The Stowers Institute For Medical Research

How to set MSI parameters on the command line

by Dan Thomasset (dct@stowers-institute.org)

Overview

It is possible to set parameters for an MSI install on the command line. Finding these parameters requires sleuthing using Orca, a Microsoft Installer SDK tool. The rest of this document is a brief guide to finding and changing MSI parameters for command line software installs in Windows.

  1. Pick an MSI
  2. Install Orca

1. Pick an MSI

This example uses VMware Player [download version 1.0.1 ] .

If the install package is an .exe rather than a .msi, then the .msi needs to be extracted with an Administrative install.

VMware-player-1.0.1-19317.exe /a

The administrative install will have a .msi file that can be used for the rest of this document's activities.

2. Install Orca

Download Orca as part of the Windows Installer SDK. Run Orca to

"C:\Program Files\Orca\Orca.exe" "VMware Player.msi"

 

 

 

 

References