Silent vs Noninteractive

The Toolkit General Discussion
1

Hello,

I was wondering if someone could more clearly define the differences to me between the silent and noninteractive installs.

I’ve found the following:
Silent = No dialogs
NonInteractive = Very silent, i.e. no blocking apps.

What exactly does no blocking apps means? I’ve been using the silent switch and have never seen anything pop up during an installation. Do both of these block Show-InstallationWelcome and Show-InstallationProgress?

Thanks

2

Hi, I also have the same question.
The behavior of Silent and NonInteractive the same. But in a user Guide specified next:

  • Silent - No dialog messages will be displayed during setup, but some important windows may still be displayed (such as the welcome dialog prompting the user to close applications).
  • NonInteractive - “very silent,” with no blocking apps.

But Show-InstallationWelcome windows shows only in Intreactive mode.

Maybe you have found any difference already?

3

“blocking apps” is a feature of the Show-InstallationWelcome function where it kills specified applications continuously during the installation. See the -BlockExecution parameter.

If you have a SILENT installation, this feature is disabled.

4

But in NonInteractive mode this feature also disabled. To be honest, I do not understand the difference between silent and NonInteractive modes.

5

I’ve been using PSADT for close to 10 years now and OMFG this is confusing. (Disclaimer: I read the PSADT code, not the PDF manual). This -deployMode 'Silent' was not there years ago.

According to the source code in AppDeployToolkitMain.ps1, this runs before Deploy-Application.PS1 is processed:

Switch ($deployMode) {
	'Silent' { $deployModeSilent = $true }
	'NonInteractive' { $deployModeNonInteractive = $true; $deployModeSilent = $true }
	Default { $deployModeNonInteractive = $false; $deployModeSilent = $false }
}

Meanwhile, -Silent is also a SWITCH parameter for the Show-InstallationWelcome function:

		## Specify whether to prompt user or force close the applications
		[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
		[switch]$Silent = $false,

but $Silent also forcibly set in the code early in the function via:

	If ($deployModeNonInteractive) { $Silent = $true }`

So this means if we used -deployMode 'Silent' to launch Deploy-Application.PS1, $Silent = $false
This is moot because all the logic thereafter uses $deployModeSilent

In the Show-InstallationWelcome function there are 2 key areas that determine whether or not Applications are Closed:

	## Prompt the user to close running applications and optionally defer if enabled
	If (-not ($deployModeSilent) -and (-not ($silent))) {

and

	## Force the processes to close silently, without prompting the user
	If (($Silent -or $deployModeSilent) -and $CloseApps) {

There is a bit more code I could post but your heads are probably about to explode, too.

TLDR:

You can CLOSE apps in any $deployMode but to BLOCK the execution of a application, the USER MUST AGREE with a popup. (This is not explained in the PDF, btw.)

When I run the $deployMode = NonInteractive vs. $deployMode = Silent in my head here, the manual should actually say:

Silent = No dialogs, also no blocking apps.
NonInteractive = Very silent, i.e. no blocking apps.

Tasha was right. There is no difference.

I personally would not have created 2 new $deployModeXXXXXX variables. I just hope the $deployMode = NonInteractive vs. $deployMode = Silent distinction makes sense elsewhere in the PSADT code.