Silent Install Cheatsheet

Command-line switches for unattended / silent installation of popular Windows software — for SCCM (MECM), Microsoft Intune, Group Policy (GPO), MDT, PDQ Deploy, and PowerShell deployment scripts.

Maintained by OfflineInstallerSetup.com — verified offline installer links for 793+ Windows, macOS, and Linux applications.

⚠️ Always test in a lab first. Installer switches change between versions and editions. Verify against the vendor's own documentation before deploying at scale. Replace x.x.x with the actual version in the filename.

Contents

• Installer framework switches (universal)
• How to identify the installer framework
• Per-app silent install commands
• MSI standard properties
• Detecting success in scripts

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Installer framework switches (universal)

Most Windows installers are built with one of a handful of frameworks. Identify the framework, and the silent switch follows:

Framework	Silent switch	Very-silent / no UI	No restart
Windows Installer (MSI)	/qb (basic UI)	/qn (no UI)	/norestart
NSIS	/S (capital S)	/S	/NCRC (skip CRC)
Inno Setup	/SILENT	/VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES	/NORESTART
InstallShield	/s /v"/qb"	/s /v"/qn"	/v"REBOOT=ReallySuppress"
WiX Burn bundle	/passive	/quiet	/norestart
Squirrel	--silent	--silent	(auto)
MSIX / AppX	Add-AppxPackage	(always silent)	(n/a)
InstallAware	/s	/s	/NoRestart

How to identify the installer framework

# Inspect the installer's metadata and embedded strings
Get-Item .\setup.exe | Select-Object VersionInfo

# NSIS installers contain the string "Nullsoft"; Inno contains "Inno Setup"
Select-String -Path .\setup.exe -Pattern "Nullsoft","Inno Setup","InstallShield" -Encoding Byte -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

• Nullsoft → NSIS → use /S
• Inno Setup → use /VERYSILENT /NORESTART
• InstallShield → use /s /v"/qn"
• A .msi file → use msiexec /i file.msi /qn /norestart

Per-app silent install commands

Each row links to the app's verified download page on OfflineInstallerSetup, where the current version and official source are listed.

Software	Installer	Silent command	Download
7-Zip	NSIS	7zXXXX-x64.exe /S /D=C:\Program Files\7-Zip	link
VLC Media Player	NSIS	vlc-x.x.x-win64.exe /S	link
Notepad++	NSIS	npp.x.x.x.Installer.x64.exe /S	link
Mozilla Firefox	NSIS	Firefox Setup x.x.exe -ms	link
Google Chrome (Enterprise MSI)	MSI	msiexec /i googlechromestandaloneenterprise64.msi /quiet /norestart	link
Git for Windows	Inno Setup	Git-x.x.x-64-bit.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /NOCANCEL /SP-	link
Visual Studio Code	Inno Setup	VSCodeUserSetup-x64.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /MERGETASKS=!runcode	link
Python	Custom (PEP)	python-3.x.x.exe /quiet InstallAllUsers=1 PrependPath=1	link
Node.js	MSI	msiexec /i node-vx.x.x-x64.msi /quiet /norestart	link
Zoom	MSI	msiexec /i ZoomInstallerFull.msi /quiet /norestart	link
OBS Studio	NSIS	OBS-Studio-x.x-Full-Installer-x64.exe /S	link
Audacity	Inno Setup	audacity-win-x.x.x-64bit.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART	link
GIMP	Custom	gimp-x.x.x-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART	link
LibreOffice	MSI	msiexec /i LibreOffice_x.x.x_Win_x64.msi /quiet /norestart	link
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC	Custom	AcroRdrDCx.exe /sAll /rs /msi EULA_ACCEPT=YES	link
PuTTY	MSI	msiexec /i putty-64bit-x.x-installer.msi /quiet /norestart	link
FileZilla	NSIS	FileZilla_x.x.x_win64-setup.exe /S	link
VirtualBox	MSI/Custom	VirtualBox-x.x.x-Win.exe --silent --ignore-reboot	link
7-Zip Zstandard	MSIX	Add-AppxPackage -Path .\NanaZip.msixbundle	link
Rufus	Portable	rufus.exe (portable — no install; use -g for GUI)	link

Full catalog of 725+ Windows apps with official download links: offlineinstallersetup.com/category/

MSI standard properties

These work with any .msi via msiexec:

msiexec /i "App.msi" /qn /norestart ^
  ALLUSERS=1 ^
  REBOOT=ReallySuppress ^
  /L*v "C:\Logs\App_install.log"

Property	Effect
/qn	No UI (fully silent)
/qb	Basic UI (progress bar only)
/norestart	Suppress reboot
REBOOT=ReallySuppress	Harder reboot suppression
ALLUSERS=1	Per-machine install
/L*v file.log	Verbose logging

Detecting success in scripts

$p = Start-Process -FilePath "msiexec.exe" `
  -ArgumentList '/i "App.msi" /qn /norestart' `
  -Wait -PassThru
# 0 = success, 3010 = success but reboot required
if ($p.ExitCode -in 0,3010) { "OK ($($p.ExitCode))" } else { "FAILED $($p.ExitCode)" }

Exit code	Meaning
0	Success
1641	Success, reboot initiated
3010	Success, reboot required
1603	Fatal error during install
1618	Another install already in progress

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Contributing

Found a switch that changed, or one we're missing? Open an issue or PR. Please cite the vendor's documentation.

Related

• awesome-offline-installers — curated offline installer list
• enterprise-software-deployment — SCCM/Intune/MDT guides
• windows-installer-downloads — direct Windows installer links

License

— public domain.