Are there any installation options to automate installations ?
Since version 7.4 Schedule it is distributed as a Microsoft Installer (MSI) file on Windows. Typically, packages are installed by double-clicking them in the file explorer. However, with the msiexec.exe command line utility, additional features are available, like non-interactive installation and administrative installation.
Non-interactive Installation
With the command line
msiexec /i scheduleit7.msi
installation can be initiated programmatically. Additional parameters can be passed at the end of this command line, like
msiexec /i scheduleit7.msi TARGETDIR=r:scheduleit7
Limited user interface
The amount of user interface that installer displays can be controlled with /q options, in particular:
* /qn - No interface
* /qb - Basic interface - just a small progress dialog
* /qb! - Like /qb, but hide the Cancel button
* /qr - Reduced interface - display all dialogs that don't require user interaction (skip all modal dialogs)
* /qn+ - Like /qn, but display "Completed" dialog at the end
* /qb+ - Like /qb, but display "Completed" dialog at the end
Target directory
The property TARGETDIR determines the root directory of the Schedule it installation. For example, a different installation drive can be specified with
TARGETDIR=R:scheduleit
Installation for All Users
Adding
ALLUSERS=1
causes an installation for all users. By default, the non-interactive installation install the package just for the current user, and the interactive installation offers a dialog which defaults to "all users" if the user is sufficiently privileged.
Automatic Installation on a Group of Machines
With Windows Group Policy, it is possible to automatically install Schedule it on a group of machines. To do so, perform the following steps:
1. Log on to the domain controller
2. Copy the MSI file into a folder that is shared with access granted to all target machines.
3. Open the MMC snapin "Active Directory users and computers"
4. Navigate to the group of computers that need Schedule it
5. Open Properties
6. Open Group Policies
7. Add a new polices, and edit it
8. In Computer Configuration/Software Installation, chose New/Package
9. Select the MSI file through the network path
10. Optionally, select that you want the Schedule it to be deinstalled if the computer leaves the scope of the policy.
Group policy propagation typically takes some time - to reliably deploy the package, all machines should be rebooted.
************************************
Only for versions before 7.4:
The scheduleit.exe installation program accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the setup program.
/SP-
Disables the This will install... Do you wish to continue? prompt at the beginning of Setup. Of course, this will have no effect if the DisableStartupPrompt <Setup> section directive was set to yes.
/SILENT, /VERYSILENT
Instructs Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent the wizard and the background window are not displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is very silent this installation progress window is not displayed. Everything else is normal so for example error messages during installation are displayed and the startup prompt is (if you haven't disabled it with DisableStartupPrompt or the '/SP-' command line option explained above).
If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used (see below) and Setup is silent, it will display a Reboot now? message box. If it's very silent it will reboot without asking.
/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
Instructs Setup to suppress message boxes. Only has an effect when combined with '/SILENT' and '/VERYSILENT'.
The default response in situations where there's a choice is:
* Yes in a 'Keep newer file?' situation.
* No in a 'File exists, confirm overwrite.' situation.
* Abort in Abort/Retry situations.
* Cancel in Retry/Cancel situations.
* Yes (=continue) in a DiskSpaceWarning/ DirExists /DirDoesntExist/ NoUninstallWarning / ExitSetupMessage/ ConfirmUninstall situation.
* Yes (=restart) in a FinishedRestartMessage/ UninstalledAndNeedsRestart situation.
5 message boxes are not suppressible:
* The About Setup message box.
* The Exit Setup? message box.
* The FileNotInDir2 message box displayed when Setup requires a new disk to be inserted and the disk was not found.
* Any (error) message box displayed before Setup (or Uninstall) could read the command line parameters.
* Any message box displayed by <Code> support function MsgBox.
/LOG
Causes Setup to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file installation and <Run> actions taken during the installation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. For example, if you suspect a file isn't being replaced when you believe it should be (or vice versa), the log file will tell you if the file was really skipped, and why.
The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)
The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice.
/LOG="filename"
Same as /LOG, except it allows you to specify a fixed path/filename to use for the log file. If a file with the specified name already exists it will be overwritten. If the file cannot be created, Setup will abort with an error message.
/NOCANCEL
Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation process, by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the close button. Useful along with '/SILENT' or '/VERYSILENT'.
/NORESTART
Instructs Setup not to reboot even if it's necessary.
/RESTARTEXITCODE=exit code
Specifies the custom exit code that Setup is to return when a restart is needed. Useful along with '/NORESTART'. Also see Setup Exit Codes.
/LOADINF="filename"
Instructs Setup to load the settings from the specified file after having checked the command line. This file can be prepared using the '/SAVEINF=' command as explained below. Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/SAVEINF="filename"
Instructs Setup to save installation settings to the specified file. Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/LANG=language
Specifies the language to use. language specifies the internal name of the language as specified in a <Languages> section entry.
