The Caché for Windows installation utility provides you the option of
performing a
silent installation on your computer. A typical
(non-silent) installation receives the necessary input from the user in the form of
responses to dialog boxes. A silent installation does not prompt the user for input;
it must get its user input from a response file. The InstallShield Silent application
reads the necessary input from the response file at run time and logs setup information
in a file.
For each step in a silent installation, use the
Setup.exe installation
program from the
nt directory of the Caché installation.
A response file is a plain text file consisting of sections containing data
entries. To create a response file, simply run the setup with the
-r command
line parameter:
Answer the prompts as appropriate. InstallShield records all your setup choices
in a response file named
setup.iss and places the file in the
Windows directory (
C:\WINNT or C:\Windows, for example).
If you are not running
setup.exe from the Windows directory,
you may want to use the
-f1 parameter to place the
setup.iss file
in the same directory from where you plan to run the silent install of
setup.exe.
For example:
Setup.exe -r -f1"C:\cachekit\nt\setup.iss"
After you have created the response file, you are ready to run the setup in
silent mode using InstallShield Silent. When running a setup in silent mode, be aware
that no messages are displayed. Instead, a log file named
Setup.log captures
setup information, including whether the setup was successful. You can review the
log file and determine the result of the setup.
To launch InstallShield Silent, run setup with the
-s command
line parameter:
The setup plays back the script created in the previous step. InstallShield
also provides the
-f1 and
-f2 parameters so
that you can specify the name and location of the response file and the location of
the log file. There are additional parameters available that are described in the
following section,
InstallShield Silent Command Line
Parameters.
To verify if a silent setup succeeded, look at the ResultCode value in the
[ResponseResult] section
of
Setup.log. InstallShield writes an appropriate return value
after the ResultCode keyname.
If you are not running
setup.exe from the Windows directory,
be sure to use the
-f1 parameter to indicate the location of the
response file. For example:
Setup.exe -s -f1"C:\WINNT\setup.iss"
InstallShield Silent Command Line Parameters
The following table describes the silent installation parameters. Unless otherwise
indicated these are not case sensitive; uppercase or lowercase letters can be used.
InstallShield Silent Command Line Parameters
Command Line Parameter |
Description |
-fpath\CompiledScript |
Specifies an alternate compiled script. Unless the compiled script
(.ins file) also resides in the same directory as Setup.exe,
the full path to the compiled script must be specified. The _setup.dll file
must also reside in the same directory as your .ins file. For
example, Setup -ftest.ins launches setup using test.ins instead
of Setup.ins. |
-f1path\ResponseFile |
Specifies an alternate location and name of the response .iss file.
If this option is used when running InstallShield Silent,
the response file is read from the directory or file specified by path\ResponseFile.
If this option is used with the -r option, the response file is
written to the file specified by path\ResponseFile. If the -f option
is used. The -f1 parameter must follow the -f parameter |
-f2path\LogFile |
Specifies an alternate location and name of the log file created
by the silent installation. By default, Setup.log file is created
and stored in the same directory as Setup.ins. If the -f option
is used. The -f2 parameter must follow the -f parameter. |
-mfilename |
Causes InstallShield to generate a Management Information Format (.MIF) file
automatically at the end of the installation. Do not include a path because the .mif file
is always placed in the Windows directory. filename is optional;
if you do not specify a file name, the resulting file is named Status.mif. |
-m1serial_number |
Instructs InstallShield to place the indicated serial number in
the created .mif file. |
-m2locale_string |
Tells setup to place the indicated locale in the .mif file.
English (ENU) is the default. Refer to Microsoft documentation for a complete listing
of locale strings. |
-r |
Causes Setup.exe to
automatically generate a silent installation .iss file, which
is a record of the installation input, in the Windows directory. |
-s |
Runs InstallShield
Silent to execute a silent installation. |
-SMS |
Prevents
a network connection and Setup from closing before the installation is complete. This
parameter, which must be in uppercase, works with installations originating from a
Windows NT server over a network. |
-z |
Prevents Setup
from checking the available memory during initialization. This parameter is necessary
when running a setup on a machine with more than 256 MB of memory; if it is not used,
Setup reports insufficient memory and exits. |
The default name for the silent setup log file is
Setup.log and
its default location is Disk1 (in the same directory as
Setup.ins).
You can specify a different name and location for
Setup.log using
the
-f1 and
-f2 parameters.
-
[InstallShield Silent] Identifies the
version of the InstallShield Silent application used in the silent setup. It also
identifies the file as a log file.
-
[Application] Identifies the name and
version of the installed application, and the company name.
-
[ResponseResult] contains the result
code indicating whether or not the silent setup succeeded.
An integer value is assigned to the ResultCode keyname in the
[ResponseResult] section.
InstallShield places one of the following return values after the ResultCode keyname.
ResultCode Return Values
Return Value |
Description |
0 |
Successful installation |
-1 |
General error |
-2 |
Invalid mode |
-3 |
Required data not found in the Setup.iss file |
-4 |
Not enough memory available |
-5 |
File does not exist |
-6 |
Cannot write to the response
file |
-7 |
Unable to write to the log file |
-8 |
Invalid path to the InstallShield
Silent response file |
-9 |
Not a valid list type (string
or number) |
-10 |
Data type is invalid |
-11 |
Unknown error during setup |
-12 |
Dialog boxes are out of order |
-51 |
Cannot create the specified
folder |
-52 |
Cannot access the specified
file or folder |
-53 |
Invalid option selected |
The following example shows a
Setup.log file for a successful
silent setup of InstallShield.
[InstallShield Silent]
Version=v5.00.000
File=Log File
[Application]
Name=InstallShield5
Version=5.00.000
Company=InstallShield
[ResponseResult]
ResultCode=0