MSI Command Line Options
| Option | Parameters | Description |
| /I | Package\ProductCode | Installs or configures a product. |
| /f | [p|o|e|d|c|a|u|m|s|v] Package\ProductCode |
Repairs a product. This option ignores any property values entered on the command line. the default argument list for this option is "pecms. This option shares the same argument list as the REINSTALLMODE property. p — Reinstalls only if file is missing. o — Reinstalls if file is missing or an older version is installed. e — Reinstalls if file is missing or an equal or older version is installed. d — Reinstalls if file is missing or a different version is installed. c — Reinstalls if file is missing or the stored checksum does not match the calculated value. Only repairs files that have msidbFileAttributesChecksum in the Attributes column of the File table. a — Forces all files to be reinstalled. u — Rewrites all required user-specific registry entries. m — Rewrites all required computer -specific registry entries. s — Overwrites all existing shortcuts. v — Runs from source and recaches the local package. Do not use the reinstall option for the first installation of an application or feature. |
| /a | Package | Administrative installation option. Installs a product on the network. |
| /x | Package\ProductCode | Uninstalls a product. |
| /j | [u|m]Package or [u|m]Package/ or [u|m]Package/ |
Advertises a product. This option ignores any property values entered on the command line. u — Advertises to the current user. m — Advertises to all users of machine. g — Language identifier. t — Applies transform to advertised package. |
| Option | Parameters | Description |
| /l | [i|w|e|a|r|u|c|m|o|p|v|x|+|!] | Specifies path to log file. Flags indicate which information to log. i — Status messages. w — Nonfatal warnings. e — All error messages. a — Start up of actions. r — Action-specific records. u — User requests. c — Initial UI parameters m — Out-of-memory or fatal exit information. o — Out-of-disk-space messages. p — Terminal properties. v — Verbose output. x — Extra debugging information. Only available on Windows Server 2003. + — Append to existing file. ! — Flush each line to the log. "*" — Wildcard, log all information except for the v and x options. To include the v and x options, specify "/ l*vx". |
| /m | filename | Generates an SMS status . mif file. Must be used with either the install (-i), remove (-x), administrative installation (- a_, or reinstall (- f) options. The ISMIF32.DLL is installed as part of SMS and must be on the path. The fields of the status mif file are filled with the following information: Manufacturer — Author Product — Revision Number Version — Subject Locale — Template Serial Number — not set Installation — set by ISMIF32.DLL to "DateTime InstallStatus — Success or Failed Description — Error messages in the following order: 1) Error messages generated by installer. 2) Resource from Msi.dll if installation could not commence or user exit. 3) System error message file. 4) Formatted message: "Installer error %i", where %i is error returned from Msi.dll. |
| /p | PatchPackage[;patchPackage2...] | Applies a patch. To apply a patch to an installed administrative image you must combine options as follows: /p <PatchPackage>[;patchPackage2...] /a <Package> |
| Option | Parameters | Description |
| /q | n|b|r|f | Sets User interface level. q, qb — Basic qr — Reduced qf — Full qn+ — No qb+ — Basic qb- — Basic Note that the ! option is available with Windows Installer version 2.0 and works only with basic UI. It is not valid with full UI. |
| /? or /h | Displays copyright information for Windows Installer. | |
| /y | Module | Calls the system API This option is used only for registry information that cannot be added using the registry tables of the .msi file. |
| /z | Module | Calls the system API This option is used only for registry information that cannot be removed using the registry tables of the .msi file. |
| /c | Advertises a new instance of the product. Must be used in conjunction with /t. | |
| /n | ProductCode | Specifies a particular instance of the product. Used to identify an instance installed using the multiple instance support through a product code changing transforms. |