When a valid /LANG parameter is used, the Select Language dialog will be suppressed.
/DIR="x:dirname"
Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Location wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified.
/GROUP="folder name"
Overrides the default folder name displayed on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. If the <Setup> section directive DisableProgramGroupPage was set to yes, this command line parameter is ignored.
/NOICONS
Instructs Setup to initially check the Don't create a Start Menu folder check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page.
/COMPONENTS="comma separated list of component names"
Overrides the default components settings. Using this command line parameter causes Setup to automatically select a custom type.
/TASKS="comma separated list of task names"
Specifies a list of tasks that should be initially selected or deselected. To deselect a task, prefix its name with a "!" character.
Only the specified tasks (and their children) will be selected; the rest will be deselected. Use the /MERGETASKS parameter instead if you want to keep the default set of tasks and only select/deselect some of them.
Example:
Deselect all tasks, then select the "desktopicon" and "fileassoc" tasks:
/TASKS="desktopicon,fileassoc"
Example:
Deselect all tasks, then select a parent task item, but exclude one of its children:
/TASKS="parent,!parentchild"
/MERGETASKS="comma separated list of task names"
Like the /TASKS parameter, except the specified tasks will be merged with the set of tasks that would have otherwise been selected by default.
If UsePreviousTasks is set to yes, the specified tasks will be selected/deselected after any previous tasks are restored.
Example:
Keep the default set of selected tasks, but additionally select the "desktopicon" and "fileassoc" tasks:
/MERGETASKS="desktopicon,fileassoc"
Example:
Keep the default set of selected tasks, but deselect the "desktopicon" task:
/MERGETASKS="!desktopicon"
/PASSWORD=password
Specifies the password to use. If the <Setup> section directive Password was not set, this command line parameter is ignored.
When an invalid password is specified, this command line parameter is also ignored.
Setup Exit Codes
The Setup program may return one of the following exit codes:
0 Setup was successfully run to completion.
1 Setup failed to initialize.
2 The user clicked Cancel in the wizard before the actual installation started, or chose "No" on the opening "This will install..." message box.
3 A fatal error occurred while preparing to move to the next installation phase (for example, from displaying the pre-installation wizard pages to the actual installation process). This should never happen except under the most unusual of circumstances, such as running out of memory or Windows resources.
4 A fatal error occurred during the actual installation process.
Note: Errors that cause an Abort-Retry-Ignore box to be displayed are not fatal errors. If the user chooses Abort at such a message box, exit code 5 will be returned.
5 The user clicked Cancel during the actual installation process, or chose Abort at an Abort-Retry-Ignore box.
6 The Setup process was forcefully terminated by the debugger (Run | Terminate was used in the IDE).
Before returning an exit code of 1, 3, or 4, an error message explaining the problem will normally be displayed.
Future versions may return additional exit codes, so applications checking the exit code should be programmed to handle unexpected exit codes gracefully. Any non-zero exit code indicates that Setup was not run to completion.
Uninstaller Command Line Parameters
The uninstaller program (unins???.exe) accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the uninstaller program.
/SILENT, /VERYSILENT
When specified, the uninstaller will not ask the user for startup confirmation or display a message stating that uninstall is complete. Shared files that are no longer in use are deleted automatically without prompting. Any critical error messages will still be shown on the screen. When '/VERYSILENT' is specified, the uninstallation progress window is not displayed.
If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used (see below) and '/VERYSILENT' is specified, the uninstaller will reboot without asking.
/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
Instructs the uninstaller to suppress message boxes. Only has an effect when combined with '/SILENT' and '/VERYSILENT'. See '/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES' under Setup Command Line Parameters for more details.
/LOG
Causes Uninstall to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file uninstallation and <UninstallRun> actions taken during the uninstallation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid.
The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)
The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice.
/LOG="filename"
Same as /LOG, except it allows you to specify a fixed path/filename to use for the log file. If a file with the specified name already exists it will be overwritten. If the file cannot be created, Uninstall will abort with an error message.
/NORESTART
Instructs the uninstaller not to reboot even if it's necessary.
Uninstaller Exit Codes
The uninstaller will return a non-zero exit code if the user cancels or a fatal error is encountered. Programs checking the exit code to detect failure should not check for a specific non-zero value; any non-zero exit code indicates that the uninstaller was not run to completion.
Note that at the moment you get an exit code back from the uninstaller, some code related to uninstallation might still be running. Because Windows doesn't allow programs to delete their own EXEs, the uninstaller creates and spawns a copy of itself in the TEMP directory. This "clone" performs the actual uninstallation, and at the end, terminates the original uninstaller EXE (at which point you get an exit code back), deletes it, then displays the "uninstall complete" message box (if it hasn't been suppressed with /SILENT or /VERYSILENT).
