Error Lookup Tool Friendly Output

Error-Lookup-Tool-Friendly.bat

@echo off
:: Note: Lines beginning with "REM" or :: are comments
:: Script by: https://github.com/thiojoe
:: Purpose: Creates a much more user friendly output for the Microsoft Error Lookup Tool (err.exe). It parses the original output and modifies the text.
:: Usage: Just call the batch file with command prompt along with the error code the same as you would with err.exe
:: Example:  error.bat 50
:: Recommended to rename this script to something shorter like 'error.bat'. Must be next to the lookup tool exe file.



:: ---------------------------------------------------
:: Begin local environment to prevent variable leakage
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:: SET THE NAME OF YOUR ERROR LOOKUP TOOL EXE HERE. Don't remove the quotes.
set "ERROR_TOOL=err.exe"
:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


:: Set the current working directory to that of the batch file so script can be called from anywhere and it will still see the err.exe file
cd /d %~dp0

:: Check if error tool is found or not.
if not exist "%ERROR_TOOL%" (
	echo.
    echo   ### Error ### : %ERROR_TOOL% not found. Either rename the .exe file or to match, or change the name in this script file.
	echo.
	echo     ^> You can acquire the Error Lookup Tool here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=100432
    exit /b
)


:: Call err.exe with the provided error code and redirect its output to a temporary file
%ERROR_TOOL% %1 > temp.txt

:: Display a top border
echo.

:: Initialize a flag to help skip unwanted lines
set "skipNext=0"

:: Set previousLine variable
set "previousLine=--start--"

:: Iterate over each line of the temp file
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%a in (temp.txt) do (
	REM |  Store the current line in the variable 'line'
    set "line=%%a"
	rem echo         line: !line!
    
	REM |  If the current line indicates no results found
    if "!line:~0,22!"=="# No results found for" (
        echo.
		REM |  Display the message in a user-friendly manner
        echo * !line:~2! ^(as base error lookup^)
		
    ) else if "!skipNext!"=="1" (
	REM |  Check if the current line should be skipped based on the previous condition
        set "skipNext=0"
		
    ) else if "!line:~0,6!"=="# for " (
	REM |  If the line starts with '# for' it indicates a new error category
		if not "!previousLine:~0,12!"=="# as an HRES" (
			echo.
			echo.
		)
        echo ======================================= !line:~2! =======================================
		
    ) else if "!line:~0,12!"=="# as an HRES" (
	REM |  If the line starts with '# as an HRES', it indicates an HRESULT error description
		echo.
		echo.	
        echo ================== !line:~2! ===================
		REM |  Mark the next line to be skipped since we're reading a new category of errors
		rem set "skipNext=1"

    ) else if "!line:~0,1!"=="#" (
	REM |  If the line starts with '#', it's a comment or description for the error
        REM |  Display the comment lines with the prefix and indentation
        echo       --^>  !line:~2!
		
    ) else if "!line!" NEQ "" (
	REM |  If it's none of the above, it's likely the name of the error itself
        REM |  Display the remaining lines
        echo !line!
    )
	set "previousLine=!line!"
) 3< temp.txt

echo.
echo -------------------------------------------------------------------------

:: Clean up the temporary file
del temp.txt

endlocal

good stuff, very useful

Thanks ThioJoe, always making I.T life easier.
Just a small script improvement, change lines 35, 36, 96 to following:

set /P CODE="Enter error code: "
%ERROR_TOOL% %CODE% > temp.txt
pause

This is useful because you don't have to open a CMD instance and then call the bat file, just double click to open and it prompts for your input.

This does remove the aforementioned method but you could have both.

(edited, as I agree with Cdztw; missing chr(34) & typo)

due to the use of enabledelayedexpansion use ! instead of %
(I also moved the temp.txt in case of write protection) If/else could have been used but personal preference

starting line 35:
if not %1@==@ %ERROR_TOOL% %1 > "%temp%\temp.txt"

if %1@==@ (
set /P CODE="Enter error code: "
%ERROR_TOOL% !CODE! > "%temp%\temp.txt"
)

last lines:
if %1@==@ pause
:: Clean up the temporary file
del "%temp%\temp.txt"

due to the use of enabledelayedexpansion use ! instead of % (I also moved the temp.txt in case of write protection) If/else could have been used but personal preference

starting line 35: if not %1@==@ %ERROR_TOOL% %1 > %temp%\temp.text

if %1@==@ ( set /P CODE="Enter error code: " %ERROR_TOOL% !CODE! > %temp%\temp.text )

last lines: if %1@==@ pause :: Clean up the temporary file del %temp%\temp.text

The file extension is wrong in the replacement codes: ".txt", not ".text".
And need to change the file directory in line 52 and line 94, from "temp.txt" to "%temp%\temp.txt", after that it should works perfectly.

Sorry for my bad English I'm still learning it...

Great tool! Thanks.

Hello, Greetings. i am not expert with script; your guidance will be appreciated
I cannot make it work. i tried all ways by editing but no luck i get this below error message

Error ### : err.exe not found. Either rename the .exe file or to match, or change the name in this script file.

> You can acquire the Error Lookup Tool here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=100432

I cannot make it work. i tried all ways by editing but no luck i get this below error message

@digudc Might seem too obvious but have you actually downloaded the err.exe file from the link in the message?

@ThioJoe , I haven't yet. but I have found more details about it on your YouTube channel. So I am learning from there. Thanks a lot ..

@ThioJoe , I haven't yet. but I have found more details about it on your YouTube channel. So I am learning from there. Thanks a lot ..

Yea the batch file is just displays the info from err.exe in a nicer way, so you have to actually have err.exe in the same folder for it to work.