Computer lab administrators often ask our support team how to do a “silent install” of Respondus LockDown Browser to a group of Windows computers. A silent install allows the administrator to automate the installation of Respondus LockDown Browser from the command line, without user interaction. This means that during the installation, no dialog boxes or progress indicators will appear. Or, to put it more simply, it means that administrators don’t need to sit at each machine to install Respondus LockDown Browser.

A silent install is different from a managed installation where desktop management software will “push” out the installation files, as is documented in the Administrator Guide for Respondus LockDown Browser (available from Administrator area of our website).

Here’s how the silent install works:

First, be sure that Respondus LockDown Browser isn’t already installed on the computer. If it is, then uninstall it before continuing.

1. Download the full installer (LockDownSFX.exe) from the Respondus website. BE SURE to obtain the .exe via the admin login for your institution since the installer differs for each institution.

2. Run the installer and select the “Click Here” link that appears next to the text, “Problems with the installation program?” This will allow you to extract the setup files to a folder on your local disk (such as “lockdown”)

3. Start the Windows Command Prompt (or run CMD.exe).

4. Change directories to where the installer was extracted (i.e. the “lockdown” folder).

5. From the command line run: setup /r6.
This runs the regular installer but also creates c:\windows\setup.iss

6. Copy the file c:\windows\setup.iss into the “lockdown” folder.

7. Uninstall Respondus LockDown Browser.Now you now have a silent installer that can be run using this command:

setup /s /f1″%CD%\setup.iss”

That’s pretty much it. If you have questions or encounter any problems related to silent installs, open a ticket from the Support section of our website.