WinZip Self Extractor pass command line args to msi

Question

I've created an installer using wix 3.6 which produces an msi file that includes several dialogs (EULA, install location, etc). I then create a self extracting zip file using WinZip Self Extractor in the "Software Installation" mode which kicks off the msi. All this works great.

However, some users have requested a "minimial" install mode that doesn't prompt for input, it just uses all the defaults and installs. This would be used for admin type installs as part of a larger install script. I can pass /qb to the msi and get the exact behavior they want, but if I pass /qb to the self extractor exe it doesn't pass it along to the msi like I want. I've looked through the WinZip Self Extractor documentation, but haven't found an answer. Any ideas on how to make this work?

Answer 1

I don't recommend using generic self-extracting executables like WinZip and others because they do not cache the MSI file. Future operations with the MSI including minor upgrades, patches, and repair may require the MSI to be provided with the name the self-extractor used (hopefully WinZip doesn't change that) and will default to the path (usually %TEMP%). Users are often very confused when this happens and can't upgrade or fix their installation.

Instead, I recommend using a Bootstrapper/Chainer designed to install packages. WiX v3.6+ comes with a new feature called Bundle that uses the new Burn engine to handle all the self-extracting scenarios, plus much much more. It takes a bit more work to get created up front but can behave exactly like you are asking in this question.

Probably not the answer you were looking for, but I highly recommend considering using a real bootstrapper/chainer instead of a self-extractor.