0

I have a windows setup file (.exe), which is used to install a software. This is a third party executable. During installation, it expects certain values and has a UI. I want to run this setup .exe silently without any manual intervention (even for providing the parameter values). After spending some time googling about the approach, I feel powershell should be able to help me with my requirements. Can anyone suggest if powershell would be the right tool for this, or does a better tool exists to get this requirement? Can python be used to implement this requirement?

Please note: Since this is a third party executable, I don't have the names of the parameters for which values must be provided to the UI during installation

Thank you

stack underflow
  • 197
  • 2
  • 5
  • 18
  • 3
    Whether you can run a .exe installer silently depends on the installer. You will need to find out the appropriate command-line parameters for a silent installer from whoever built that installer. – Bill_Stewart Nov 13 '18 at 21:12
  • Does the version information give you clues? Inno Setup usually has a information string there. Use Resource Hacker and look at the manifest, there might be a company name there... – Anders Nov 15 '18 at 18:35

2 Answers2

1

Deployment: Note that it is not always possible to run a setup.exe silently with full control of parameters and with reliable silent running. It depends on how the installer was designed. In these cases I normally resort to repackaging - some more detail below on this.

Some general tips for dealing with deployment:

  1. Software Library Tip: Maybe try to look up the software to see if others have dealt with it for silent installation and deployment: https://www.itninja.com/software

  2. Extract Files: Is this an embedded MSI (Windows Installer) file or a legacy style setup.exe? Maybe try to extract the files first: Programmatically extract contents of InstallShield setup.exe (Installshield setup.exe files). More elaborate details:

  3. Setup.exe: Just adding for completeness. You can try setup.exe /? or setup.exe /help or similar at the command line to check for embedded help in the exe.

MSI Transforms: If you discover and embedded MSI file in the setup.exe, then you can customize the installation parameters in a standardized way. details here: How to make better use of MSI files. Light weight customization is by command line, heavy weight customization via transforms.

Legacy Setup.exe: Legacy setup.exe are often created with Inno Setup, NSIS, or a few other non-MSI setup authoring tools. Each with their own quirks for command line. Here is an old source for some samples: http://unattended.sourceforge.net/installers.php.

Repackaging: Corporate users often repackage such legacy setup.exe files and turn them into MSI or App-V packages (or the brand new MSIX format). On the topic of repackaging and also a piece on PowerShell and the availability of Windows Installer PowerShell Modules: How can I use powershell to run through an installer?.

Some Further Links:

Stein Åsmul
  • 39,960
  • 25
  • 91
  • 164
0

You can also try creating a shortcut to the exe and adding (one at a time) common help parameters in the shortcut target and see if one gives you a help dialog. Some common parameters are /? /help -help --help

This also depends on the developer implementing a help parameter, but most installer builders default to implementing, so more often than not you will get something. Also, try an internet search for "SOFTWARE NAME silent install". Quiet often the developer has some documentation on their web site. But, if it's a really small developer or freeware or the like, you may not find much.

Gordon
  • 6,257
  • 6
  • 36
  • 89