Non-interactive Installation
With the command line
msiexec /i scheduleit7.msi
installation can be initiated programmatically. Additional parameters can be passed at the end of this command line, like
msiexec /i scheduleit7.msi TARGETDIR=r:scheduleit7
Limited user interface
The amount of user interface that installer displays can be controlled with /q options, in particular:
* /qn - No interface
* /qb - Basic interface - just a small progress dialog
* /qb! - Like /qb, but hide the Cancel button
* /qr - Reduced interface - display all dialogs that don't require user interaction (skip all modal dialogs)
* /qn+ - Like /qn, but display "Completed" dialog at the end
* /qb+ - Like /qb, but display "Completed" dialog at the end
Target directory
The property TARGETDIR determines the root directory of the Schedule it installation. For example, a different installation drive can be specified with
TARGETDIR=R:scheduleit
Installation for All Users
Adding
ALLUSERS=1
causes an installation for all users. By default, the non-interactive installation install the package just for the current user, and the interactive installation offers a dialog which defaults to "all users" if the user is sufficiently privileged.
Automatic Installation on a Group of Machines
With Windows Group Policy, it is possible to automatically install Schedule it on a group of machines. To do so, perform the following steps:
1. Log on to the domain controller
2. Copy the MSI file into a folder that is shared with access granted to all target machines.
3. Open the MMC snapin "Active Directory users and computers"
4. Navigate to the group of computers that need Schedule it
5. Open Properties
6. Open Group Policies
7. Add a new polices, and edit it
8. In Computer Configuration/Software Installation, chose New/Package
9. Select the MSI file through the network path
10. Optionally, select that you want the Schedule it to be deinstalled if the computer leaves the scope of the policy.
Group policy propagation typically takes some time - to reliably deploy the package, all machines should be rebooted.
************************************
Only for versions before 7.4:
The scheduleit.exe installation program accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the setup program.
/SP-
Disables the This will install... Do you wish to continue? prompt at the beginning of Setup. Of course, this will have no effect if the DisableStartupPrompt <Setup> section directive was set to yes.
/SILENT, /VERYSILENT
Instructs Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent the wizard and the background window are not displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is very silent this installation progress window is not displayed. Everything else is normal so for example error messages during installation are displayed and the startup prompt is (if you haven't disabled it with DisableStartupPrompt or the '/SP-' command line option explained above).
If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used (see below) and Setup is silent, it will display a Reboot now? message box. If it's very silent it will reboot without asking.
/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
Instructs Setup to suppress message boxes. Only has an effect when combined with '/SILENT' and '/VERYSILENT'.
The default response in situations where there's a choice is:
* Yes in a 'Keep newer file?' situation.
* No in a 'File exists, confirm overwrite.' situation.
* Abort in Abort/Retry situations.
* Cancel in Retry/Cancel situations.
* Yes (=continue) in a DiskSpaceWarning/ DirExists /DirDoesntExist/ NoUninstallWarning / ExitSetupMessage/ ConfirmUninstall situation.
* Yes (=restart) in a FinishedRestartMessage/ UninstalledAndNeedsRestart situation.
5 message boxes are not suppressible:
* The About Setup message box.
* The Exit Setup? message box.
* The FileNotInDir2 message box displayed when Setup requires a new disk to be inserted and the disk was not found.
* Any (error) message box displayed before Setup (or Uninstall) could read the command line parameters.
* Any message box displayed by <Code> support function MsgBox.
/LOG
Causes Setup to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file installation and <Run> actions taken during the installation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. For example, if you suspect a file isn't being replaced when you believe it should be (or vice versa), the log file will tell you if the file was really skipped, and why.
The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)
The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice.
/LOG="filename"
Same as /LOG, except it allows you to specify a fixed path/filename to use for the log file. If a file with the specified name already exists it will be overwritten. If the file cannot be created, Setup will abort with an error message.
/NOCANCEL
Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation process, by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the close button. Useful along with '/SILENT' or '/VERYSILENT'.
/NORESTART
Instructs Setup not to reboot even if it's necessary.
/RESTARTEXITCODE=exit code
Specifies the custom exit code that Setup is to return when a restart is needed. Useful along with '/NORESTART'. Also see Setup Exit Codes.
/LOADINF="filename"
Instructs Setup to load the settings from the specified file after having checked the command line. This file can be prepared using the '/SAVEINF=' command as explained below. Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/SAVEINF="filename"
Instructs Setup to save installation settings to the specified file. Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/LANG=language
Specifies the language to use. language specifies the internal name of the language as specified in a <Languages> section entry.
When a valid /LANG parameter is used, the Select Language dialog will be suppressed.
