Microsoft Installer command line string parameter not working?

Question

So I am trying to run a quite installation, with my msi, and it seems like I can easily pass a number for a parameter that I have, but I can\'t seem to pass in a string...I

Answer 1

If you invoke from Powershell, you should use the call operator & This should then also work with parameters enclosed in quotes:

& msiexec /i `"My Installer.msi`" /quiet JREPATH=`"c:\BLA BLA`"

Answer 2

UPDATE: Since this was related to PowerShell. See Windows Installer PowerShell Module on github.com (scroll down for description, use releases tab for download). I haven't really tested it much, but it is from Heath Stewart - Microsoft Senior Software Engineer (github).

Brief, inline sample:

install-msiproduct .\example.msi -destination (join-path $env:ProgramFiles Example)

• How can I use powershell to run through an installer?
• Get the Windows Installer PowerShell Module easier with WMF 5.0

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The below was written before I realized that this was related to PowerShell.

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Quick Suggestion: Maybe try this command line:

msiexec.exe /i c:\setup.msi /QN /L*V "C:\Temp\msilog.log" JREPATH="c:\MyPath"

Get rid of the double \\ in the path you specify (could be enough), and use the old style /QN switch instead of the /quiet switch. Some elaboration and details below.

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Silent Installation: What installer is this? Is it a vendor package? Some sort of Java application I presume? This is how to install a normal MSI file silently:

msiexec.exe /i c:\setup.msi /QN /L*V "C:\Temp\msilog.log"

Quick explanation:

/L*V "C:\Temp\msilog.log"= verbose logging
/QN = run completely silently
/i = run install sequence

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msiexec.exe: There are two types of switches for msiexec.exe - the old fashioned ones such as /QN (Command-Line Options) for silent installation which matches the newer /quiet that you are using (Standard Installer Command-Line Options).

To add properties you do as you have already done, add it to the command line:

msiexec.exe /i myinstaller.msi ADDLOCAL="Program,Dictionaries" SERIALKEY="1234-1234" /qn

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Some Further Links:

• How to make better use of MSI files (On how to deploy MSI files silently with or without transforms applied. First section only. The last section goes into a lot of details on other topics)
• Batch script to install MSI (similar answer)