Update regarding silent install of the VC 8.0 runtime (vcredist) packages

A while back, I posted this item on my blog that describes options for silent installation of the Visual C++ 8.0 runtime redistributable setup packages.  When I investigated this issue and wrote that blog post, I based the command line parameters on the versions of vcredist_x86.exe, vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_ia64.exe that are included in the directory %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bootstrapper\Packages when installing Visual Studio 2005.

However, a customer recently alerted me to an issue that I wasn't aware of previously.  The standalone versions of the VC runtime redistributable packages that are available for download via the web are packaged differently, and so the command lines that I previously documented for silent installation will not work with those versions of the packages.  Essentially, the standalone versions are wrapped in a second self-extracting EXE that displays a EULA before allowing extraction and execution of the main setup package, whereas the packages included as part of Visual Studio 2005 directly launch setup and are not doubly wrapped.

Therefore, here are some amended silent install instructions for the VC 8.0 runtime redistributable packages.  If you are using the packages included as a part of Visual Studio 2005, you can continue to use the silent install switches from my previous blog post.

However, if you have downloaded the standalone VC 8.0 redistributable packages, you will need to modify the command lines slightly.  The following command lines can be used to install the original release of the standalone VC 8.0 redistributable packages:

  • For x86: vcredist_x86.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~1.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "
  • For x64: vcredist_x64.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~2.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "
  • For ia64: vcredist_ia64.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~3.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "

The following command lines can be used to install the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 release of the standalone VC 8.0 redistributable packages:

  • For x86: vcredist_x86.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~3.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "
  • For x64: vcredist_x64.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~2.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "
  • For ia64: vcredist_ia64.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~1.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "

The following command lines can be used to install the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 ATL Security Update release of the standalone VC 8.0 redistributable packages:

  • For x86: vcredist_x86.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~3.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "
  • For x64: vcredist_x64.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~2.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "
  • For ia64: vcredist_ia64.exe /q:a /c:"VCREDI~1.EXE /q:a /c:""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"" "

If you would like to install the VC runtime packages in unattended mode (which will show a small progress bar but not require any user interaction), you can change the /qn switch above to /qb.  If you would like the progress bar to not show a cancel button, then you can change the /qn switch above to /qb!

<update date="4/25/2007"> Added new command lines for the VS 2005 SP1 version of the VC 8.0 redistributable packages </update>

<update date="7/29/2007"> Updated command line switches to distinguish between unattended install mode and silent install mode </update>

<update date="10/16/2009"> Added information about the command lines for the VC++ 2005 SP1 ATL Security Update package. </update>