HOW TO: Silently Install Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition (195828)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio, Enterprise Edition 6.0
  • Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN)
This article was previously published under Q195828

IN THIS TASK

SUMMARY

This article describes how to silently install Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition:
  • No user interaction occurs and no dialog boxes appear. This is a completely silent installation.
  • No message appears to indicate a successful installation.
  • Typically, no error messages appear during the installation. The installation might fail without any notification.
Because this is a silent install, you are not prompted to restart Windows, regardless of whether this action is required. After the install, you must restart.

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MORE INFORMATION

Required Operating System Components

This article assumes that the following programs are installed on your destination computer:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1):

    X:\IE4\Ie4setup.exe

  • Post Internet Explorer 4.0 SP1 Microsoft virtual machine (Microsoft VM) (if X:\IE4\Ie4setup.exe is not run to install Internet Explorer 4.0 SP1):

    X:\IE4\Msjavx86.exe

  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP3 (for destination computers running Windows NT only):

    X:\NTSP3\Nt4sp3_i.exe

For more information about how to silently install these components, see the "References" section of this article. If you do not first install these components, you might receive installation error messages, or Visual Studio 6.0 components might not operate correctly after installation. In the following instructions, X represents the drive letter of Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Disk 1.

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Configure Visual Studio for Unattended Install

Because a silent installation occurs without any user involvement, you must make the setup option selections before you install the program. To do this, modify the .stf file. Use the ACOST tool that is located in the Setup folder on CD-ROM 1 to modify the .stf file.
  1. Copy the Visual Studio 6.0 Disk 1 to a server hard disk (assume C:\VS6CD1).
  2. Remove the read-only attribute from C:\VS6CD1\Setup\Vs98ent.stf.
  3. Run C:\VS6CD1\Setup\ACost.exe.
  4. On the File menu, click Open STF, and then click C:\VS6CD1\Setup\Vs98ent.stf.
  5. Click to select the check boxes for the Visual Studio 6.0 components that you want to install. Click to clear the check boxes for the components that you do not want to install. If you clear the check box for a root, you prevent the installation of every component that is nested under it (that is, you do not have to clear the check box for each component in the nested list individually).
  6. On the File menu, click Save As, and then click C:\VS6CD1\Setup\Vs98ent.stf.

    Note If you try to use the Save As command on a file that is read-only, the ACOST tool fails silently. You do not receive an error message.
Use the following modified network CD-ROM image of the Visual Studio 6.0 disks as the installation source:
  1. Share out the folder that contains the disk images.
  2. On the client computer, connect to that share, and then run the following command:

    path of the share\VS6CD1\SMSINST.EXE /k your CD Key

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Unattended Install on the Destination Computer

The following procedure installs Visual Studio 6.0 by using the default product options.

  1. Smsinst.exe takes the CD Key as an argument. (See your Visual Studio 6.0 CD-ROM packaging for your CD Key.) For example, if your CD Key is 460-1234567, run the following command line to start Smsinst.exe:

    Smsinst.exe /k 4601234567

    Note Smsinst.exe might report an access error. This error might be a timing issue. If you experience this error, try the same command again to start Smsinst.exe.
  2. You must restart the destination computer after the Visual Studio client install has completed and before you install any other client programs, MSDN, or server components that are included with Visual Studio. Run-once operations that are in Pending status do not sequence. Therefore, you cannot delay and then restart one time when you have completed all component installations.
Note On a computer running Microsoft Windows 98, you might receive an error message that Acmsetup.exe is already in use. If you receive this error message, run the unattended install again. The install should be completed successfully the second time.

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Files Not Installed

A silent install does not install the server components or any of the other client tools. Because you cannot include server components or client tools in this operation, you must install these components separately.

The Help and documentation (provided by MSDN) is also not installed in this step. You must install it separately.

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Install MSDN

  1. Make a folder on a server, and then share this folder.
  2. Copy the MSDN Library, Visual Studio 6.0 Edition, Disk 1 and Disk 2 to this folder. Do not make subfolders for each disk. You must copy both disks to the same folder.
  3. Verify that both MSDN331.inf and MSDN332.inf exist in the root of this folder.
  4. Verify that the .chm files from both Disk 1 and Disk 2 are in the MSDN subfolder.
  5. Remove the read-only attribute from the following file:

    path of the share\X86\SETUP\Msdn98.stf

  6. Use the ACost.exe tool (mentioned earlier in this article) to select the components that you want to install. If you do not select any components, only the indexes for the books are installed. If only the indexes are installed, you must have access to the installation point to use the MSDN Library Viewer.
  7. Run the following command:

    path of the share\setup.exe /k your CD-Key /n "your name" /o "your organization name" /qtn

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Install Server Components and Client Tools

You must install each of these items separately. The documentation for doing this is beyond the scope of this article.

For a list of components, view the X:\Install.htm file (where X is the drive letter of Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Disk 1), and then read the section "Minimum Requirements for Installation and Operation of Server-Side Components."

Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition only: the components are located on Disk 2 and Disk 3.

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REFERENCES

For additional information about how to perform a silent install for Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and the Post Internet Explorer 4.0 Microsoft VM, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

165907 Unattended Internet Explorer 3.02 Setup Performs Standard Setup

For additional information about how to perform a silent install for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

168814 Installing WinNT 4.0 Service Packs During Unattended Install

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Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/11/2005
Keywords:kbhowto kbsetup KB195828 kbAudDeveloper kbAudITPRO
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