This article provides information on the command-line parameters that can be passed to a Setup.exe, an installation package authored with the InstallShield product.
Like the compiled .msi file, Setup.exe can accept a number of command-line parameters. Using these parameters, data, such as the language in which the setup should run and whether to launch Setup.exe silently, can be included on the command-line. Parameters can also be passed through the Setup.exe directly to the .msi file.
Note: Command-line options that require a parameter must be specified with no space between the option and its parameter. For example, Setup.exe /v'ALLUSERS=2' is valid, while Setup.exe /v 'ALLUSERS=2' is not. Quotation marks around an option's parameter are required only if the parameter contains spaces.
Several of the command-line arguments apply only to specific project types or InstallShield product versions. For the most complete information, please refer to the InstallShield Help Library for article for your version of InstallShield. These artcles are referenced in the Additional Information section below.
Setup.exe accepts the following command-line parameters:
Special Installation Modes
- /a : Administrative installation (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /i : Advertise mode (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /x : Uninstall mode (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /uninst : Uninstall product (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /removeonly : Uninstall product (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /instance=<InstanceId> : Specific instance (Basic MSI projects only)
Silent Installations
- /p : Specify password (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /r : Record mode (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /s : Silent mode
- /f1 : Specify alternative response file name (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /f2 : Specify alternative log file name (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
SMS Data
- /m : Generate MIF file (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /m1 : Specify serial number in MIF file (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /m2 : Specify locale string in MIF file (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
Download and Cache Locations (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /ua : Specify URL for InstMsiA.exe
- /uw : Specify URL for InstMsiW.exe
- /um : Specify URL to .msi package
- /b : Cache installation locally
Passing Data to the Installation
- /v : Pass arguments to Msiexec (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /z : Pass arguments to CMDLINE variable (InstallScript MSI projects only)
Debugging
- /d : Debug InstallScript
- /debuglog : Generate a log file for debugging (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
Miscellaneous
- /f : Specify alternative compiled script (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only, InstallShield version 12 and earlier)
- /L : Setup Language ID
- /w : Wait (Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /SMS : Wait (InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /delayedstart : Delay initialization of the setup (InstallScript projects only)
- /deleter : Do not clone Setup.exe process when debugging (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only, InstallShield version 11.5 or earlier)
- /extract all : Package's files should not be run but simply extracted (InstallScript projects only)
- /h : Clone release to a temporary location and run from that location (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /runfromtemp : Always clone and and run from the temporary location
- /clone_wait : Wait for the cloned setup process to complete before exiting (InstallScript projects only)
- /hide_progress : Suppress all progress dialogs
- /hide_splash : Suppress splash screen (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
- /hide_usd : Suppress update dialog box for multiple installations (InstallScript projects only)
- /ig : Specify the value of the system variable INSTANCE_GUID (InstallScript projects only)
- /installfromweb : Specify the full path (or URL) to the installation media files (Disk1) (InstallScript projects only)
- /media_path : Specify the full path (or URL) to the installation media files (Disk1) (InstallScript projects only)
Special Installation Modes
/a : Administrative installation (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /a switch causes Setup.exe to perform an administrative installation. An administrative installation copies (and uncompresses) your data files to a directory specified by the user, but does not install shortcuts, register COM servers, or generate an uninstallation log.
/j : Advertise mode (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /j switch causes Setup.exe to perform an advertised installation. An advertised installation installs shortcuts, registers COM servers, and registers file types, but does not install your product's files until the user invokes one of these "entry points."
/x : Uninstall mode (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /x switch causes Setup.exe to uninstall a previously installed product.
/uninst : Uninstall product (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /uninst option causes Setup.exe to execute only the event handler function OnUninstall, whose default code uninstalls the previously installed product.
/removeonly : Uninstall product (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /removeonly option sets the REMOVEONLY system variable equal to a non-zero value. The default code for the OnMaintUIBefore event handler function conditionally displays the SdWelcomeMaint dialog box, depending on the value of REMOVEONLY.
/instance=<InstanceId> : specify which instance should be installed or uninstalled (Basic MSI project only)
The /instance=<InstanceId> option lets you specify which instance you want to install, update, or uninstall.<InstanceId> represents the value of the InstanceId property that identifies the instance. Whenever you use this option and include a valid InstanceId value, the installation suppresses the instance selection dialog.
Silent Installations
/p : Specify password (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
If you selected the Password Protect Setup.exe option in the Release wizard for your release, the user must specify the password with the /p argument at run time. A typical command is Setup.exe /s /p"password".
/r : Record mode (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
In order to run a Standard-project installation program in silent mode, one must first run Setup.exe with the /r switch to generate a response file, which stores information about the data entered and options selected by the user at run time.
Running a Standard installation program with the command Setup.exe /r displays all the run-time dialog boxes, and stores the data in a file called Setup.iss, generated inside the system's Windows folder. To specify an alternative response file name and location, use the /f1 argument, described below.
