Appendix B. InstallShield Command-Line Parameters

InstallShield uses setup.exe as the bootstrap loader to call the Microsoft® Windows Installer service. Setup.exe can accept command-line parameters that allow you to perform administrative installations, run silent installations, and complete other administrative tasks. Using the /v parameter, other parameters can also be passed through setup.exe to the Windows Installer database (MSI package). For information on using the /v parameter to perform initialization file processing, see Installing Personal Communications Using an Initialization (response) File.

By default, setup.exe creates a verbose installation log with the file name pcsinst.log, and places it in the folder named by the environment variable %temp%. This behavior is overridden when command-line arguments are passed to the Windows® Installer using the /v parameter, as described in Parameter Descriptions.

Note:
If %temp% points to a nonexistent folder and the /v flag is not used to override the default parameters passed to the Windows Installer, then setup.exe will fail.

Setup.exe accepts the command-line parameters listed in Table 5. Descriptions of each parameter are listed in Parameter Descriptions.

Table 5. InstallShield Command-Line Parameters
Parameter Description
/v Passes parameters to MSI package.
/s Causes setup.exe to be silent.
/l Specifies the setup language.
/a Performs administrative installation.
/j Installs in advertise mode.
/x Performs setup uninstall.
/f Launches setup in repair mode.
/w Setup.exe waits for the installation to finish before exiting.
/qn A Windows Installer MSI parameter that causes everything but setup.exe to be silent. This sets the user interface level to zero.

Parameter Descriptions

Passing parameters to the MSI package
/v

The /v command-line parameter enables you to pass parameters supported by Windows Installer through setup.exe to the MSI package. For example, you can create and save a verbose log file to a location of your choice by passing the /L parameter through setup.exe to the MSI package. To create the log file, type:

E:\pcomm_pkgs\xxx\setup.exe /v"/L*v\"%temp%\pcsinst.log\"

where:

For more information on supported command-line parameters and specific usage examples, refer to the Web site http://www.msdn.microsoft.com.

Note:
The /v argument must be the last InstallShield parameter on the command line. Though supported Windows Installer parameters may be passed through to the MSI package, no InstallShield command-line parameters can follow the /v argument.
Running setup.exe silently
/s

To prevent setup.exe from displaying a progress bar, use the /s command-line parameter. To have setup run silently with no dialogs, pass the Windows Installer /qn command-line parameter through setup.exe using the /v parameter. Refer to Microsoft's documentation of command-line parameters for other /q user interface options. To run a silent installation, type:

E:\install\pcomm_pkgs\xxx\install\pcomm\setup.exe /s /v"/L*v 
	\"%temp%\pcsinst.log\" /qn"

where:

This example performs a typical installation of Personal Communications to your local hard drive without showing a progress bar or input dialogs. For information on property values and features included in a typical installation, see Typical Installation and Feature Selection.

Note:
You can pass an initialization file to the MSI package and run the installation silently using the /s /v /qn parameters in the following command:
E:\install\pcomm_pkgs\xxx\install\pcomm\setup.exe /s /v" /L*v 
	\"%temp%\pcsinst.log\"
USEINI=\"C:\Personal Communications\pcomm.ini\" /qn"

where xxx can be mls, chs, cht or kor, depending on the installed PCOMM language.

For more information on initialization file processing see Installing Personal Communications Using an Initialization (response) File.

To install silently from source, where source medium is a network server, use the /s /v /qn parameters after pointing to the installation point in the command line. See Administrative Installation for more information on performing administrative installations and installing from a network server.

To uninstall Personal Communications silently, use the /s parameter in conjunction with the /x parameter as shown in the following example:

X:\install\pcomm\setup.exe /s /x

where X: is the location of the Personal Communications installation directory.

Specifying the setup language
/l

The /l command-line parameter enables you to specify what language to use during setup by using the appropriate decimal language identifier. For a list of language identifiers, see Appendix C. National Language Support (NLS) Abbreviations and Language Codes. For example, to change the setup language to Czech, type:

E:\installpcomm_pkgs\xxx\install\pcomm\setup.exe /l"1029"
Administrative installation
/a

Administrative installation installs a source image to the network server. This enables users with access to the network to install Personal Communications directly from the network server.

Advertise mode
/j

Advertisement enables users to install features of Personal Communications when they need them rather than during setup. Features that are available for installation are advertised with shortcuts on the user's system for later installation.

Uninstall mode
/x

Uninstall mode removes Personal Communications from your system.

Repair mode
/f

Launching setup.exe in the repair mode checks the key file of every installed feature and reinstalls any feature that is determined to be missing, corrupt, or an older version.