Silently deploy applications through Windows Deployment Services (WDS) / Microsoft Deployment Workbench, or the command line. Sometimes you just can't find the correct command parameter - or switch - for silent, unattended software installations. Unattended, silent installation of software is ideal in an automated deployment installation of Windows Server or Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 client computers, through Windows Deployment Services (WDS).
Windows Deployment Services (WDS) / Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) silent installation commands
Install and depoly applications using Deployment Toolkit. Here's a small list of applications and their silent installation command line parameters, to use with Microsoft Windows Deployment Services (WDS) or Deployment Toolkit.
Because this is an older post, the software version listed here are old too. Silent installation command switches shouldn't have changed recently though.
Using WDS, you can set these software installations up as Synchronous FirstLogonCommands in your ImageUnattend.xml.
Protip: for my Dutch readers I have a post on ITFAQ.nl explaining how to silently install 7-Zip, and how to unpack .zip archives in PowerShell.
Microsoft Windows Update Agent
Microsoft Windows Update Agent
WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe /quiet /norestart /wuforce
Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 Manager
Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Manager
Don't forget to enable the IIS-WebServerRole and IIS-WebServerManagementTools in your unattend.xml.
msiexec /i inetmgr_i386.msi /quiet
Install and setup IIS Manager for Remote Administration in Windows Server IIS How to remove IIS from Windows Server using PowerShell
Microsoft Office
create a configuration .xml file
execute setup.exe using configuration xml file:
setup.exe /config path\to\config.xml
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 - extract patch (.msp) files
Microsoft Office 2007 SP2
extract Windows Installer-patch (.msp) files:
office2007sp2-kb953195-fullfile-nl-nl.exe /extract:c:\temp\office-sp2
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 - install patch (.msp) files
install patch
cd c:\temp\office-sp2 && msiexec /update MAINWWsp2.msp /quiet
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 3 - extract patch (.msp) files
Microsoft Office 2007 SP3
extract Windows Installer-patch (.msp) files:
office2007sp3-kb2526086-fullfile-nl-nl.exe /extract:c:\temp\office-sp3
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 3 - install patch (.msp) files
install patch
cd c:\temp\office-sp3 && msiexec /update MAINWWsp3.msp /quiet
Install Microsoft Office 2013 silently with PowerShell
Use PowerShell to install Microsoft Office 2013 unattended:
function install_Office2013 {
&$sharepath\Office2013\setup.exe /config standard.ww\config.xml -Wait
if (!$?) {
write-host "Office2013 installation failed"
return
}
}
install_Office2013
Notice the $? operator to check whether the setup.exe command succeeded. See PowerShell return value, exit code, or ErrorLevel equivalent for more information.
Disable SystemRestore with PowerShell
System Restore creates a restore point for every .msi installation. You can disable SystemRestore with PowerShell:
$SysRestore = [wmiclass]"\\$env:COMPUTERNAME\root\default:systemrestore"
$SysRestore.Disable("C:\")
A more pure PowerShell solution is that you use the Disable-ComputerRestore cmdlet.
Disable System Restore on the specified drive
PS C:\> Disable-ComputerRestore -Drive "C:\"
Disable System Restore on multiple drives
PS C:\> Disable-ComputerRestore "C:\", "D:\"
Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET)
Microsoft Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 2.1 - don't use EMET on Windows 10!
msiexec /i EMET_Setup.msi /quiet
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)
Microsoft Security Essentials depends/relies on newest Windows Update Agent version, or you'll receive an error number 327424.
mseinstall.exe /s /runwgacheck /o
7zip silent install
7-Zip silent install
7z920.exe /S
When using the 7-Zip .msi installation file, an optional INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\7-Zip" parameter can be added to provide an installation location.
This installs 7-zip silently.
Did you know you can also use winget to install 7-zip? The winget command line tool enables users to discover, install, upgrade, remove and configure applications on Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers. This tool is the client interface to the Windows Package Manager service, see winget on Microsoft Learn for more information.
The command to install 7-zip using winget is:
# Search for 7zip (or 7-Zip) in winget's repository
winget search 7zip
# install 7-zip using winget
winget install 7zip.7zip
Be careful not to install software with funny looking identifiers like "9MT44RNLPXXT". I haven't tried it, but I also don't trust it.
Did you know you can use 7-Zip to extract files from an MSI package file? Or that you can use 7-Zip on the command-line to extract or create an archive?
SNMP Informant
informant-std-17.exe /silent
Ghostscript PS2PDF
ps2pdf 8.15 (direct download)
converter.exe /auto
CutePDF Writer
CutePDF Writer 2.8 (depends/relies on ps2pdf)
/no3d for no ASK-toolbar
CuteWriter.exe /verysilent /no3d
Gpg4win
GPG4Win 2.1.0
gpg4win-2.1.0.exe /S
Notepad++
Notepad++ 5.9.8
npp.5.9.8.Installer.exe /S
FileZilla
FileZilla 3.5.3
FileZilla_3.5.3_win32-setup.exe /S
Adobe Reader X
Adobe Reader X 10.0.1
msiexec /i AcroRead.msi /quiet
Adobe Reader X update
Adobe Reader X 10.1.2 update
msiexec /update AdbeRdrUpd1012.msp /quiet
Adobe Flash Player Active-X
Adobe Flash Player Active-X 11.1.102.63
msiexec /i install_flash_player_11_active_x_32bit.msi /quiet
Adobe Flash Player Plugin
Adobe Flash Player Plugin 11.1.102.63
msiexec /i install_flash_player_11_plugin_32bit.msi /quiet
Learn how to uninstall and remove Adobe Flash Player in Windows Server in PowerShell.
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox 11 (and newer/up)
"Firefox Setup 11.0.exe" /S /V"/Passive /NoRestart"
Mozilla Thunderbird
"Thunderbird Setup 11.0.exe" /S /V"/Passive /NoRestart"
Windows Installer command line options may always come in handy:
https://docs.microsoft.com/eun-us/windows/desktop/Msi/command-line-options