Info: Silently Installing XMetaL Author version 5.5

[Derek Read]

Product(s):
XMetaL Author version 5.5

Note: The silent installation functionality was broken in the 5.1.1.017 release with no workarounds possible. Silent installation does work in versions prior to that release and separate instructions are available on this forum. For the 5.5 release an updated version of InstallShield has been used and the instructions here apply specifically to that version.

Description:
The standard InstallShield 2008 silent installation method is used.

[u]Unpack the Web Installer:[/u]
If you obtained XMetaL Author on CD you can skip this section. If you obtained a single EXE file (sometimes referred to as the “web installer”) you will need to unpack it to obtain the “real” installer as follows.
  1. Run the installer's EXE.
  2. When you are prompted for a location to unpack the installer to, specify a location you can easily locate and interact with at a command prompt.
  3. The EXE will unpack the installer to the location you specified and the dialog should say “Extracting Files” (or something similar). You will know all files have been unpacked when the “real” installer has launched itself and is displaying a splash screen with the XMetaL logo and options similar to the following.
          * View Installation Guide
          * Install XMetaL Author
          * Exit
  4. Terminate this process once all files have been unpacked by selecting the Exit option.
  5. Confirm the location you specified in step 2 contains a number of folders and files, including a file called setup.exe and possibly a file called autorun.inf among others. These files and folders are what you would obtain if you obtained the product on CD.

[u]Silent Installation:[/u]
This process is performed at a command line and therefore may be integrated into anything capable of running a command line process (such as a batch file or another installer). You need to supply the product serial number as a parameter value. If the software will be used from multiple login accounts the ALLUSERS parameter should be provided. Without the ALLUSERS=1 parameter the software is only usable from the account active during installation. The syntax is as follows:
[code]setup.exe /s /v”/qn SERIALNUMBER={serial number} ALLUSERS=1″[/code]

[u]Silent Uninstallation:[/u]
Use the following syntax to silently uninstall:
[code]setup.exe /s /x /v”qn”[/code]
or
[code]setup.exe /s /v”qn REMOVE=ALL”[/code]

Note: The “setup.exe” referred to above is the file within the 'xmetal' folder (step 5 from section “Unpack the Web Installer” above) not the setup.exe beside the 'xmetal' folder.

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[jperkins]

Actually, you don't need to unpack the web installer. You just need a couple more arguments:

[pre]xm55ee.exe -s -a /s /v”/qn SERIALNUMBER={serial} ALLUSERS=1″[/pre]

However, this doesn't work with the Documentum Webtop adapter 2.0 install. You have to unpack that one, and then run the enclosed XMetaL_Author_Enterprise_for_Documentum_Webtop.exe (not setup.exe).

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[Derek Read]

Example batch files attached for silently installing and uninstalling.

These files assume you have extracted the installer to C:CDROM and that the setup.exe file is in C:CDROMxmetal

In the setup_Installation.bat file you must replace the string ENTER-SERIAL-NUMBER-HERE with a valid serial number (aka: registration key).

In both files, if your setup.exe file is located elsewhere, you will need to modify the path to setup.exe (which is the copy inside the xmetal folder).

Note: Trying to run the commands directly from a COMMAND prompt may fail. Possibly some kind of security feature in XP and Vista. The batch files have been tested by me, our QA department and, as I write this, one client. You probably don't want your users typing things into a command prompt anyway, so having them run a bat file, including the bat file as part of another installer, or incorporating the command into another script is really the way to go.

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[Derek Read]

For people that need to both install XMetaL Author Enterprise 5.5 and XMetaL Author Enterprise for Documentum Webtop 2.0 follow the instructions in this thread for installing the first product, then follow the instructions located in the following new posting:
http://forums.xmetal.com/index.php/topic,712

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