Performing a silent installation of iSeries Access for Windows
A silent install is one that does not require any user interaction. If you create a response file that contains a record of your responses to prompts during an installation, you can use this response file to control silent installations.
Silent installation eliminates the need for any user interaction during the iSeries™ Access for Windows® set up process. A response file provides all installation information so that no dialog boxes display while installing iSeries Access for Windows.
The response file contains the installation options that the system would normally prompt you for during the installation process.
Silent install indicator
Silent install has a progress indicator. The Silent Install Indicator is an icon in the task tray which will appear when a silent install is launched, and remain in the task tray as long as the install is executing. Passing the mouse over the icon will cause the Silent Install Indicator to display the percent of the install that is complete. The Silent Install Indicator can also be expanded to expose more information. When the install completes successfully, the icon will disappear from the task tray. If the install were to fail, the icon will remain and a small red triangle will appear on the icon to indicate the failure. Click on the red triangle to see the failure message.
Notes:
- If the Silent Install Indicator displays a given percentage of completion longer than you would expect, you might want to check the log file for errors.
- Often the best way to debug a silent install failure is to start the install in non-silent mode on the user PC, and see if there are any unexpected dialogs that appear prior to the Component Confirmation panel. Most silent install failures occur due to unexpected dialogs that appear prior to actual component installation file transfers.
Differences between normal and silent installations
The following table illustrates the differences between a normal and silent installation by comparing how the two types of installations handle various conditions that commonly arise during the installation process.
Condition During a normal installation... During silent and recorded installations... Attempt to install a component that is restricted (by policies, dependencies, or some other restriction), or that is incompatible with a product that is already installed. A dialog displays listing all of the components that are restricted due to these conditions. The component is not installed. The component is not installed. An error occurs. Error messages display. Error messages display during a recorded installation, but not during a silent installation. A negative number is written to the silent installation log file. This indicates that an error occurred. If you are having problems running silent installations, you might want to try running the installation interactively to rule out the possibility that the problems you are encountering are not related to silent mode.
Performing a silent installation
To perform a silent installation, see the following information.
- Creating response files for iSeries Access for Windows installations
A response file records the selections made in response to the prompts in the installation process. During a silent installation, the setup program will use the response file to get the information necessary to complete the installation.- Starting a silent installation
Silent installations use a response file (file.iss) for the responses to prompts during the installation process. This eliminates the need for any user interaction during the installation process, and allows you to quickly and easily copy duplicate installations across your network. Information about the status of the silent installation can be recorded in a log file (file.log).- Return codes for silent installations
To determine whether your silent installation was successful, look at the return codes in the log file. You specified the name and location of the log file when you started the silent installation.
Parent topic:
Installing iSeries Access for Windows on multiple PCs