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Q182470: HOWTO: Use Setup Wizard Command Line Arguments for Silent Mode

Article: Q182470
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows, version 5.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

When using the Visual Basic Setup Wizard to create an application distribution
set, you can perform a silent install and uninstall of the application through
the use of command-line arguments. This article documents those command-line
arguments.

MORE INFORMATION
================

WARNING: ANY USE BY YOU OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR
OWN RISK. Microsoft provides this information "as is" without warranty of any
kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied
warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Microsoft does not provide technical support for this feature for the following
reasons:

- This is an untested feature and therefore may not work as expected in some
  circumstances.

- This feature may not exist in future releases.

- This is an undocumented feature. We are documenting it in the Knowledge Base
  for use at your own risk.

Silent Install Usage
--------------------

The following command-line syntax allows for a silent install:

  c:\mydir\setup.exe -s myapp.log

The command line above assumes "c:\mydir" is the folder that contains Setup.exe.
The "-s" switch allows for the silent install, and "myapp.log" is the .log file
created to track all modifications the installation makes.

Silent Uninstall Usage
----------------------

The following command-line syntax allows for a silent uninstall:

  St5unst -n "C:\Program Files\MyApp\St5unst.log" -f -q

NOTE: The quotation marks are required when there is a space in the path or file
name.

The command line above uses the version-specific uninstall executable with the
"-n" switch, which allows the uninstall executable to run from a command line.
The St5unst.log file contains all pertinent information on the installation of
the application. The "-f" and "-q" switches must be used in conjunction to force
an SMS uninstall, which is silent by default.

NOTE: Installing an application using the NT Schedule service with the silent or
SMS parameter will not work and is not supported. The Schedule service does not
create a complete copy of the environment when it launches the Setup. When Setup
attempts to check for free disk space, the test fails because the TMP and TEMP
environment variables are not present. Attempting to work around the problem by
setting the variables in a batch file, such as the following example, also
fails:

     Set TMP=C:\TEMP
     Set TEMP=C:\TMP
     Setup -q MyLog.txt

When running the Setup as an NT Service, the only alternative is to run it in
interactive mode.

Additional query words: kbDSSTools kbVBp500 kbDSupport kbdss

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Keywords          : kbGrpDSVB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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