Not Defined Line (EndLocal &Set "Line=%Key%"
   ) Else For /F delims^=^ eol^= %%# In (
   "!Line!") Do EndLocal &Set "Line=%%#%Key%"
  Goto :HILoop

  :HIEnd
   Echo(
Echo Your code is :  "!Line!"
   Pause
   Goto :Eof

Answer 6

This may be an older topic, but if you are using Windows Vista or 7, I have a solution that will work very well. I made a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8uAa6PIFM

Pastebin for the batch file is here