# Msiexec.exe **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944 "2011-06-10T03:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/21 "2011-06-12T13:51:38Z")
For what it’s worth, I did a search for the file on _my_ computer, also Win7, (but Chrome and Webroot AV) and came up with this. Windows ® Installer. V 5.0.7600.16385 msiexec /Option \ [Optional Parameter] Install Options \ \ Installs or configures a product /a \ Administrative install - Installs a product on the network /j\ \ [/t \] [/g \] Advertises a product - m to all users, u to current user \ \ Uninstalls the product Display Options /quiet Quiet mode, no user interaction /passive Unattended mode - progress bar only /q[n|b|r|f] Sets user interface level n - No UI b - Basic UI r - Reduced UI f - Full UI (default) /help Help information Restart Options /norestart Do not restart after the installation is complete /promptrestart Prompts the user for restart if necessary /forcerestart Always restart the computer after installation Logging Options /l[i|w|e|a|r|u|c|m|o|p|v|x|+|!|\*] \ i - Status messages w - Nonfatal warnings e - All error messages a - Start up of actions r - Action-specific records u - User requests c - Initial UI parameters m - Out-of-memory or fatal exit information o - Out-of-disk-space messages p - Terminal properties v - Verbose output x - Extra debugging information + - Append to existing log file ! - Flush each line to the log \* - Log all information, except for v and x options /log \ Equivalent of /l\* \ Update Options /update \[;Update2.msp] Applies update(s) /uninstall \[;Update2.msp] /package \ Remove update(s) for a product Repair Options /f[p|e|c|m|s|o|d|a|u|v] \ Repairs a product p - only if file is missing o - if file is missing or an older version is installed (default) e - if file is missing or an equal or older version is installed d - if file is missing or a different version is installed c - if file is missing or checksum does not match the calculated value a - forces all files to be reinstalled u - all required user-specific registry entries (default) m - all required computer-specific registry entries (default) s - all existing shortcuts (default) v - runs from source and recaches local package Setting Public Properties [PROPERTY=PropertyValue] Consult the Windows ® Installer SDK for additional documentation on the command line syntax. Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Portions of this software are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/22 "2011-06-12T14:22:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Did I understand you correctly, upthread, to say that you do not run Windows updates. If so, that is not a good policy. Not having the updates can leave you with all sorts of vulnerabilities that malware can exploit. I don’t let them auto-install. _I_ choose when to install them, and I usually do it when I’m prompted to. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/23 "2011-06-12T16:27:44Z")
Malwarebytes finding over a thousand issues is a big red flag. It’s typical for it to find 8 to 12, just due to tracking cookies and relatively harmless stuff. A thousand? I’ve never seen that in several years of fixing malware for a living. Advice: download and install CCleaner from here: [Thanks for downloading CCleaner](http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard). Run both the temp file cleaner and the registry cleaner. You may need to run the registry cleaner a few times in succession. You can also look at what runs on startup and disable suspicious things. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/24 "2011-06-12T17:30:34Z")
CCleaner is a good tool, but I found it to be a bit aggressive when deleting registry items. So always back up your registry FIRST before using it. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/25 "2011-06-12T19:13:10Z")
I’ve had this happen the last few days, and MalwareBytes stopped it completely, even the free version. I just made sure to Remove the infected files at the end of the process. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/26 "2011-06-12T21:06:54Z")
This is happening to me today. I have downloaded free MalWareBytes to see if it works. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/27 "2011-06-12T21:30:19Z")
It seems to have worked, at least so far! Thanks for the answers found in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/28 "2011-06-12T22:23:12Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > CCleaner is a good tool, but I found it to be a bit aggressive when deleting registry items. So always back up your registry FIRST before using it. Fortunately, it automatically offers that option. What I did was run it on a clean installation of Windows, and then disabled options until it showed me it wouldn’t delete anything. On XP, I shut off “Missing Shared DLLs” and “Unused File Extensions.” ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944/29 "2011-06-13T01:08:33Z")
It came back. ☹ I ran the Malware program again. Let’s hope it stays dead this time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msiexec-exe/584944.md?page=1)