Basic Silent install of an MSI or EXE applicaiton

Question

Hello All
I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction, as I am still learning much about Powershell.
I cant seem to find what I need on the google box without getting my self confused. right now my company uses wrappers.vbs to accomplish this task (example posted at the bottom of the page) but I would like to move into the Powershell realm
This is what I am trying to accomplish
1) Create a Powershell script that will install an MSI application and one that will install exe
2) The install should be silent and no user interaction. this is what I usully put at the commad line
msiexec /i "jre1.7.0_45-c.msi" /q
I am creating packages of our programs in sccm 2012 and would like to create a powershell script for as many of these programs as possible. This is will be good practice for me so I am just looking for a good basic starting point in which I can build from
Here is an example of the wrapper.vbs in conjunction with wrapper.xml we use. which is an xml file. - Kind of old school if you ask me
?xml version="1.0"?>
<package>
 <application>
  <publisher>Microsoft</publisher>       <!-- Publisher name, section must be first -->
  <title>Office Enterprise</title>           <!-- Title of application -->
  <version>2010</version>           <!-- Major version of application -->
  <popup>TRUE</popup>             <!-- Display pop about install, TRUE or FALSE -->
  <popup-wait>10</popup-wait>         <!-- number of seconds to delay popup if no OK is clicked, 0 = message box stays until the user dismisses it-->
  <popup-cancel>TRUE</popup-cancel>      <!-- Allow cancel button in popup -->
  <showcomplete>TRUE</showcomplete>      <!-- Show complete dialog box to use, TRUE or FALSE -->
  <popuptag></popuptag>            <!-- Displayed at the bottom of the popup -->
    <showprogress>FALSE</showprogress>      <!-- Show Internet Explore progress bar -->
 </application>
 <application>
  <category>exe</category>          <!-- exe, reg, storage, 100 application sections max -->
  <action>INSTALL</action>          <!-- INSTALL, UNINSTALL, OTHER (No Error Checking) -->
  <source>%Current_Path%\2010SP1</source>          <!-- blank = default to xml directory -->
  <program>setup.exe</program>
  <switches></switches>      <!-- %CURRENT_PATH% Recommend you use quote with this statement -->
  <architecture>x86</architecture>        <!-- x86, x64, or blank for all -->
  <minos></minos>               <!-- 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, or blank for all -->
  <maxos></maxos>               <!-- 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, or blank for all -->
  <visible>1</visible>            <!-- 0 = Hides the window, 1 = Displays the windows, 2 = minimized, 3 = maximized -->
  <wait>TRUE</wait>              <!-- TRUE = wait till the command finishes execution -->
 </application>
 <application>
  <category>exe</category>          <!-- exe, reg, storage, 100 application sections max -->
  <action>INSTALL</action>          <!-- INSTALL, UNINSTALL, OTHER (No Error Checking) -->
  <source>%Current_Path%\2010SP1x64</source>          <!-- blank = default to xml directory -->
  <program>setup.exe</program>
  <switches></switches>      <!-- %CURRENT_PATH% Recommend you use quote with this statement -->
  <architecture>x64</architecture>        <!-- x86, x64, or blank for all -->
  <minos></minos>               <!-- 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, or blank for all -->
  <maxos></maxos>               <!-- 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, or blank for all -->
  <visible>1</visible>            <!-- 0 = Hides the window, 1 = Displays the windows, 2 = minimized, 3 = maximized -->
  <wait>TRUE</wait>              <!-- TRUE = wait till the command finishes execution -->
 </application> 
</package>
Phil Balderos

Answer 1

PowerShell is a very heavyweight solution for a one-off installer. A batch file (shell script) is a better solution for two main reasons:
1. By default the file association for .ps1 does not execute the PowerShell script but opens in Notepad.
2. PowerShell loads a lot more slowly (particularly on a busy machine) than cmd.exe.
In addition, PowerShell can run a shell script (.bat/.cmd) file just by typing its name, so there's no limitation there.
For what you want to do, a short shell script (like I posted) is a better solution than PowerShell IMO.
-- Bill Stewart [Bill_Stewart]
Bill
Thanks for the advise. Makes perfect sense, as I am a noobie still learning. I will try the shell script you provided and find other ways to play with Powershell for automation.
Thanks again!
Phil
Phil Balderos