/s : Silent mode
For an InstallScript MSI or InstallScript project, the command Setup.exe /s runs the installation in silent mode, by default based on the responses contained in a response file called Setup.iss in the same directory. (Response files are created by runningSetup.exe with the /r option.)
The command Setup.exe /s also suppresses the Setup.exe initialization window for a Basic MSI installation program, but does not read a response file. To run a Basic MSI product silently, run the command line Setup.exe /s /v"/qn". (To specify the values of public properties for a silent Basic MSI installation, you can use a command, such as Setup.exe /s /v"/qn INSTALLDIR=D:\Destination". If you would like to use a long file name, use the following example format: Setup.exe /s /v"/qn INSTALLDIR=\"C:\Program Files\SampleCo\TestApp\"")
/f1 : Specify alternative response file name (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
Using the /f1 argument allows one to specify where the response file is (or where it should be generated) and what its name is, as in Setup.exe /s /f1"C:\Temp\Setup.iss". The /f1 switch is available both when creating a response file (with the /r option) and when using a response file (with the /s option).
/f2 : Specify alternative log file name (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
When running a Standard-project installation program in silent mode (using the /s argument), the log file Setup.log is generated by default in the same directory as the response file. The /f2 argument allows one to specify an alternative log file location and file name, as in Setup.exe /s /f2"C:\Setup.log".
SMS Data
/m : Generate MIF file (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /m switch causes Setup.exe to generate an SMS Management Information Format (MIF) file. A typical command is Setup.exe /m"SampleApp". (Including the ".mif" file extension is not necessary.)
/m1 : Specify serial number in MIF file (InstallScript projects only and InstallScript MSI projects only)Using the /m1parameter (along with /m) enables you to specify a serial number to be written to the MIF file. A typical command is Setup.exe /m"SampleApp" /m1"1234-5678".
/m2 : Specify locale string in MIF file (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
Using the /m2 parameter (along with /m) enables you to specify a locale string to be written to the MIF file. A typical command is Setup.exe /m"ampleApp" /m2"ENU".
Download and Cache Locations
/ua : Specify URL for InstMsiA.exe (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
/uw : Specify URL for InstMsiW.exe (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
In the Release wizard, you can specify download locations for the Windows Installer installers InstMsiA.exe and InstMsiW.exe. A user can specify an alternative URL at run time using the /ua and /uw switches, as in Setup.exe /uw"http://www.otherlocation.com/engines". The file name is not necessary.
/um : Specify URL to .msi package (Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI projects only)
In the Release wizard, for a Web Downloader build, you can specify a download location for your MSI database. A user can specify an alternative URL using the /um switch.
/b : Cache installation locally (Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI projects only)
In the Release wizard, for a Downloader build, you can specify whether to cache the contents of a compressed package on the local system. With the /b argument, the user can specify the directory in which to cache the installation files, as in Setup.exe /b"C:\CacheDirectory".
Passing Data to the Installation
/v : Pass arguments to Msiexec (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /v argument is used to pass command-line switches and values of public properties through to Msiexec.exe.
/z : Pass arguments to CMDLINE variable (InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /z argument is used to pass data to the InstallScript system variable CMDLINE, as in Setup.exe /z"My Custom Data", after which the variable CMDLINE would contain the string "My Custom Data".
Debugging
/d : Debug InstallScript
For a Standard project, running the command Setup.exe /d runs the installation program with the InstallScript debugger.
Debugging InstallScript code requires the debug-information file Setup.dbg to be available. To debug a Standard project on a system other than the development system:
- Copy the InstallScript debugger executable ISDbg.exe (located in the System folder of your InstallShield distribution) to the test system, and register it by launching the executable with the /REGSERVER command-line argument.
- Copy Setup.dbg to the test system.
- Run Setup.exe with the command Setup.exe /d"<path> ", where path is the directory containing Setup.dbg.
For a Basic MSI project, the command Setup.exe /v"ISSCRIPTDEBUG=1 ISSCRIPTDEBUGPATH=\"path-to-Setup.dbg\"" runs your InstallScript custom actions in the InstallScript debugger.
/debuglog : Generate a log file for debugging (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)
The /debuglog parameter lets you generate a log file for Setup.exe. To generate a log named InstallShield.log in the same directory as the Setup.exe file, pass just the command-line parameter. Note that this does not work if the Setup.exe file is in a read-only location. For example: setup.exe /debuglog
To specify the name and location of the log file, pass the path and name, as in the following
example: setup.exe /debuglog"C:\PathToLog\setupexe.log"
Miscellaneous
/f : Specify alternative compiled script (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only, InstallShield 12 or earlier)
By default, Setup.exe looks for a compiled script file named Setup.inx. To specify a different name for the compiled script file, use the /f option, as in Setup.exe /f"myscript.inx"
The Setup.exe produced by earlier versions of InstallShield—Windows Installer Edition used the /f option to repair an installation.
