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Silent Installation (EXE Installer)

Silent Installation – for multiple installs

Silently installing PDF-XChange.

This functionality is provided for users with multiple licenses – not for single user licenses to be copied to multiple machines – which is illegal. A license is required for each machine to which PDF-XChange is installed – except for evaluation use in demonstration mode.

Assuming you have a multiple user license – installing PDF-XChange to many workstations – it may be useful to be able to silently install without the need for any user interaction. This allows you to execute the install either from the command line with certain parameters and switches applied – or create a batch file (.bat file) and distribute this with the main installation executable for your users to run directly – alleviating the need for the System Administrator to visit each user and install.

Please note as with any system device – such as a printer, full Administrator privileges are required to install on later 'Win32' versions of Microsoft Windows.

Here is an example of the full command line string available: Most items are optional unless otherwise stated 

C:\PDFX5.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART
/COMPONENTS="pdfSaver,PDFXChangedriver,PDFTools4,Office2PDF,OfficesAddin, Help,Languagess" 
/DIR="C:\Program Files\PDF-XChange 5\" /Key:"XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" 
/UserName:"I am" /Organization:"Tracker software" /UserEmail:"my@email.com" 
/InstallProfile:"C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates\my Profile1.ppr"

N.B. Please note that the indicated string content must begin and end with double quote marks (")!

OPTION PARAMETERS DEFINITION
MAIN install executable and path (required)   This is the full path to the installation executable, note it is the standard install executable - both silent and non silent installations are available from the single executable.

C:\PDFX5SA_sm.exe

/h or /hlp
  Displays this help screen.
/? or /help   Displays standard innosetup help screen.
/VERYSILENT   Designates that the installation once started should be silent and require no user interaction.
/SILENT   Designates that the install should only request essential information from the user once started.
/NORESTART   Once the install is complete - no reboot will occur - but beware - PDF-XChange does require a reboot before updates will take effect - not recommended.
/DIR <folder> The full path to install all required files to. It will be created if not already available. 
Example: PDFX5.exe/DIR="C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange Pro\”

/Group <group name> The Windows 'Start Menu' folder in which to locate the Menu options provided when installing PDF-XChange - this will always be a 'Child' menu option of the default 'Programs Files' menu and this cannot be changed.  
Example: PDFX5.exe/GROUP="Tracker Software\PDF-XChange 5 Pro"

/COMPONENTS <component(s)> If this switch is specified only those components actually listed will be installed, otherwise all components are installed. The available components are:
- pdfSaver (Always Required)
- PDFXChangedriver (Always Required)
- PDFTools4
- Office2PDF
- Help
- Languagess (please note 'ss' is required)
- OfficesAddin
- IEPlugin: plugin for Internet Explorer for creating PDF files
Example: PDFX5.exe/COMPONENTS="pdfSaver,PDFXChangedriver,PDFTools4,OfficesAddin, Help,Languagess"
All components except OFFice2PDF will be installed.

/AutoUnload:nn <nn> If this option is specified, after the specified timeout (nn, in minutes) the PDFSaver5 module of the PDF-XChange driver will unload.  Useful when installed on a Windows Terminal Server or Citrix Metaframe server with multiple Users to minimise memory in use when PDF creation is not being used by a user – will automatically reload when required.
Example: PDFX5.exe"/Autounload:03"

(Strictly speaking Autounload is not a component - but a default setting parameter mainly used in Citrix Metaframe or Terminal Services installations to minimise memory use on a server where PDFSaver5.exe could be loaded multiple times.)

/KEYDATA <serial key> Allows the Serial Key to be registered during silent installation - for live use. Without this information PDF-XChange will function in demo mode only
Example: PDFX5.exe /KEYDATA="PXP50-.......Vc6Z0A="
/KEYFILE

<xcvault file> Allows the a license file (.xcvault) to be used for registration during silent installation by - for live use. A valid UNC path is required.  Without this information PDF-XChange will function in demo mode only
Example: PDFX5.exe /KEYFILE:"\path\to\xcvault\file"
/UserName <user’s name> Allows the registered username to be registered during silent installation
Example: PDFX5.exe/UserName:"My Name" 
/Organization <organization> Allows the Company details to be registered during silent installation
Example: PDFX5.exe/Organization:"Tracker software"
/UserEmail <user’s email> Allows the users email address details to be registered during silent installation
Example: PDFX5.exe/UserEmail:"my@email.com"
/PDEFAULT   Sets PDF-XChange to be the system default Printer - the default option without this entry is that PDF-XChange will not be the default printer.
/PName <name> Sets the PDF-XChange printer name as required - the default option without this entry is currently "PDF-XChange 5.0".

