Recently I need to reorder the pre-req installation for a InstallShield installer package that has pre-reqs and MSI inside it. That means I’ll have to extract all the pre-req EXE and MSI files and write batch files to call them, then the installer again for the core software, all done silently.

I learned:

• Administrative install (/a switch) only extracts the core firmware, not the pre-req files
• /b”<target-folder>” extracts the pre-reqs as .prq files
• Need to steal the extracted .exe files by monitoring temporary folder as they go
• /s doesn’t always silent installs. Some with MSI packed inside the .exe files requires the ‘silent’ request passed to the MSI by adding /v/qn (/v passes the switch to the MSI, which is /qn, which means silent in this case)
• .NET before v2.0 requires different switches to install without prompting for license agreement, namely

  /q:a /c:"install /q"