HOWTO: Invoke Silent MDAC or DA SDK 2.0 Redistribution

ID: Q192009

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

The redistribution for Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) Version 1.5 and 2.0 is essentially a setup program encapsulated within another setup program. The outer setup provides a single .exe which, when run, extracts the contents needed for the inner setup and then invoke the setup. Subsequently, to control the behavior of the redistribution, you need to invoke it with command line switches that control both inner and outer setups. For example, this article explains how to invoke a silent install, or even to suppress the reboot that would otherwise occur when the inner setup concludes running.


MORE INFORMATION

The following samples apply to any of the MDAC redistribution programs for versions 1.5 or 2.0: 


   mdac_typ.exe - Installs the full MDAC 2.0 stack of components, drivers
                  and providers.

   mdac_olp.exe - Same as the MDAC_TYP but adds ADO/MD.

   mdacfull.exe - Installs full MDAC 1.5 stack of components, drivers and
                  providers.

   mdacrdst.exe - Installs minimal MDAC 1.5 stack of components and SQL
                  Server ODBC Driver.
To make the MDAC redistribution run unattended you use the "/Q" command. By default, this passes on "/Q" to the inner setup. If you want to change the inner setup options, you override the default command by using the outer setups "/c:" option.

The tips here do not apply to the MDAC 1.5 Standalone or to the Data Access 2.0 SDK setup.

To have an unattended install that does NOT automatically reboot (it most likely needs one though) you can use the following command:
<mdac Redist> /q /C:"setup /QN1"
This runs the inner setup in unattended mode and is not automatically rebooted. If you really want a minimalist user interface (UI), you can use the following command:
<mdac Redist> /q /C:"setup /QNT"
To extract the inner setup into a directory, you would use the following command:
<mdac Redist> /t:<path> /c

Outer Setup Command Line Options

You can determine the command line options of the outer setup through the following statement:

Command line options for the outer setup include: 


   /Q            - Quiet modes for package.
   /T:<fullpath> - Specifies Temporary Working folder.
   /C            - Extract files only to folder when used with /t.
   /C:<cmd>      - Override install command defined by author.
After extracting the inner setup to a temporary directory, you can use the following command to extract the command line options:

setup /?
Command line options for the inner setup include the following: 


   Command Line Option      Description
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   /A                       Administrator Mode.

   /G <filename>            Generate logfile of installation activity.

   /Q[0|1|T]                Quiet install mode (0 shows exit, 1 hides exit,
                            T hides all display).

   /QN[1|T]                 Quiet install mode with reboot suppressed.

   /R                       Reinstall application (MDAC 1.5 Redistribution
                            only)

   /U[A]                    Uninstall the application but leaves shared
                            components (/UA to remove all).

   /X <filename>            Set network log location for tracking install
                            instances.

   /Y                       Install without copying files.


REFERENCES

The MDAC 1.5 Standalone setup, which is not as good of a choice for redistribution as the MDAC redistribution, also has a method for controlling features of what is installed and how it is installed. You should only use the MDAC 1.5 standalone for installing on a developer machine (as it is really a software development kit), and use the MDAC 1.5/2.0 redists for deploying applications built with MDAC components. For more information see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q177913 HOWTO: Use the MDAC Standalone Setup EXE in Unattended Mode
This article is one of a series dealing with the redistribution of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), including ODBC, OLE DB, ADO, RDS, the MDAC Standalone, MDAC Redistribution, and the Data Access SDK. The white paper "Redistributing Microsoft Data Access Components" presents a comprehensive overview of this subject, including referencing the content in this Knowledge Base article. You can find this white paper at the following location:
http://www.microsoft.com/msdn/news/feature/datajul98/redistmdac.htm

Additional query words: kbDatabase kbSDKDataAc kbSetup kbMDAC 


Keywords          : kbMDAC 
Version           : WINDOWS:1.5,2.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: April 28, 1999