Switch Clarification For Hotfixes?

[LeveL]

In the past I have always installed *most* hotfixes with these switches...

KB000000.exe /Q /O /Z

However, I noticed HERE it uses:

KB000000.exe /Q /N /Z /O

Other times I have seen:

KB000000.exe /Q /N /Z

Now, this only applies to the hotfixes with no icon, I mean like this:

So my question is - what do all those switches mean? I know the /Q will mean "Quiet installation" but as for the /N /Z and /O I don't know what those do.

Also then there are other hotfixes that need:

KB000000.exe /Q:A /R:N

What does "/Q:A /R:N" mean?

These types are packed inside compressed exe's that look like this:

Sometimes, these types might have an MSI based installer inside, in which case you'd extract the files out of the hotfix and use these switches for an MSI based installer:

KB000000.msi /quiet /norestart

Those switches speak for themselves and say what they do.

I just wonder what /Q /N /Z /O and /Q:A /R:N mean?

Whats even more confusing is when looked through the HFSLIP batch file it has no mention at all of /Q /N /Z /O or anything like that, it only lists two possible switches - one is /Q:A /R:N and the other is /quiet /norestart so does this mean that /Q:A /R:N is a universal command that can replace /Q /N /Z /O completely? I know /quiet /norestart is for MSI and is a seperate deal.

Edited December 16, 2007 by LeveL

[Glenn9999]

These denote different patching systems that Microsoft has had in use over the years. There's five distinct ones that I'm aware of, and bunches of non-standard stuff out there as well. Add to that, there are many command-line parms that are not documented by the patch exec upon "/?", so this gets confusing, especially since it is so poorly documented and inconsistent.

For the standard ones, you have to use the proper command-line switches as dictated by whatever patching system Microsoft used at the time. That's why the command-parms are different.

I just wonder what /Q /N /Z /O and /Q:A /R:N mean?

You are asking about two different patching systems Microsoft has cooked up, so we have to take them separately.

Patch #1

----------

/Q:A Quiet Mode with No User Prompts

/R:N Supress restarting after installation

Patch #2

-----------

/q : Use Quiet mode (no user interaction).

/n : Do not back up files for removal.

/z : Do not restart when the installation is complete.

/o : Overwrite OEM files without prompting.

/quiet /norestart works on most (but not all) Windows XP patches, so you can always try that.

Or if you are interested in installing patches and not slipstreaming them, you can always try Batch Patcher out.