/L : Setup language ID
Users can use the /L switch with the decimal language ID to specify the language used by a multi-language installation program. For example, the command to specify German is Setup.exe /L1031.
/w : Wait
For a Basic MSI project, the /w argument forces Setup.exe to wait until the installation is complete before exiting.
If you are using the /w option in a batch file, you may want to precede the entire Setup.exe command-line argument with start /WAIT. A properly formatted example of this usage is as follows:
start /WAIT setup.exe /w
/SMS : Wait (InstallScript MSI projects only)
For an InstallScript MSI project, Setup.exe automatically waits for the installation to finish before exiting, so this switch (used by earlier versions of InstallShield Professional) is no longer necessary.
/delayedstart:<number of seconds> : Delay initialization of the setup (InstallScript projects only)
Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) by which initialization of the setup is delayed after Setup.exe is launched.
Using the -delayedstart option is recommended when manually launching an additional setup after reboot (for example, by using the RunOnce key). The delay allows the operation system to initialize completely; this prevents the problems—such as Remote Procedure Call (RPC) errors—that can occur if a setup initializes before the operating system has initialized completely. The recommended delay length is 30 seconds.
Note that this option is not needed when the setup starts automatically after reboot (for example, due to a call to SdFinishReboot before reboot).
/runfromtemp : Always clone and run from the temporary directory
This parameter allows the setup author to always clone the setup and run it from the temporary directory, even if the setup does not meet the conditions for running from the temporary directory. This parameter is ignored if the setup is a self-extracting executable file (.exe).
/deleter : Do not clone a second Setup.exe process when debugging (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only; InstallShield 11.5 or earlier)
Use this option when debugging a DLL function that is called from your setup script. This option specifies that Setup.exe does not clone a second Setup.exe process to perform the actual work of the setup. (By default, Setup.exe clones a second process, so that it properly uninstalls applications from machines on which no InstallScript setup had previously been run.)
/clone_wait : Wait for the cloned setup process to complete before exiting (InstallScript projects only)
This parameter indicates that the original setup should wait for the cloned setup process to complete before exiting.
/extract_all:<path> : Package's files should not be run but simply extracted (InstallScript projects only)
Specifies that a self-extracting package's files should not be run but simply extracted to the location that is specified by <path>.
/h : Clone release to a temporary location and run from that location (Basic MSI and InstallScript MSI projects only)The build engine automatically authors a setup that supports Setup.exe cloning in cases where cloning is required (for example, multi-disk setups). If you need to do this manually, pass /h to Setup.exe and it will clone itself to a temporary location and run from that location.
/hide_progress : Suppress all progress dialogs
Suppresses the display of any small and standard progress dialogs that might be shown during initialization. The small progress dialog is usually used for installations that display a splash screen during initialization, since a standard-size progress dialog does not leave any space for the splash screen. Specifying the /hide_progress option hides the small progress dialog for those installations, so end users would see just the splash screen without any progress indication.
/hide_splash : Suppress splash screen (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
Suppress the display of the splash screen, if one is included.
/hide_usd : Suppress update dialog box for multiple installations (InstallScript projects only)
Suppresses display of the dialog box that is displayed by an update-enabled setup to let the end user select which of multiple installations of your product will be updated. This dialog box is displayed by default when an update-enabled setup detects multiple previous installations. When this command line option is used and an update-enabled setup detects multiple previous installations, the setup updates the first previous installation that it finds.
/ig : Specify the value of the system variable INSTANCE_GUID (InstallScript projects only)
Specifies the value of the system variable INSTANCE_GUID; for example, -ig{722C7440-B317-4B3B-AECA-0199EA4E7CDB}. If this option is not used, the setup automatically assigns a value to INSTANCE_GUID (for multi-instance setups, this value is a newly generated GUID; for standard setups, this value is the same as the value of PRODUCT_GUID). This option is useful if you have included a setup bootstrap launcher—that is, a custom application that runs before your setup does to perform pre-setup tasks, such as determining the instance GUID that you want to use for the setup. Do not specify anything other than a valid GUID with this option.
/installfromweb : Specify the full path (or URL) to the installation media files (Disk1) (InstallScript projects only)
This option is similar to the media_path option except that this option forces the installation to behave like a launched One-Click Install installation, even if the path to the media files is not a URL. Use this option if you are launching the installation from a Web page manually. In addition, this option is added automatically if the built-in Setup.ocx file is used to launch the installation.
/media_path : Specify the full path (or URL) to the installation media files (Disk1) (InstallScript projects only)
This option indicates that the installation should look for the Disk1 files in the location that is specified. Note that only theSetup.exe file needs to be in the original launch location; the installation obtains all other required files from the specified location (including Setup.exe, which must be present in the media location). You can specify a URL as the path to the media files; in this case, the installation behaves like a launched One-Click Install installation, which always shows the security dialog.
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