Software Deployment

Is it me or are questions getting more bizarre these days?

You don't specify when this information would be required. If it was required during the install itself:

1. running in silent mode?
You can test the UILEVEL property.

2. Is uninstalling?
Test the contents of the REMOVE property.

3. Is an administrative installation?
You'd have to read the MSI's WordCount property. Not simple, but I think the SDK has a sample script for that.

If you wanted to know what was happening external to the install itself, I think you would have to use WMI to determine the command line arguments passed to MSIExec. Check out 'Win32_Process' namespace and its CommandLine property on MSDN.

How can we tell if an installation is
1. running in silent mode?
2. Is uninstalling?
3. Is an administrative installation?
1 - look to see if msiexec is running in task manager.
2 - it will no longer be available on the machine.
3 - it does not install the application. plus if you run a /a, it will ask you for a location to copy the files to...

1) you wont see the installation yet it will be there after completion
2) you can display the REMOVE property if you want to know.
3) you can display the ACTION property

Ian,

I was thinking the very same thing. The questions are getting bizarre.

As for your last comment on the wordcount property using SDK scripts.

I wonder how they come up with PageCount and WordCount they hardly describe what they are.. strange.

ORIGINAL: jmcfadyen
I wonder how they come up with PageCount and WordCount they hardly describe what they are.. strange. I've wondered the same thing for many years. My guess is that they urgently needed somewhere to put that data without altering the code and plumped for these otherwise unused locations. Lazy => MS developers => Lazy, the circle of life.