PhET Silent Install (How-To Guide)

PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. This article will serve as an informative guide and give you a clear understanding of how to perform a silent installation of PhET from the command line using the EXE installer.

How to Install PhET Silently

PhET Silent Install (EXE)

  1. Navigate to: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/offline-access
  2. Select Windows Full Install
  3. Sign In (You will need to create an account if you don’t already have one)
  4. Download the PhET-Installer_windows.exe to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
  5. Navigate to: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-jre8-downloads.html
  6. Select the Windows x86 Offline EXE Installer
  7. Download the jre-8uXXX-windows-i586.exe to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
  8. Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
  9. Navigate to the C:\Downloads folder
  10. Enter the following command to install the Java pre-req:
    • jre-8uXXX-windows-i586.exe /s
  11. Press Enter
  12. Enter the following command to install PhET:
    • PhET-Installer_windows.exe --mode unattended
  13. Press Enter

After a few moments you should see the PhET Desktop Shortcut appear. You will also find entries in the Start Menu, Installation Directory, and Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Software Title:PhET
Vendor:PhET
Architecture:x86
Installer Type:EXE
Silent Install Switch (Step 1)jre-8uXXX-windows-i586.exe /s
Silent Install Switch (Step 2)PhET-Installer_windows.exe --mode unattended
Silent Uninstall Switch (32-bit System)"%ProgramFiles%\PhET\uninstall.exe" --mode unattended
Silent Uninstall Switch (64-bit System)"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\PhET\uninstall.exe" --mode unattended
Download Link:https://phet.colorado.edu/en/offline-access

The information above provides a quick overview of the software title, vendor, silent install, and silent uninstall switches. The download links provided take you directly to the vendors website. Continue reading if you are interested in additional details and configurations.


Additional Configurations

Available Command Line Parameters

--unattendedmodeui <unattendedmodeui>Unattended Mode UI
Default: none
Allowed: none minimal minimalWithDialogs
--optionfile <optionfile>Installation option file
Default:
--debuglevel <debuglevel>Debug information level of verbosity
Default: 2
Allowed: 0 1 2 3 4
--mode <mode>Installation mode
Default: win32
Allowed: win32 unattended
--debugtrace <debugtrace>Debug filename
Default:
--installer-language <installer-language>Language selection
Default: en
Allowed: sq ar es_AR az eu pt_BR bg ca hr cs da nl en et fi fr de el he hu id it ja kk ko lv lt no fa pl pt ro ru sr zh_CN sk sl es sv th zh_TW tr tk va vi cy
--prefix <prefix>Installation Directory
Default: C:\Program Files (x86)/PhET

How to Uninstall PhET Silently

  1. Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
  2. Enter one of the following commands:

PhET Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 32-bit System

"%ProgramFiles%\PhET\uninstall.exe" --mode unattended

PhET Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 64-bit System

"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\PhET\uninstall.exe" --mode unattended

Always make sure to test everything in a development environment prior to implementing anything into production. The information in this article is provided “As Is” without warranty of any kind.