/DIR="x:dirname"
Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Location wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified.
/GROUP="folder name"
Overrides the default folder name displayed on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. If the <Setup> section directive DisableProgramGroupPage was set to yes, this command line parameter is ignored.
/NOICONS
Instructs Setup to initially check the Don't create a Start Menu folder check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page.
/COMPONENTS="comma separated list of component names"
Overrides the default components settings. Using this command line parameter causes Setup to automatically select a custom type.
/TASKS="comma separated list of task names"
Specifies a list of tasks that should be initially selected or deselected. To deselect a task, prefix its name with a "!" character.
Only the specified tasks (and their children) will be selected; the rest will be deselected. Use the /MERGETASKS parameter instead if you want to keep the default set of tasks and only select/deselect some of them.
Example:
Deselect all tasks, then select the "desktopicon" and "fileassoc" tasks:
/TASKS="desktopicon,fileassoc"
Example:
Deselect all tasks, then select a parent task item, but exclude one of its children:
/TASKS="parent,!parentchild"
/MERGETASKS="comma separated list of task names"
Like the /TASKS parameter, except the specified tasks will be merged with the set of tasks that would have otherwise been selected by default.
If UsePreviousTasks is set to yes, the specified tasks will be selected/deselected after any previous tasks are restored.
Example:
Keep the default set of selected tasks, but additionally select the "desktopicon" and "fileassoc" tasks:
/MERGETASKS="desktopicon,fileassoc"
Example:
Keep the default set of selected tasks, but deselect the "desktopicon" task:
/MERGETASKS="!desktopicon"
/PASSWORD=password
Specifies the password to use. If the <Setup> section directive Password was not set, this command line parameter is ignored.
When an invalid password is specified, this command line parameter is also ignored.
Setup Exit Codes
The Setup program may return one of the following exit codes:
0 Setup was successfully run to completion.
1 Setup failed to initialize.
2 The user clicked Cancel in the wizard before the actual installation started, or chose "No" on the opening "This will install..." message box.
3 A fatal error occurred while preparing to move to the next installation phase (for example, from displaying the pre-installation wizard pages to the actual installation process). This should never happen except under the most unusual of circumstances, such as running out of memory or Windows resources.
4 A fatal error occurred during the actual installation process.
Note: Errors that cause an Abort-Retry-Ignore box to be displayed are not fatal errors. If the user chooses Abort at such a message box, exit code 5 will be returned.
5 The user clicked Cancel during the actual installation process, or chose Abort at an Abort-Retry-Ignore box.
6 The Setup process was forcefully terminated by the debugger (Run | Terminate was used in the IDE).
Before returning an exit code of 1, 3, or 4, an error message explaining the problem will normally be displayed.
Future versions may return additional exit codes, so applications checking the exit code should be programmed to handle unexpected exit codes gracefully. Any non-zero exit code indicates that Setup was not run to completion.
Uninstaller Command Line Parameters
The uninstaller program (unins???.exe) accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the uninstaller program.
/SILENT, /VERYSILENT
When specified, the uninstaller will not ask the user for startup confirmation or display a message stating that uninstall is complete. Shared files that are no longer in use are deleted automatically without prompting. Any critical error messages will still be shown on the screen. When '/VERYSILENT' is specified, the uninstallation progress window is not displayed.
If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used (see below) and '/VERYSILENT' is specified, the uninstaller will reboot without asking.
/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
Instructs the uninstaller to suppress message boxes. Only has an effect when combined with '/SILENT' and '/VERYSILENT'. See '/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES' under Setup Command Line Parameters for more details.
/LOG
Causes Uninstall to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file uninstallation and <UninstallRun> actions taken during the uninstallation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid.
The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)
The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice.
/LOG="filename"
Same as /LOG, except it allows you to specify a fixed path/filename to use for the log file. If a file with the specified name already exists it will be overwritten. If the file cannot be created, Uninstall will abort with an error message.
/NORESTART
Instructs the uninstaller not to reboot even if it's necessary.
Uninstaller Exit Codes
The uninstaller will return a non-zero exit code if the user cancels or a fatal error is encountered. Programs checking the exit code to detect failure should not check for a specific non-zero value; any non-zero exit code indicates that the uninstaller was not run to completion.
Note that at the moment you get an exit code back from the uninstaller, some code related to uninstallation might still be running. Because Windows doesn't allow programs to delete their own EXEs, the uninstaller creates and spawns a copy of itself in the TEMP directory. This "clone" performs the actual uninstallation, and at the end, terminates the original uninstaller EXE (at which point you get an exit code back), deletes it, then displays the "uninstall complete" message box (if it hasn't been suppressed with /SILENT or /VERYSILENT).
Last updated, 2 January 2013, 12:08
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