Silently installing packages using Installation Manager

Use Installation Manager in silent mode to install product packages from a command line.

After you install Installation Manager, use it in silent mode to install packages. This file explains how to install packages using the Installation Manager.

To run Installation Manager in silent mode, run the following command from the eclipse subdirectory in the directory where you installed Installation Manager:
  • For Windows: imcl.exe -acceptLicense input <response file path and name> -log <log file path and name>. For example: imcl.exe -acceptLicense input c:\mylog\responsefile.xml -log c:\mylog\silent_install_log.xml
  • For other platforms: ./imcl -acceptLicense input <response file path and name> -log <log file path and name>. For example: ./imcl -acceptLicense input /root/mylog/responsefile.xml –log /root/mylog/silent_install_log.xml
The following table describes the arguments that are used with the silent installation command:
Argument Description
-vm
Specifies the Java launcher. In silent mode, always use java.exe on Windows, and java on other platforms.
-nosplash
Specifies that the splash screen should be suppressed.
--launcher.suppressErrors
Specifies that the JVM error dialog should be suppressed.
-acceptLicense
Include the
-acceptLicense
option in your command when the package you are installing requires that you accept the licensing agreement.
-input
Specifies an XML response file as the input to Installation Manager installer or the Installation Manager. A response file contains commands that installer or Installation Manager runs.
-log
(Optional) Specifies a log file that records the result of the silent installation. The log file is an XML file.

If your silent installation session is successful, the log file will contain just the root element of <result> </result>. However, if errors occur during the installation, the silent install log file will contain error elements and messages.

-updateAll
(Optional) Specifies that all available updates are installed.
-installAll
(Optional) Specifies that all available products are installed.
-showProgress
Displays a progress bar to the console.
-ShowVerboseProgress
Displays progress text to the console. For example, the text "Rebooting the machine to complete the install" is displayed when a reboot is required.
-accessRights
Specifies whether the Installation Manager operates in admin or nonAdmin mode. For nonAdmin mode, this argument should always be used with the 'nonAdmin' parameter:
-accessRights nonAdmin
For admin mode, this argument should be used with the 'admin' parameter:
-accessRights admin
If this argument is not used, the default value is set based on current user permissions.
Note:
For Windows XP users who are members of Administrator group, the default is always -accessRights admin. For these users to run in nonAdmin mode, the -accessRights nonAdmin argument should be passed explicitly.
The Installation Manager has an initialization or .ini file silent-install.ini that includes default values for the arguments in the table. For example, the silent-install.ini file might look something like this:
-accessRights
admin
-vm
C:\Program Files\IBM\Installation Manager\eclipse\jre_5.0.2.sr5_20070511\jre\bin\java.exe
-nosplash
--launcher.suppressErrors
-silent
-vmargs
-Xquickstart
-Xgcpolicy:gencon
If the installation is successful, it will return a status of "0" an unsuccessful operation will return a non-zero number.
When Installation Manager installer is run, it reads the response file and (optionally) writes to a log file to the directory specified. If you specified a log file and directory, the log file will be empty if operation was successful, for example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<result>
</result>
The log file will contain an error element if the operation was not completed successfully.
A log file for Installation Manager is also available. The default locations for the Installation Manager log file are
  • For Windows as non-admin: C:\Documents and Settings\<my id>\Application Data\IBM\Installation Manager\logs
  • For Windows as admin: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\IBM\Installation Manager\logs
  • For other platforms: /var/ibm/InstallationManager/logs