Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI Setup.exe Command-Line Parameters

InstallShield 2018

Project • This information applies to the following project types:

•

Advanced UI

•

Suite/Advanced UI

Edition • The Advanced UI project type is available in the Professional edition of InstallShield. The Suite/Advanced UI project type is available in the Premier edition of InstallShield. For information about the differences between these two project types, see Advanced UI Projects vs. Suite/Advanced UI Projects.

The Setup.exe setup launcher for Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI installations can accept a number of command-line parameters. Note that passing undefined parameters or invalid property definitions results in an invalid command-line error.

Parameters for Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI Setup Launchers

Parameter

Description

/d"PathTo.dbgFile"

The /d parameter lets you debug the InstallScript actions in your Suite/Advanced UI installation with the InstallScript Debugger.

Note • Debugging InstallScript code requires the debug-information file Setup.dbg to be available. In addition, in order to debug an installation on a system other than your development machine, you need to copy certain files from your development machine to the debugging machine. To learn more, see Debugging an Installation on Any Computer.

The following command runs your InstallScript custom actions in the InstallScript Debugger:

Setup.exe /d

If the installation is located in a path at which they were originally compiled, you also need to specify the path to your debug symbols file (.dbg):

Setup.exe /d"Path-to-Setup.dbg"

For more information about InstallScript actions in Suite/Advanced UI projects, see Working with an Action that Runs InstallScript Code in a Suite/Advanced UI Installation.

For more information on debugging issues, see Troubleshooting Issues with an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation.

/debuglog

/debuglog"PathToLog"

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"

For more information, see Troubleshooting Issues with an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation.

/language:LCID

The /language parameter indicates that the installation should run in the specified language as specified. Specify the language ID as a decimal number. For example, to indicate that the installation should be run in German, pass the language ID as follows:

Setup.exe /language:1031

Note that if you specify a language ID that is not supported by the installation or you specify an invalid language ID, the parameter is ignored. Also note that if this parameter is specified and it is valid, the language wizard page (if enabled) is automatically suppressed.

/log

/log"PathToPackageLog"

/log:"PathToPackageLog"

The /log parameter lets you generate a log file for each package in the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation for which logging is enabled.

To generate package log files in a particular folder, pass the folder path with the /log parameter to the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Setup.exe file. You can optionally separate the /log parameter and the path with a colon. For example, both of the following command lines generate a log file in the PathToLogFiles folder:

Setup.exe /log"C:\PathToLogFiles"

Setup.exe /log:"C:\PathToLogFiles"

Note that the path to the log file location must already exist.

To generate package log files in the %TEMP% directory, leave out the path. For example:

Setup.exe /log

Note that logging must be enabled for a package, and the package’s logging-related settings (which vary, depending on whether the package is an .msi package, an .msp package, some other type of package) must be configured in the Packages view. For more information, see Supporting the Creation of Package Log Files for Command-Line Launching of an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation.

/password:MyPassword

If you configured the password-related settings for your release on the Setup.exe tab in the Releases view, the end user must specify the password with the /password parameter at run time during a silent installation. A typical command is as follows:

Setup.exe /silent /password:MyPassword

PropertyName=Value

/PropertyName:Value

PropertyName=

You can pass properties to the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation in more than one way. Following are examples:

Setup.exe MyPropertyName=MyPropertyValue

Setup.exe /MyPropertyName:MyPropertyValue

To clear the value of a property, even if it is set by the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Setup.xml file, use the following syntax:

Setup.exe MyPropertyName=

The following properties have special meaning to the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation when they are passed on the command line:

•

ISFeatureInstall—This property provides a comma-delimited list of feature names that are to be installed with the current installation operation. It is intended for a silent first-time installation.

•

ISFeatureRemove—This property provides a comma-delimited list of feature names that are to be removed with the current installation operation. It is intended for maintenance installations.

For more information, see Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI Property Reference.

/remove

The /remove parameter uninstalls the packages that are currently installed on the target system and that were installed by the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation. This option also removes the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation’s entry in Add or Remove Programs if the maintenance condition in the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Setup.xml file is false.

/repair

The /repair parameter repairs the packages that are currently on the target system and that were installed by the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation.

/silent

The /silent parameter runs the installation without a user interface.

/stage_only

The /stage_only parameter runs the staging part of the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation, in which the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation copies its packages to a directory that is specified by the user on the BrowseStageFolder wizard page.

If any of the packages are compressed into the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Setup.exe file, the /stage_only option also extracts the packages from the Setup.exe file before copying them to the staging directory.

In addition, if any of the packages are located on the Web, the /stage_only option downloads the packages and adds them to the staging directory.

Note that this option does not run the packages in the Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation. Furthermore, it does not uncompress any of the packages. Thus, if you are creating a patch for an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation and you need to generate an uncompressed .msi package for a package in your Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation, for example, use the stage-only option. Then perform an administrative installation for the .msi package.

Tip • The ISRootStagePath property stores the path to the folder that contains the copied files. To specify a default value for this property, set this property from the command line while passing the /stage_only parameter, as shown in the following example:

Setup.exe /stage_only ISRootStagePath="C:\MyStagingArea"

For information on how to specify command lines that you want an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI installation to use when launching one of its packages, see Passing Command-Line Parameters to a Package in an Advanced UI or Suite/Advanced UI Installation.

Advanced UI and Suite/Advanced UI Setup.exe Command-Line Parameters

InstallShield 2018 Help Library

January 2018