Silent Installation
Installers that deploy themselves.
Ship Windows installers that run end-to-end without a single dialog. One checkbox turns any Paquet Builder project into a silent package — add a /s command-line trigger, then plug the structured exit codes into SCCM, Intune, and CI/CD pipelines.
Shipping since 2006 · Keep your EXE — no MSI authoring · Windows 7 through 11 · 20+ years of installer edge cases already handled
Why silent install matters
One capability. Two audiences.
Silent installers solve different problems for different teams. Paquet Builder handles both from the same project — no separate build, no conditional wiring.
Independent developers
Give end users a setup that just works
No dialogs to click through, no language selection pop-up, no Next > Next > Finish fatigue. Ideal for auto-updaters, bundled-runtime installs, and download-and-run distribution.
- Silent background installs from email links, download pages, or in-app updaters
- Bundle prerequisite EXE or MSI setups and run them silently too
- No Windows Installer authoring required — keep shipping EXE
Enterprise & DevOps
Deploy at fleet scale with the tools you already run
Silent installers plug straight into Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Intune, Group Policy, PDQ Deploy, and Windows CI runners — no repackaging, no interactive desktop session on the target machine.
- Structured exit codes branch success / warning / failure in scripts
- Works headless on build agents with no interactive desktop session
- One project, one silent installer for Windows 7 through Windows 11
How it works
Three steps. One checkbox away.
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Enable silent mode
Open your project, tick "Silent package" in the Progress Monitor. Every build from that point runs without showing dialogs. Prefer opt-in? Use the bundled Action Template to go silent only when
/sis passed. -
Build your package
Produce a single signed EXE — x86, x64, or ARM64 from the same project. No repackaging step, no MSI authoring, no external wrapper. Files, shortcuts, registry entries, and custom actions all travel inside, ready to run silently.
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Deploy hands-free
Distribute the EXE however you want — updater, MDM policy, SCCM package, Intune Win32 app, PowerShell script. Invoke it once and let exit codes tell your tooling whether the install succeeded.
Silent install in code
Your switches, your contract.
Trigger silent mode with a built-in action template, then define any additional switches your deployment tooling needs. A Paquet Builder silent installer is a standard Windows EXE with a well-defined command-line contract — drop it into whichever management stack your IT team runs.
/s via built-in action template
Custom switches via %PARAMS% %EXITCODE% you control
Exit-code reference
Enterprise cheat sheet
Copy-paste ready for your deployment tool
# Installation Program
MYAPP-SETUP.EXE /s
# Detection Method — file presence
File: C:\Program Files\MyApp\myapp.exe
Exists: True# Wrap the EXE with the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool
IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c .\source -s MYAPP-SETUP.EXE -o .\out
# In the Intune portal
Install command: MYAPP-SETUP.EXE /s
Uninstall command: "C:\Program Files\MyApp\uninstall.exe" /s$p = Start-Process -FilePath .\MYAPP-SETUP.EXE -ArgumentList '/s' -Wait -PassThru
if ($p.ExitCode -ne 0) {
throw "Install failed with exit code $($p.ExitCode)"
}Also works with Group Policy (Software Installation MSI wrapper), PDQ Deploy, and any Windows CI runner. See full build automation →
Silent installer questions, answered.
Is a silent installer the same thing as an unattended install?
They overlap but aren't identical. Silent means no UI shown; unattended means no user interaction required. A Paquet Builder silent installer is both — it hides all dialogs and uses your project's configured defaults, so nothing waits for input.
Does silent install bypass UAC?
No — Windows security still governs elevation. If your installer needs admin rights, UAC will still prompt unless the process is already elevated (e.g. launched from an elevated SCCM client, Intune's SYSTEM context, or a Run As Administrator shell). Paquet Builder respects the Windows manifest you configure.
How do I test my silent installer?
Run the built EXE from an elevated cmd.exe or PowerShell with the /s flag and check %ERRORLEVEL% (or $LASTEXITCODE) for a non-zero value. For deeper visibility, add a custom action that writes progress to a log file — see the custom actions reference.
Can I deploy it via SCCM or Intune?
Yes. For SCCM, use the EXE as the install command with /s and a file- or registry-based detection rule. For Intune, wrap the EXE with the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool and configure install/uninstall command lines the same way — no MSI required. Ready-to-paste snippets above.
What exit codes does the installer return?
0 for success and a documented set of non-zero codes for specific failure modes (user cancellation, extraction error, custom-action failure, etc.). Full list in the exit-code reference.
Ship installers that deploy themselves.
Download the full-featured trial and turn your next build into a silent installer in minutes.
Prefer a walk-through? Read the step-by-step tutorial.
The GUI toggle, the command-line action template, and silent nested setups — documented step by step with screenshots.
Read the tutorial