/PName="PDF-XChange for my application"

Please note that the string content must begin and end with double quote marks (").

/LANG <language> Sets a language as the default language for the User Interface for all the installed programs and Print drivers (PDF-XChange, PDF-Tools, OFFice2PDF and the MS Office Addin's etc).

/LANG=language en (English) nl (Dutch) uk (Ukrainian) fr (French) gr (German) it (Italian) sp (Spanish) ko (Korean) ch (Chinese) jp (Japanese) fi (Finnish).
This may not be the complete list - please see the installation folder 'C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange 5 Pro\Languages'  for the up to date list of supported language files.

Example:  PDFX5.exe [other parameters] /LANG=gr [Additional parameters]

/InstallProfile <path to profile> When specified the users PDF-XChange Installation will automatically be configured and loaded with the default printer preferences as designated in the specified Profile – which must exist both before and after the installation in the designated path on the users drive.

Important : When profiles are created using the silent install they are available globally for all users on the installed hardware - either a single PC or a Citrix Metaframe/Windows Terminal Server. Therefore from build 3.3063 we have disabled the ability for a single user to edit or delete profiles created using the silent installation as they are used by all. (If you wish to be able to edit profiles you must import them after installation and they will be visible only by the user logged in and performing the import)

PDFX5.exe /InstallProfile:"C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates\MyProfile1.ppr"

Installation with a more than one profile using the silent installation options.

From build 3.3063 we have made it possible to install and import more than one profile - using a text file containing a list of profile files and the full paths where they are located. Create a text file using any standard text editor - i.e. Notepad. Create a file containing the list of profiles you have created and their location on the drive at the time you intend to run the installation, for example:

C:\Tmp\Myprofile1.ppr
D:\Figna\Myprofile222.ppr
D:\XXXX\Myprofile33.ppr
M:\YYYYY\Myprofile444.ppr
Z:\ZZZZZ\Myprofile5.ppr

Save this list to a an ASCII text file - ensuring the extension given to the file is .lst The last profile in the list will be installed as the default profile on opening PDF-XChange !

You can now use the following command line switch as part of your silent installation options.

PDFX5.exe /InstallProfile="C:\Tmp\MyProfilesList.lst"
/PDFEDITOR <optional YES> If specified, PDF-Xchange Editor will be downloaded and installed. If /PDFEDITOR=YES is specified, Editor will be set as a default viewer for PDF files after installation.
Example: PDFX5.exe /PDFEDITOR=YES  - PDF-XChange Editor will be downloaded and installed and will be set as a default viewer for PDF files. 
/VIEW_IN_BROWSERS   If specified and has value 1, PDF files will be viewed in a browser. Viewing in browser requires browsers plugins to be installed (see ADDLOCAL parameter):

ADDLOCAL="F_Viewer,F_BrowserPlugins" VIEW_IN_BROWSERS=1

View in browser option can also be turned on or off later via Editor's preferences.
/NOICONS   Instructs Setup to initially check the Don't create a Start Menu folder check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. In silent mode it means that no program group will be created (parameter /Group will be ignored, if specified).
/NODESKICON   If specified, no desktop icon will be created after the installation.
/L   During the installation the file prninstaller.log – log-file of the installation of the driver part of the product – will be created in the PDF-XChange folder.
/LOG   Causes Setup to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file installation and [Run] actions taken during the installation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. For example, if you suspect a file isn't being replaced when you believe it should be (or vice versa), the log file will tell you if the file was really skipped, and why.

The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)

The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice.
/LOG <file name> Same as /LOG, except it allows you to specify a fixed path/filename to use for the log file. If a file with the specified name already exists it will be overwritten. If the file cannot be created, Setup will abort with an error message.

PDFX5.exe /LOG="C:\Logs\PDFXInstallLog.txt"

Command-line Examples


1. Install the application in silent mode (no user input) to folder "C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange Pro\" without re-boot system:

PDFX5.exe/NORESTART /VERYSILENT


2. Install the application in silent mode (no user input) to folder "C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange Pro\":

PDFX5.exe/VERYSILENT /DIR="C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange Pro\”


3. Install the application in silent mode (no user input) with registration information:

PDFX5.exe/VERYSILENT /KEYDATA="PXP50-joa......sux90id-0x0e=" /UserName:"My Name" /Organization:"Tracker software" /UserEmail:"my@email.com"  


4. Install the application with the profile and without any icons in Start Menu and desktop:

PDFX5.exe/NOICONS /NODESKICON /InstallProfile:"C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates\MyProfile1.ppr"

 


See also
Introduction
System Requirements
MSI Installation Switches


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