Once loaded, it’ll take a few seconds to analyze the setup file and then show the available silent command line switches.Īs you can see from the image above, USSF is able to tell that mbam-setup-1.exe is packed using Inno Setup package and we can use the commands in yellow when running the executable:
Let’s say you want to find the silent switches in the setup file of the excellent Malwarebytes AntiMalware (mbam-setup-1.exe) because you always install it on your own, or your friend’s computers. Run Universal Silent Switch Finder and click the > button on the File line and load the mbam-setup-1.exe file. To show how the program works, we’ll do a simple test.
You can then use those switches in other programs, batch files, scripts or from the command line. USSF will then automatically analyze the file and tell you what type of installer package is being used to pack the files and also the command line switches the installer uses.
The program itself is very simple to operate and is also portable so no need for installation. All you need to do is just run USSF and load the setup file. Universal Silent Switch Finder (USSF) has been around for many years and was used by XP custom install programs such as the Windows Post Install Wizard (WPI) among many others to determine the silent switches for unattended installs. There is a way that you can sniff out and find the silent switch for a number of setup files.
Thankfully, there are a couple of easier ways to find the unattended install switches and install software silently. Some software developers will include the command line switches in their documentation but many do not and you have to search the internet to find what they are. With these commands you can install just about anything automatically, if you know the commands to use. The useful things is, there are hidden command line switches in most installer packages or setup files which be can used to bypass all those confirmation message boxes. Do we all want an easier solution? Of course we do!
Installing an application one time on your computer is not a problem but what if you have just installed Windows and have loads to install? Or worse still, what if you need to install applications on several computers? Sitting there and installing each program manually can be frustrating and a huge waste of time and something you’re not going to enjoy doing. Obviously, these days you have to be a bit more careful because of all the extra options during installation such as installing toolbars etc, but it’s still pretty fast and easy with common sense applied. It looks like many steps are involved but we usually just ignore all those and continue clicking Next until the setup completes. Just run the setup file, agree to the license agreement, select destination location to install, confirm the program’s shortcut location, create desktop and tray icon, and finally install. If you want to Install a piece of software, it’s obviously very easy to do generally speaking.