Windows App Silent and Bulk Installation¶

This guide explains how to deploy the Windows application silently and at scale using the MSI and EXE distribution methods.

Note

For silent, bulk, MDM, and administrative deployments, MSI is generally the preferred and more versatile method.

MSI Installation Options¶

The MSI installer supports several user-interface levels, per-user vs per-machine scope, administrative extraction, and uninstallation methods. The examples below use a sample file name AcrobitsClient.msi—adjust as needed.

Basic Install (Default UI)¶

Installs the application using the default Windows Installer behavior.

msiexec /i AcrobitsClient.msi

Silent Mode (No UI)¶

Use this for a fully invisible installation with no prompts or interface shown to the user.

msiexec /i AcrobitsClient.msi /quiet

Passive Mode (Minimal UI)¶

Use this for unattended installs where you want to show a progress bar only, without user interaction.

msiexec /i AcrobitsClient.msi /passive

Install for All Users (Per-Machine)¶

Run Command Prompt as an administrator to install for all users. Otherwise, the per-machine install may fail or silently fall back to per-user.

msiexec /i AcrobitsClient.msi ALLUSERS=1

Combine with quiet mode if desired:

msiexec /i AcrobitsClient.msi ALLUSERS=1 /quiet

Administrative Installation (Network Extraction)¶

An administrative installation extracts the application’s files into a network-sharable folder. It does not install the application on the local machine; it prepares the files for deployment to multiple users or systems.

msiexec /a AcrobitsClient.msi

This command will prompt for a network path where the extracted installation files should be placed.

MSI Uninstall Options¶

You can uninstall the application using the MSI installer from the command line, either using the original .msi file or the Product Code GUID.

Uninstall Using the MSI File¶

msiexec /x AcrobitsClient.msi

Uninstall Using the Product Code¶

If you do not have the .msi file, use the Product Code (a unique identifier for the installed product). You can find it in the registry or via PowerShell.

msiexec /x "{PRODUCT-CODE-GUID}"

How to Find the MSI Product Code¶

PowerShell example to list installed products and their identifiers:

Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*<NAME>*" } | Select-Object Name, IdentifyingNumber

Replace <NAME> with the display name of the installed app. The IdentifyingNumber in the output is the Product Code GUID.

MSI Installation Additional Arguments¶

These arguments can be combined with any install or uninstall mode (default, passive, or silent):

Restart Behavior¶

Option	Description
`/norestart`	Prevents automatic system restart
`/forcerestart`	Forces reboot after the process completes
`/promptrestart`	Prompts user to restart if needed

Examples¶

Install the app in passive mode and force a restart:

msiexec /i AcrobitsClient.msi /passive /forcerestart

Uninstall the app silently with logging and without restart:

msiexec /x AcrobitsClient.msi /quiet /norestart /l*v uninstall.log

Silent EXE Installation¶

While MSI is generally preferred, you can still perform a fully silent EXE install. The following command installs without prompts and can target all users:

installer_name.exe /S /AllUsers /D=<path>

Where:

/S installs the application silently without prompts.
/AllUsers installs the application for all users with access to the folder specified by /D.
/D specifies the destination path where the application is installed.