Available command line switches for .NET Framework 1.0 and 1.1 setup

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I previously posted a list of command line switches for .NET Framework 2.0 setup. One of the customers who found that post asked if there was a similar list for the .NET Framework 1.1. I thought I had written a post with that list but it appears I never did, so here it is...

.NET Framework 1.1 setup command line switches

  • /l <log file> - Enables verbose logging. The log file name is optional, and if it is not provided, it will default to %windir%\netfx.log. If you choose to pass a log file name and there is a space in the path, you will need to enclose the name in quotes.
  • /q - Specifies quiet install mode. Suppresses the display of all setup UI during installation
  • /qb - Specifies basic UI mode for installation. This will cause install.exe to only show a small Windows Installer progress dialog with no other user interaction required. This is the equivalent of the msiexec.exe /qb command line switch
  • /u - Specifies uninstall mode. Can be combined with the /q switch to suppress the display of all setup UI during uninstallation
  • /? or /h - Displays a help dialog with information about supported command line parameters.

The above switches also work for the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK and language packs.

.NET Framework 1.0 setup command line switches

  • /l <log file> - Enables verbose logging. The log file name is optional, and if it is not provided, it will default to %windir%\netfx.log. If you choose to pass a log file name and there is a space in the path, you will need to enclose the name in quotes.
  • /p <product name> - Specifies the name of the product that is installing this instance of the .NET Framework 1.0. This switch is not required for installation but is required for uninstallation. This switch was designed to provide a product-level reference count so that the .NET Framework could not be uninstalled out from under applications that need it, but we found enough problems with this mechanism that we ended up removing it in the .NET Framework 1.1.
  • /q - Specifies quiet install mode. Suppresses the display of all setup UI during installation
  • /u - Specifies uninstall mode. Can be combined with the /q switch to suppress the display of all setup UI during uninstallation
  • /? or /h - Displays a help dialog with information about supported command line parameters.

It is not easy to figure out from the list above how to perform a silent uninstall of the .NET Framework 1.0 because of the /p switch. Here is an example of how to silently uninstall the English version of the .NET Framework 1.0:

dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /p Microsoft .NET Framework Full v1.0.3705 (1033) /q"