Aaron Stebner's WebLog

Aaron has a post on his blog that describes way of silent install of VCRedist.EXE. I though I would cross-link

I previously wrote a blog post about updated versions of the Visual C++ 8.0 runtime files that shipped

I am still having problems getting the vcredist_x86 to install silently.

I am using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and the downloaded version of the VC++ redist. I am modifing the bootstraper Product.XML.

When I look inside the self-extracting file vcredist_x86.exe I can see that it contains the VCREDI~3.EXE file.

So in my C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\vcredist_x86\product.xml

I am using:

vcredist_x86.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~3.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qb!"" ".  

This does not seem to work silently!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<Product

 xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/2004/01/bootstrapper"

 ProductCode="Microsoft.Visual.C++.8.0.x86"

>

 <!-- Defines list of files to be copied on build -->

 <PackageFiles>

   <PackageFile Name="vcredist_x86.exe"/>

 </PackageFiles>

 <InstallChecks>

   <MsiProductCheck Property="VCRedistInstalled" Product="{A49F249F-0C91-497F-86DF-B2585E8E76B7}"/>

 </InstallChecks>

 <!-- Defines how to invoke the setup for the Visual C++ 8.0 redist -->

 <!-- TODO: Needs EstrimatedTempSpace, LogFile, and an update of EstimatedDiskSpace -->

 <Commands Reboot="Defer">

   <Command PackageFile="vcredist_x86.exe"

    Arguments=' /q:a /c:"VCREDI~3.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qb!"" "'>

     <!-- These checks determine whether the package is to be installed -->

     <InstallConditions>

       <BypassIf Property="VCRedistInstalled" Compare="ValueGreaterThanOrEqualTo" Value="3"/>

       <!-- Block install if user does not have admin privileges -->

       <FailIf Property="AdminUser" Compare="ValueEqualTo" Value="false" String="AdminRequired"/>

       <!-- Block install on Win95 -->

       <FailIf Property="Version9X" Compare="VersionLessThan" Value="4.10" String="InvalidPlatformWin9x"/>

       <!-- Block install on NT 4 or less -->

       <FailIf Property="VersionNT" Compare="VersionLessThan" Value="5.00" String="InvalidPlatformWinNT"/>

     </InstallConditions>

     <ExitCodes>

       <ExitCode Value="0" Result="Success"/>

       <ExitCode Value="3010" Result="SuccessReboot"/>

       <DefaultExitCode Result="Fail" FormatMessageFromSystem="true" String="GeneralFailure" />

     </ExitCodes>

   </Command>

 </Commands>

</Product>

Any help in getting this to perform a silent-no-UI install is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your response.

When i run the setup.exe that is created by the deployment project i am receiving a dialoge box that contains:

The following components will be installed on your machine:

Visual C++ Runtime Libraries (x86)

Do you wish to install these components?

If you choose Cancel, setup will exit.

Install Cancel

This pops up on install no matter what i have done to try to silence it.  

I hoped using the command switches you identified would do it but the dialogue message still appears.

Any hlep you can provide on this appreciated.

Very useful information, thanks.

Does anyone have a list of possible return codes? I would like to install it as a prerequisite and I could need a return code if a reboot is required.

Thank-you! Newbie, perhaps silly question:

What is the command to uninstall the package? I tried /x, that seemed to make it attempt to extract all files.

How do most people handle the dilemma of deciding whether to uninstall VC redist or not? Prompting may confuse the user but silently removing it may break other programs.

Thanks for the prompt response!

In playing around with my install, it seems that re-installing if the package is already installed does not cause a problem.

Is the preferred behavior to first check to see if it is already installed? If so, how do I determine if the package is already installed? I assume it's in the registry somewhere?

Also it seems at least on my computer that having two versions installed simultaneously does not cause a problem. For example I currently have the 2005 and 2008 redistribs installed. Is this OK?

Thanks for your help. Sorry if I'm getting a little off topic here...

Mona

Do you have any idea about silent installation of VC++ 2008 SP1.I want to silently install VC++ 2008 SP1 along with my application.Any idea about command line used for installing VC++ 2008 SP1?

Question: You previously posted a list of command line switches to perform silent and unattended installations