Performing a silent installation

Administrators can silently upgrade or install the HCL Connections Desktop Plug-ins for Microsoft Windows from the command prompt. User notification is disabled during the silent installation, except in error cases such as notification of failed prerequisites.

About this task

A silent installation uses the same installation program that the graphical user interface (GUI) version uses. However, instead of displaying a wizard interface, the silent installation reads all of your responses from parameters that you pass to the command line. In order for the installation to work successfully, you must run the silent installation from the directory where you extracted the plug-in files.

Procedure

  1. Download the plug-in from the HCL FlexNet site download package, the link for which is found in HCL Article KB0073986.
  2. Extract the file.
  3. Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory where you saved HCLConnectionsMSDesktop.exe.
  4. Type HCLConnectionsMSDesktop.exe /Options(s) [PROPERTY=Value] The optional parameters and public property settings are listed in the following tables:
    Table 1. Optional parametersOptional parameters for a silent install.
    Optional parameters Description
    /install Install the plug-in.
    /uninstall Uninstalls the plug-in.
    /quiet Establishes Silent mode, which requires no user interaction.
    /norestart Prevents restart after the installation is complete.
    /promptrestart Prompts the user for restart if necessary.
    /forcerestart Always restarts the computer after installation.
    Table 2. Public propertiesPublic properties for a silent install
    Public property Description
    INSTALLDIR Directory where plug-ins are installed. For example,
    INSTALLDIR=C:\Progra~1\HCL\Connections Desktop Plugins
    ADDLOCAL Optionally install components. If nothing is specified, all components are installed. The Windows Explorer feature is required and is always installed. Examples:
    • To silently install just the Microsoft Windows Explorer feature:
      HCLConnectionsMSDesktop.exe /install /quiet ADDLOCAL=WindowsExplorer
      
    • To silently install the Microsoft Office feature:
      HCLConnectionsMSDesktop.exe /install /quiet ADDLOCAL=WindowsExplorer,MicrosoftOffice
    Table 3. Samples of silent installation commands Silent installation commands
    Description Example
    Silent installation with restart and INSTALLDIR property
    HCLConnectionsMSDesktop.exe /install /quiet /forcerestart
    INSTALLDIR=C:\Progra~1\IBM\Sample
    
    Silent uninstall with no restart
    HCLConnectionsMSDesktop.exe /uninstall /quiet /norestart 
  5. Reboot the computer.