InstallShield Setups

When running InstallShield setups, they usually have this icon: Installshield icon

And the setup dialogue looks like this:

InstallShield Wizard

These setup files are often a Setup.exe. There are two types; InstallScript and InstallScript MSI.

  • InstallScript MSI - Setup.exe has InstallScript inside that drives the install of an MSI. NOTE - Don’t be fooled into thinking you can just run the MSI - The Setup.exe will likely also run some other pre-requisite checks, custom actions, and/or post installation actions.

  • InstallScript - Setup.exe is a fully scripted install of the application.

Parameters used for silent installs:

TIP: installshield parameters

If lucky, InstallShield setup can be installed silently by just passing the /S parameter. (Uppercase S)

Setup.exe /S

If it’s an InstallShield wrapped MSI, you’ll need to supply the /v parameter to pass command line options to MSIEXEC for the MSI.

Setup.exe /S /v/qn

Note: No space after /v

Known Issue

There was one issue that I came up against a few times when running an InstallShield application silently with the following command:

setup.exe /S /v/qn

The installation appeared to start, but then failed silently.

Setup.log file was created in the same directory as setup.exe with the following contents:

[ResponseResult]
ResultCode=-3

Or

[ResponseResult]
ResultCode=-5

Resolution

A response file (setup.iss) needs to be created in the same directory as setup.exe.

  • Run setup.exe /r
  • Complete the install process
  • Copy %SystemRoot%\setup.iss to the same location as setup.exe

The silent installation path above should now complete successfully.

The /f1 command line parameter can be used to specify the location of the setup.iss

References

Silent Installations http://www.appdeploy.com/tips/detail.asp?id=18

  • /p : Specify password
  • /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)