Some programs themselves offer a quiet installation; others are highly recommended in the description. One way or another, even the average use "heard something like that." But still, silent installation - what is it? What are its advantages, and if they are so great, then how to realize it? This is what will be considered in this article.
Silent installation - what is it?
Silent installation of programs has a synonym - automatic installation. But what is the first, that the second does not answer the question of what silent installation means. And it means that the active participation of the user in this process is not required. Even, consider, nothing - click on the button at the beginning and click on the button at the end, when the product is ready to launch. That’s why the synonym is “automatic”, that is, automatically.
Benefits
The advantages of this method are more than clear: in the most minimal version, what does silent installation mean? The fact that you don’t have to sit and constantly press “further” agreeing with everything that the installation wizard offers. It eliminates the need to enter keys, use patches and cracks, the correct settings of which will be described in ten paragraphs, include turning off the Internet at a certain stage, and other things. That is, a quiet installation - what is it for the average person? Yes, just salvation!
When else can it come in handy?
However, a quiet installation saves not only the average user. Even for advanced administrators, it is useful in that it saves time when installing several software products on the OS.
Silent Installation Duration
Depending on the capacity of the program, a silent installation can last for a couple of seconds or several minutes - in any case, it is not as much as half an hour or even an entire hour. This is another advantage - it does not take much time.
How to start
In some programs, silent installation is provided in advance, and you don’t have to think about how to make a silent installation. All that is required of the user is by double-clicking on the necessary file, launch it and wait for the end.
The required file is an exe file with the name of the corresponding program. In simple products, it even downloads alone.
In addition, building a silent installation program is usually marked unattended.
But what if, in advance, a silent installation was not provided, how to start it?
A little bit about the types of installers
Different programs use different installers. Consideration of their species could well become a topic for a completely separate article, but they are also involved in this topic. First of all, due to the fact that depending on which installer we use during installation, keys for a quiet installation are selected.
And of course, since it has already been explained what silent installation of the program is, you need to say a few words about what keys are for it. Essentially, they are textual information (one to three characters) written to the command line.
InstallShield
This is the most popular installer. It can be "calculated" by the setup.exe file in the program assembly. It does not cause difficulties, as does silent installation. What is InstallShield? Just run the program with the s key, and the installation starts automatically.
- Note : to run the program with the key, you must enter the path to it through the slash at the command line, and add the necessary key at the end.
Windows Installer Service
The .msi extension is the main feature of this installer. He also has two keys for quiet installation.
The first of them - “qb” - launches a silent installation mode, making the user available to view his move. No Next, but also no Cancel button. Although, of course, the process can be completed in another way - for example, through the "Task Manager".
The second is QN, so to speak, an even quieter installation. What does it mean? Installation in the background, that is, the user will not even be able to trace its progress.
- Note : some programs require a reboot after installation. There is a key that can prevent this - REBOOT = ReallySuppress. But it is recommended either not to do this, or restart the PC after installation yourself.
InstallShield extensions * .msi
InstallShield version 7 and higher can create separately or use the .msi extension file in conjunction with a regular installation file.
The keys of both installers mentioned above are used for it: “/ s / v” ... ””, and the ellipsis in this case is qb or QN, respectively.
Windows * .msu
This installer is a standalone update installer. There are several keys for silent installation for it:
- / quiet - background and no user interaction. For example, if the program installation code indicates that at the end there will be a reboot, it will.
- / norestart - if you really do not want to reboot, this key prevents it.
- / warnrestart - also used with the first key. Its function is to warn the user before rebooting after the message.
- / promptrestart - after installation, the system will ask if a reboot is necessary.
- / forcerestart - force reboot, regardless of whether it was declared during installation.
Inno setup
This is a simple installer, to which there are two keys - for a quiet and (verbatim) very silent installation. Silent and verysilent respectively.
The "SP-" key is used so that a window does not pop up asking if the user wants to continue the installation. This is not a permanent, but a common problem in this installer. The key is entered after one of the keys indicated in this paragraph above.
You can find out if this or any other installer is used for the program that needs to be installed on the computer when it starts. The key combination ALT + SPACE "Space" opens a menu in which "About the program" is indicated as one of the items.
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS)
This installer usually has both an installation and uninstallation file, that is, removal of the program from the system. The key for silent installation is the same as InstallShield (S), with one small but very important clarification: it must be entered in upper case, that is, capitalized.
Using the D key, you can also specify the installation directory (the folder where the program is installed).
WISE Installer
The standard key s is suitable for this installer. In general, in principle, if determining which installer to use for the program is problematic, difficult or impossible, it is worth trying this key first of all, since it usually works.
Organization of automatic installation
There is such an interface - the Windows Post-Installation Wizard, for short - just WPI. Behind these three letters lies a whole software package for silent installation of applications.
What a silent installation of the program is and how convenient it is, everyone has understood for a long time, that’s why there are so many ways, like her, to organize this very installation in automatic mode.
All of the above installers with their respective keys are perfectly consistent with WPI. You can enter installation commands into it manually, or you can use the built-in capabilities of the utility, for example, the key recognition function.
SFX archives and command line files
And there is such a thing as SFK archives, which with WPI are the perfect combination for organizing automatic installation of programs.
Archives themselves can be created in the well-known WinRar software product, and run through the Windows Post-Installation Wizard.
Their advantage is in organizing the unpacking procedure, indicating the path for installation and, if desired, a password.
There is another option - to create command line files (cmd format) and write all the codes in them. This is especially suitable for those who are going to install the program again (on another PC, for example).
Finally
What is silent installation of the program? This is not a revolution, not an innovation, but a convenient opportunity to save time.
But, as can be seen from the article, in order to configure it, some time is still necessary. That is why there is an option to search the Internet for the desired program with the already configured silent installation mode. Typically, such information is indicated in the description, or maybe even a note in the name - unattended. If there is one, feel free to download, it has only advantages!