.net – MSIEXEC not installing an MSI setup if /QUIET parameter is used to suppress the UI

To automate the installation of an MSI package, you can use the /I option, like this:

msiexec.exe /qn /i mypackage.msi

Keep in mind that you need to specify the properties the MSI package expect the user to specify through the UI, and for which it does not have a default value.

You can use the Orca tool to see the list of properties and fiddle around with MSI conditions, etc. And to set values for the properties, you can just specify it in command line; e.g. to set a property ISDEBUG:

msiexec.exe /qn /i mypackage.msi ISDEBUG=1

Side note: To automate uninstall, use the /X option with the package or the product code:

msiexec.exe /qn /x mypackage.msi

or this (where you need to change the CLSID with your product code):

msiexec.exe /qn /x {B741B8A3-8DCB-44E0-B06F-2A11F56572DB}

Installation does not fail if the package is already installed, it was "successfully reconfigured"

In order to check if a Windows Installer package is installed on the system or not, you're best to use the Windows SDK (not a batch file) - here's a sample script that iterates the list of installed products and triggers MSIEXEC if it is not already installed. (This example searches by name, alternatively you could search by package code)

Option Explicit

Dim productName:productName = "My Awesome Product"

Dim installer : Set installer = Nothing
Set installer = Wscript.CreateObject("WindowsInstaller.Installer")

Dim productCode, property, value, message

For Each productCode In installer.Products
    If InStr(1, LCase(installer.ProductInfo(productCode, "ProductName")), LCase(productName)) Then Exit For
Next

If IsEmpty(productCode) Then 
    Dim WshShell, oExec
    Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    WshShell.Exec("msiexec /i mypackage.msi /qb")
Else
    Wscript.Echo productName & " is already installed."
    Wscript.Quit 2
End If