Electrical Design Software | Elecdes Design Suite by Scada Systems Ltd

Configuration of a Silent Install

The EDS installer can be configured to install silently (no user interaction required). This feature is intended for administrators who wish to deploy EDS to multiple computers in their network.

Creating a silent installer involves customising the installer files of EDS.

Using this feature requires a basic understanding of INI files. An editor with syntax highlighting for INI files (such as Notepad++) will be useful.

A reference PC should have EDS installed so that it can be used as a source for the settings to add to the silent install configuration.

NOTE: For EDS, a silent install will run unattended, i.e. without prompting the user for input or displaying any summary message, but it does display progress dialogs during the copying of files. These progress dialogs do not require user interaction or confirmation.

Conditions

All computers intending to use the silent install (including the reference PC) should be of similar configuration.

For the process to go smoothly, the following conditions should be met for each PC/user account, otherwise silent installation may not succeed or may require additional input:

  • Have read access to the silent installer source (typically a network share or mapped network drive).

  • Have write access to the installation destination (typically on a local drive, eg C: ).

  • Have the same Operating System and architecture (eg Windows 11, 64bit).

  • Be up to date with service packs and Windows updates.

  • Have the same version of AutoCAD installed (and have it installed in the same location on the file system).

  • Have appropriate access to file system paths and/or network paths pointed to by any configuration item (for example, if you intend to host EDS symbol libraries on a network share).

If the deployment method being used has the capability of running the silent install process (Install.exe) as an administrator, the installer will attempt to install all required redistributables itself as part of the install process.

If the deployment method is not capable of running as administrator, the required redistributables must first be installed separately by another means, before starting the silent install.

  • The redistributables are provided on the installation media in the Redist folder, and are required as follows:

    • Windows XP: Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redist, Access Database Engine 2010, Windows Installer 4.5, .Net Framework 4 (incl. Windows Imaging Component), SQL Server 2012 CLR Types, SQL Server 2012 SMOs

    • Windows Vista: Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redist, Access Database Engine 2010, Windows Installer 4.5, .Net Framework 4 (incl. Windows Imaging Component), SQL Server 2012 CLR Types, SQL Server 2012 SMOs, Vista Wusa Patch, Winhlp32

    • Windows 7: Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redist, Access Database Engine 2010, .Net Framework 4, SQL Server 2012 CLR Types, SQL Server 2012 SMOs, Winhlp32

    • Windows 8 / 10 / 11: Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redist, Access Database Engine 2010, SQL Server 2012 CLR Types, SQL Server 2012 SMOs

  • Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redist requires both x86 and x64 versions to be installed on a 64bit operating system. All other redists only require x86 versions, or, if installing on a 64 bit operating system and using 64 bit AutoCAD, only the 64 bit versions.

Procedure

  1. First a reference installation of EDS should be installed, and customised to meet the needs of the silent install deployment.

    Most of the important customisation relevant to a silent install deployment can be done with EDS Setup, such as:

    • Picking the AutoCAD version and location.

    • Configuring licences.

    • Setting up a working directory.

    • Setting up client libraries.

    • Picking an AutoCAD drawing file format.

    • Configuring symbol paths.

  2. Un-pack the full installer for the EDS version that you want to configure to install silently.

    This will have a file name similar to eds8.10.0.0.Full.exe

    This file is a self-extracting ZIP file. You will need to use the program 7-Zip or a suitable program of your choice to un-pack the installer into its component files and folders.

  3. Open the El32.ini file in the root folder of the installer. Confirm it has [Silent] section.

  4. Set SILENT=1 in the [Silent] section to enable silent installation. Set SILENT_INSTDIR, SILENT_CAD, SILENT_LANG, SILENT_COPYTUT and SILENT_REDISTS according to the related comments in the ini file.

  5. Update the [INI-Defaults] section to accomodate any default settings you wish to add. Follow the instructions in the comments for this section.

    A [COMMON-defaultForSilent] section has been added as an example, and contains some of the minimum settings needed for a silent install:

    • CURRENTCAD=AC2000 (this should be AC2000 for any version of AutoCAD)

    • AUTOCADVERSION=AUTOCAD2012 (replace AUTOCAD2012 with the appropriate version on the target computers, eg AUTOCAD2010)

    • ACAD2000EXE=C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\acad.exe (this should be the path to the corresponding acad.exe on the target computers)

    To use this section, uncomment it as well as the corresponding line in the [INI-Defaults] section.

    Add or change any other settings such as subdirs or symbol paths. Use the entries from the [COMMON] sections in the El32.ini file from your pre-configured reference installation.

  6. Save the installer's El32.ini file, then test your silent install by running the installer on a target machine and verifying that any custom settings are retained once installation has completed.

  7. Roll out the silent installation to all target machines once you have verified it is working.