Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log into accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This article will serve as an informative guide and give you a clear understanding of how to perform a silent installation of Pidgin from the command line using the EXE installer.
How to Install Pidgin Silently
Pidgin Silent Install (EXE)
- Navigate to: https://www.pidgin.im/install/
- Select the Offline Installer
- Download the EXE to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
- Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
- Navigate to the C:\Downloads folder
- Enter the following command: pidgin-x.y.z-offline.exe /DS=0 /SMS=1 /L=1033 /S
- Press Enter
After a few moments you will find Pidgin entries in the Start Menu, Installation Directory, and Programs and Features in the Control Panel.
| Software Title: | Pidgin |
| Vendor: | Pidgin Development Team |
| Architecture: | x86 |
| Installer Type: | EXE |
| Silent Install Switch: | pidgin-x.y.z-offline.exe /DS=0 /SMS=1 /L=1033 /S |
| Silent Uninstall Switch (32-bit System) | "%ProgramFiles%\Pidgin\pidgin-uninst.exe" /S |
| Silent Uninstall Switch (64-bit System) | "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Pidgin\pidgin-uninst.exe" /S |
| Download Link: | https://www.pidgin.im/install/ |
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
Change Default Installation Directory
You can also change the default installation directory by using the following command line parameters. In this example, I’m installing Pidgin to “C:\Pidgin”
pidgin-x.y.z-offline.exe /DS=0 /SMS=1 /L=1033 /S /D=C:\Pidgin |
Include Desktop Shortcut During Install
pidgin-x.y.z-offline.exe /DS=1 /SMS=1 /L=1033 /S |
Exclude Start Menu Shortcut During Install
pidgin-x.y.z-offline.exe /DS=1 /SMS=0 /L=1033 /S |
Enable Spell Check Functionality in Pidgin
- Download English dictionaries for Apache OpenOffice
- Rename the dict-en-20201201.oxt to dict-en-20201201.zip
- Extract the contents of zip file using 7-Zip to C:\Downloads\Dictionary
- Copy all the *.dic and *.aff files to a folder created at C:\Downloads\myspell
- Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
- Navigate to the C:\Downloads folder
- Enter the following command: pidgin-x.y.z-offline.exe /DS=0 /SMS=1 /L=1033 /S
- Press Enter
- Create the following directory (if not present)
- (32-bit System) “%ProgramFiles%\Pidgin\spellcheck\share\enchant\myspell\”
- (64-bit System) “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Pidgin\spellcheck\share\enchant\myspell\”
- Copy all the files from C:\Downloads\myspell to either “%ProgramFiles%\Pidgin\spellcheck\share\enchant\myspell\” or “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Pidgin\spellcheck\share\enchant\myspell\” depending on your Pidgin installation directory location
How to Uninstall Pidgin Silently
- Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
- Enter one of the following sets of commands:
Pidgin Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 32-bit System
TASKKILL /F /IM pidgin.exe |
"%ProgramFiles%\Pidgin\pidgin-uninst.exe" /S |
DEL "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Pidgin.lnk" |
DEL "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Pidgin.lnk" |
DEL "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Pidgin.lnk" |
DEL "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Pidgin.lnk" |
RMDIR /s /q "%ProgramFiles%\Pidgin\" |
Pidgin Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 64-bit System
TASKKILL /F /IM pidgin.exe |
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Pidgin\pidgin-uninst.exe" /S |
DEL "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Pidgin.lnk" |
DEL "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Pidgin.lnk" |
DEL "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Pidgin.lnk" |
DEL "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Pidgin.lnk" |
RMDIR /s /q "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Pidgin\" |
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.