For deployment of the Smart Client using GPO or SMS, The Smart Client Light Setup Program supports command line parameters that allow you to configure the Setup Program to perform an unattended (no user interaction required), silent (no progress indication displayed) installation.

Listing 1 shows an example how command line parameters can be used to start an unattended silent installation. This example would install the Light version of the Smart Client. Note that even if the Setup Program does not display any messages Windows UAC (User Account Control) might still display a confirmation message.

Listing 1: Command line for unattended silent installation of the Smart Client using the Light Setup.

To log the actions taken during a silent installation you may use the /Log command line parameter. This parameter causes the Setup to create a log file in the user's temporary directory detailing file installation actions taken during the installation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)

The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice.

Alternatively you may also use the /LOG="filename" parameter that has the same effect as the /Log parameter, except it allows you to specify a fixed path/filename to use for the log file. If a file with the specified name already exists it will be overwritten. If the file cannot be created, Setup will abort with an error message.