Install Java Silently - Deploying JRE 6 update 22
Posted by Shawn Anderson on Mon, Nov 01, 2010
NOTE: JRE 6 update 23 has a different method of silent installation than update 22.
Regular Java updates can be a tedious chore for sys admins to deal with. Sometimes the updates can conflict with previous versions, or more likely, conflict with applications that were built for previous versions of the JRE.
Let's tackle the easy part; installing Java silently to multiple computers simultaneously. As we do with most of our video examples, we'll be demonstrating the installation with our free product, PDQ Deploy.
Download the updated JRE. We're using 6 update 22 in this example.
The file that you download is a self-contained .exe. Within the exe is the installation MSI. Oracle is continuing this approach. While it is possible to extract the MSI, it's not recommended. There are other actions that the EXE is taking.
Since it's not a native MSI, you won't be able to use the integrated MSI handling withing PDQ Deploy, however you can still pass MSI parameters for the deployment.
We have a video demonstrating the deployment of Java, as well as the method for determining the out-of-the-box parameters, or switches, that you can use to install Java silently and to suppress any required reboot.
Next step: troubleshooting. A user recently experienced the lovely and ever detailed error 1603 when deploying Java 6 update 22 using PDQ Deploy. As has been discussed on this blog, the 1603 error is generic, but it often means that the installation was expecting something that it didn't have access to, often a parameter or switch.
Be sure to use the correct switches. You can get the dialog for approved switches by running the JRE in a command window and entering a
/?
before hitting Enter.
The switches to install JRE 6.22 are
/quiet /norestart
If you're discovering that the installation is failing on some of your systems, be sure to turn on logging. You can do this using the following:
/quiet /norestart /l* c:\windows\temp\JRE-6.22.log
Java can be a beast to deal with sometimes. Our user discovered in their log file two different errors which had a lot of chatter on the Java forums. There were numerous work-arounds, but all of them had quite a bit of work involved. (Welcome to the world of Java.)
If you have questions regarding installing Java, or if you'd like to see video examples of other silent software installations, please let us know.
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