Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@ThioJoe
Last active November 5, 2024 17:38
Show Gist options
  • Save ThioJoe/7ceac4e56bfa1ea9807150ac07a998e0 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save ThioJoe/7ceac4e56bfa1ea9807150ac07a998e0 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Error Lookup Tool Friendly Output
@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
@PixelHermit
Copy link

Great tool! Thanks.

@digudc
Copy link

digudc commented Nov 5, 2024

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

image

@ThioJoe
Copy link
Author

ThioJoe commented Nov 5, 2024

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?

@digudc
Copy link

digudc commented Nov 5, 2024

@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
Copy link
Author

ThioJoe commented Nov 5, 2024

@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.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment