Install msi with msiexec in a Specific Directory

Question

I want to install a msi with msiexec in a specific directory. I'm using:

msiexec /i "msi path" INSTALLDIR="C:\myfolder" /qb

It is not working with the "INSTALLDIR", because the msi is installing in the default path and not in my specific path.

Answer 1

Use TARGETDIR instead of INSTALLDIR. Note that the quote marks for TARGETDIR property are only around the path in the case of spaces.

msiexec /i "msi path" TARGETDIR="C:\myfolder" /qb

Answer 2

InstallShield 12

INSTALLDIR represents the main product installation directory for a regular Windows Installer–based (or InstallScript MSI) installation, such as the end user launching Setup.exe or your .msi database.

TARGETDIR represents the installation directory for an InstallScript installation, or for an administrative Windows Installer based installation (when the user runs Setup.exe or MsiExec.exe with the /a command-line switch).

In an InstallScript MSI project, the InstallScript variable MSI_TARGETDIR stores the target of an administrative installation.

Answer 3

msiexec /i "msi path" INSTALLDIR="C:\myfolder" /q

Only this variant worked well.

Answer 4

Use INSTALLLOCATION. When you have problems, use the /lv log.txt to dump verbose logs. The logs would tell you if there is a property change that would override your own options. If you already installed the product, then a second run might just update it without changing the install location. You will have to uninstall first (use the /x option).

Answer 5

This should work:

msiexec /i "msi path" TARGETDIR="C:\myfolder" /qb

Answer 6

Actually, both INSTALLPATH/TARGETDIR are correct. It depends on how MSI processes this.

I create a MSG using wixToolSet. In WXS file, there is "Directory" Node, which root dir maybe like the following:

<Directory Id="**TARGETDIR**" Name="SourceDir">;

As you can see: Id is which you should use.

Answer 7

In my case all of them did not work and finally it was

msiexec /i "msinamebla.msi" INSTALLFOLDER="C:\test\" /qb

I checked the log.txt as described by ezzadeen and found "INSTALLFOLDER" in there.

Answer 8

for my msi, I had to set DEFAULTPATHC="D:\myfolder" because later in the installation process, both INSTALLDIR and TARGETDIR were reset to reflect the value in DEFAULTPATHC

Answer 9

This one worked for me too

msiexec /i "msi path" INSTALLDIR="D:\myfolder" /q

I had tried two other iterations and both installed in the default C:\Program Files

INSTALLDIR="D:\myfolder" /q got it installed on the other drive.

Answer 10

Use APPLICATIONFOLDER="path" for latest msiexec

Answer 11

If you've used Advanced Installer to build your .msi you will want to use APPDIR=