5 replies to this topic

[Donald Bristol]

Hi:

Can someone tell me how the silent install work on Window Installer? I know
the msiexec.exe can run in a silent mode by using the "/qn" option flag but
it do not have "/r" option like IS6 to create the respond file. Does this
mean, it do not read any respond file at all. How can one
control the installation in the silent mode when user input is requied, for example a valid product key.

[Ian Blake]

You can enter them on the command line
eg.  
msiexec /i prod.msi PRODKEY="12345-555"

If you want a nice way for your users to generate a silent installation "response file" expand the Admin sequence to gather the information and preset the properties.

[Donald Bristol]

Ian,
Can you explain what you mean by If you want a nice way for your users to generate a silent installation "response file" expand the Admin sequence to gather the information and preset the properties

[Ian Blake]

A system administrator creates an adminstrative installation by the command
msiexec /a "TheProduct.msi"
or with the installshield setup
setup /v /a

By default this just unpacks the cabs and makes a copy of the installation on a network server.  The sys admin then installs from this copy.

Now there is little known property "AdminProperties" that is a list of properties that can be set during the admin install to overide those in the property table during user installation.   So by adding dialogs to the admin sequence you are able to define properties that will control the user installation.

Hope this helps.

[Donald Bristol]

Ian,
Thanks for your reply, but I found a work-around to my problem.