Command Line Switches for MSI and MSP Installations


September 11, 2009

thumbHi Folks, Its time for yet another Guest Post; and we have Bhuvana writing for us. In this article she focuses on the command line arguments and the silent switches that can be used for msi and msp (un-installable patches). Bhuvana specializes in InstallShield & MSI Installers and her primary responsibility at work is “Build & Release” which includes creating Setups and Source Control Management.

She keeps all the details crisp in this table. I know that, this below chart will be as a printed one.. in your desks !!

Install / Uninstall Command Line Option Silent Mode
MSI – Installation  msiexec /i “<msi file name with path>” [TRANSFORMS="<mst file name with path>"]  msiexec /i “<msi file name with path>” [TRANSFORMS="<mst file name with path>"] /qn
MSI – UnInstallation  msiexec /x <ProductGUID> msiexec /x <ProductGUID> /qn
MSP – Installation Command line with Progress dialog:
msiexec /p “<msp file name with path>” /qb		 msiexec /p “<msp file name with path>” /qn
Command line with UI:
msiexec /p “<msp file name with path>” REINSTALLMODE=oums REINSTALL=ALL
MSP – Uninstallation Command line with Progress dialog:
Msiexec /package <ProductGUID> MSIPATCHREMOVE=<PatchGUID> /qb		 msiexec  /I <ProductGUID> MSIPATCHREMOVE=<PatchGUID> /qn
Note:

  1. Patch uninstallation does not work without /qb option. i.e. Patch can be uninstalled from command line only in silent mode. If you want to invoke the UI for uninstallation, go to Add / Remove Programs with Show Updates enabled.
  2. Msiexec /uninstall <PatchGUID> /package <ProductGUID> /passive
    The above command removes the entire base product but not the Patch alone.

Bhuvana’s Thought on Msigeek.com:
I came across MSIgeek blog through linkedin groups. Good to see lots of articles and FAQs on MSI at one stop. Some of the articles definitely helps to give a better insight into the concepts. So felt like contributing some article, which would help people like us, the Packaging specialists.

If you want to get in touch, her LinkedIn Profile is - Here. (PS: Do mention in the LinkedIn request that, you read her article on msigeek. We do not want to give her un-necessary Spams :-) )






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  • Pinaki M
    Very useful article ...
  • suchikant
    very useful article
  • rodolfuuu
    Great Post Vj, an aditional comment, you can set to install more than one msp file in the same command line, with ; between the msp filename. Example: msiexec /p “name1.msp”;"name2.msp" /qn
  • msigeek
    Thanks for your addition buddy.! Well, Bhuvana gets the credit for this nice post (not me) he he..!!
  • shanthi
    very useful and informative article.
  • rishumehra
    Very gud.. its quite informative..
  • anilm2010
    Awesome post Bhuvana :-)
  • Sachin J
    Good one.I attached this printout on my desk.
  • Bhuvana
    I am glad that it was useful
  • Nice article, sure will be of use to Admins.
  • Vivek
    Good article,

    Small doubt, any idea Why Ptach uninstallation doesnot work without "/qb" option?

    Thanks Bhuvana for this article in MSIGeek, I am also a fan of MSIGeek.

    VJ,

    Thanking you :) If any plan posting article on creating TRANSORMS? will help much profs like me to learn basics of packaing
  • msigeek
    Thanks for supporting the blog Vivek. Your idea is really soooper cool. We will write an article on MST (Transforms) and post it soon.
  • Bhuvana
    Hi Vivek

    Thanks for your feed back.
    If you enter the command 'Msiexec /package <productguid> MSIPATCHREMOVE=<patchguid>' without /qb option, it displays the maintenance dialog.

    Regards
    Bhuvana</patchguid></productguid>
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