ok a little more information .... i'm using XPlode .... apparently it's conflicting with xplode .... working it out now. her's the Xplode code for that item <execute> <program>#xplode#\Nero\setup.exe</program> <arguments>/SN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx /WRITE_SN /SILENT /NO_UI /NOREBOOT /NOLICENSE /NOCANCEL</arguments> <wait>true</wait> <hide>true</hide> </execute> Very strang indead i had to make a small 1 line batch file and execute that batch file from the XPlode script so now it looks like this XPlode.xml <execute> <program>#xplode#\Nero\run.cmd</program> <arguments></arguments> <wait>true</wait> <hide>true</hide> </execute> run.cmd setup /SN=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx /WRITE_SN /SILENT /NO_UI /NOREBOOT /NOLICENSE /NOCANCEL