XCLN: Outlook Deployment Kit (ODK) Setup Command-Line Options

After you use the Outlook 98 Deployment Wizard to create one or more customized Outlook 98 installations, you can run the Setup program from the command line. If you do, you can add parameters to the command that allow you to specify certain options, such as choosing a standard installation or specifying quiet mode (which removes or reduces the prompts the user receives).

To run the Setup program from the command line, do the following:

1. In Windows 95 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0, click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type the location you are installing from, followed by the word setup. For example, x:\setup or x:\ol98\setup.

If you want to add a command-line option, type it after the command. For example, to run Setup in quiet mode, type x:\setup/Q.

NOTE: When users click Setup.exe in the \CD folder of your customized ODK package, the Autorun screen runs the appropriate Setup.exe from the language\Packages folder (for example, for English, it starts \CD\EN\Packages\Setup.exe). When Setup.exe in the Packages folder runs, it self-extracts and runs Outlwzd.exe with the custom settings that you defined in the wizard.

You can use command-line switches to control how both the Setup.exe and the Outlwzd.exe files are run. For example, you can use command-line switches to choose the installation mode, specify a quiet mode, or control whether the computer is restarted after installation. Also, you can use command- line switches without a customized ODK package (the only switch that requires this package is /Q).

If the quiet mode installation does not perform a true quiet installation when you run the following command then run the following command: The full path is sometimes necessary for a quiet installation to operate properly.

Command-Line Option Descriptions for Setup.exe

To use command-line switches with Setup.exe, use Wextract, an extraction utility based on Internet Express technology. The following table shows frequently used Wextract command-line options.

Command-Line Option Descriptions for Outlwzd.exe

A second group of command-line switches is used with Outlwzd.exe. The following table describes Outlwzd.exe command-line options.

Command-line option Description

/I:[Y/N] Indicates whether to install the Windows Desktop Update. If this option is not specified, Setup matches the previous state of the user's computer; using this option, you can override this default behavior and explicitly define whether the Windows Desktop Update is turned on or off.

/L Specifies the Outsites.dat to be used in a Web installation. This option should point to the Outsites.dat file, which identifies download sites (for example: /L:"www.somewebsite.com/Outsites.dat").

/M:[0|1|2|3...] Specifies the installation mode. For customized ODK packages, 0 refers to the first installation choice; 1 refers to the second choice; and so on (for example, 0=minimal, 1=standard, 2=full). If 0 is specified, the Windows Desktop Update is not installed (same as specifying the /I:N option).

/N Specifies the starting behavior of Outlwzd.exe. The /N option causes Outlwzd.exe to ignore the version of the previous installation and not start Olmaint.exe. The /N- option causes Outlwzd.exe to ignore the version of the previous installation and start Olmaint.exe.

/Q Specifies a quiet "hands-free" batch mode. The user is prompted for information that is not specified. A properly configured Setup.ini file is required for this option to work.

/R Specifies whether Outlwzd.exe should restart if needed. You cannot use this option to force Outlwzd.exe to restart in all cases; however, you can use it to force Outlwzd.exe not to restart in all cases (using the /R:N option). If you suppress restarting, your program should take care of restarting the computer; Outlook is not properly configured until the computer is restarted.

/S:""#e"" Designates the source path of Outlwzd.exe. The ""#e"" refers to the full path and name of the .exe file.

/U:""<path>"" Specifies the path (file or network in Universal Naming Convention format) for installation cabinet (.cab) files. Do not use /U for CD-ROM installations.

/X Installs Internet Explorer without the Internet Explorer icons on the desktop, Start menu, and Quick Launch bar. Also, the Internet Explorer version number is set lower, so that Active Setup tries to update it if the same version of Internet Explorer is delivered.

NOTES: When you use command-line options, be aware of these important considerations:

The /S switch is required with Outlwzd.exe. Without this switch, users go into Web Install Mode rather than CD, and they do not get the correct product identification code information.

If you use the /Q switch for Setup.exe, it also runs Outlwzd.exe /Q. An error message appears if you do not have the configured Setup.ini file.

If you use Outlwzd.exe switches, you must run Setup.exe with the /C switch. Within the /C switch, you can then specify switches to run with Outlwzd.exe.

Here are some sample scenarios

The following expression runs the third installation option: The following expression performs a quiet installation, with no user prompts and no restart afterward: Note that the placement of quotation marks is important, and that the path is surrounded with two pairs of double quotation marks.

Outlook provides comprehensive product documentation in both print and online formats. For information about how to use specific Outlook features, see the online Help supplied with the product.