Chapter 2 Installing PowerDesigner


Installing PowerDesigner in Silent Mode

If you need to deploy the PowerDesigner application on a large number of machines and wish to reuse exactly the same setup options and destination folder for each machine, you can use the silent install mode.

Note: this installation mode is not recommended for standalone local licenses as you would have to copy each individual license file on each machine after silent install.

Silent install runs without user input, it uses a response file that contains all the installation options used by silent install. The response file is called setup.iss, it is saved by default in your Windows or WinNT directory.

To create a response file you have to launch an installation with a special command. This command also lets you create the response file on a selected location, for example, the server that you will use for installing several client machines.

Use the following syntax to create the response file:

Setup.exe /r to run the setup in record mode.

Setup.exe /r /f1"x:\selected server path for response file\setup.iss" to create the response file on a selected directory, for example the network server directory.

When the response file is created, you can run the following command from each client machine to start silent install:

Setup.exe /s /f1"x:\path to response file on server\setup.iss"

Installation log

The silent installation mode does not provide any information about the installation itself. You can open the setup.log file in the directory containing the setup.exe file to have a report about the silent install. The last section of this file called ResponseResult contains a line ResultCode=X, which indicates whether the installation is successful. If X=0, installation was successful.

You can also use the /f2 parameter to define a local directory where the setup.log file will be stored on each client machine: G:\setup\setup.exe -s /f2"c:\temp\setup.log"

Steps To use the silent installation mode (Network option):

  1. Using the Windows Run command execute setup with the following command: G:\setup\setup.exe /r /f1"F:\selected server path for response file\setup.iss".

    This allows you to create the setup.iss response file.
  2. From a client machine, map a drive to the server where the PowerDesigner files are copied and to the Installation drive. You must make sure that the drive on the client machine is identical to the drive to the server where the PowerDesigner files are copied. For example, if your PowerDesigner files are located on drive R:\admin\setup.exe, you must use the R drive on each client machine to access installation files.
  3. Proceed to install the client machine with the following command: Setup.exe /s /f1"F:\path to response file on server\setup.iss".

    Each new silent install will replace the content of the setup.log file located in the Installation drive.

    Use the /f2 parameter to define a local directory where the setup.log file will be stored on each client machine:
    G:\setup\setup.exe /s /f2"c:\temp\setup.log"

 


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