SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

1533751 - How to perform a silent installation of Crystal Reports?

Symptom

  • Silent installation.
  • Installating Crystal Reports without any user interface prompts. 
  • How to perform a silent installation of Crystal Reports where the installation occurs in the background without any user interface prompts?

Environment

  • SAP Crystal Reports 2013
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2016
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2020

Resolution

  • To silently install Crystal Reports, create a response file. A response file is text file containing the installation option parameters. Then use the response file to silently install Crystal Reports. Below are the general steps on how to create a response file, and silently install Crystal Reports:
      
    1. Logon to the computer using the local Administrator.
            
    2. Copy the Crystal Reports installation package on your local computer, and unzip it to a local folder.
           
    3. Create the response.ini file, from the Command Prompt:
         
      • 3.1 In MS Windows search, type: cmd

      • 3.2 Right click on "Command Prompt", and select "Run As Administrator"
             
      • 3.2 In the command prompt, navigate to the folder where the setup.exe for Crystal Reports installation files are located.
          
      • 3.3 Type the command:  setup.exe -w "C:\response.ini"   
            
              Note: You can enter a specific folder for the response.ini file, but in the example we simply generate it at the root level of the C drive.
            
      • 3.4 Crystal Reports installation prompt window will display:
              
              Note: We will not be installing Crystal Reports, it is simply to create the response.ini file with the necessary information.
          
      • 3.5 Follow the installation instructions by selecting the language, accepting the license agreement, keycode, language packs, ...
          
      • 3.6 On the "Start Installation", click "Next", and instead of installing the product it will generate the response.ini file in the folder you specified.
          
           
    4. Add the product keycode to the response file.
          
      • 4.1 In a text application, like Notepad, open the response.ini file generated.  
           
      • 4.2 Locate the following line:  productkey=*************
                
        4.3 Replace the asterix by the actual product keycode. 
             
        4.4 Save the file.
            
        The above step is very important because, if we do not update the response file with the product keycode, the product installation will fail right away.
        And it will look like nothing had actually happen.
          
              
    5. Silently install Crystal Reports using the command: setup.exe -r "C:\response.ini"
          
         

Keywords

CR, silent installation, .ini file , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , BI-BIP-INS , Installation, Updates, Upgrade, Patching , How To

Product

SAP Crystal Reports 2013 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2016 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2020