Automated and Silent Installations of MediCollector

MediCollector software is distributed using a single-file installer.  This means you download one file and double-click on it, and then follow the instructions to install our software.  But this requires a person to click on many buttons to install the software.  For our customers who are embedding MediCollector into their own systems, it may be useful to automate this process, or even install the software "silently" (with no windows popping up). 

​If you are an advanced user and wish to automate or silently install MediCollector software, please click "Read More" below.   

Background

MediCollector builds it’s installers in a 2 step process:

1. Build an installer using the LabVIEW Application Builder.  This results in a setup.exe file with lots of additional .msi files.  Because this installer has lots of extraneous files, it made the download and install process confusing to our users, so we decided to pack these files into a single file using WinRar (see step 2 below).
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2. Pack all the installer files into a WinRar Self-Extracting Archive (known as a WinRAR SFX).  A WinRAR SFX is a single executable (.exe) which the user can download and execute.  

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​As a user, the installation process is also a 2-step process, but it happens seamlessly for you.  You just need to double-click the file that you downloaded, and follow the instructions.  If you want to automate this 2-step process, it requires that we automate both steps.

Command Line

To automate the process, use the command line below:
 
MediCollectorCLI1.1.25.exe -s -sp”/q /AcceptLicenses yes”
 
The -s and -sp parameters will automate the SFX unpacking process.  Additional SFX parameters are explained here:

     GUI SFX modules: command line options

The parameters within quotes are passed to the installer setup file.  Additional parameters are explained here:

     How to Do a Silent Installation of National Instruments Installers

Examples

Below are some variations of automated installs:

MediCollectorCLI1.1.25.exe -s -sp”/q /AcceptLicenses yes”
Fully silent, no dialogs at all

MediCollectorCLI1.1.25.exe -s -sp”/q /AcceptLicenses yes /r:n”
Fully silent, no dialogs at all, and suppress final reboot

MediCollectorCLI1.1.25.exe -s -sp”/q /AcceptLicenses yes /r:f”
Fully silent, no dialogs at all, and force a final reboot

MediCollectorCLI1.1.25.exe -s2 -sp”/qb /AcceptLicenses yes /r:n”
Progress dialogs presented for both steps (-s2 and /qb) and suppress reboot (/r:n).  Beware that presenting a progress dialog also allows a user to cancel the process.
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