Wireshark Silent Install (How-To Guide)

Written by Jason Bergner in Software Title

Wireshark is a free and open-source packet analyzer. This article will serve as an informative guide and give you a clear understanding of how to perform a silent installation of Wireshark from the command line using the EXE installer.

How to Install Wireshark Silently

Wireshark 32-bit Silent Install (EXE)

  1. Navigate to: https://www.wireshark.org/download.html
  2. Select the Windows Installer (32-bit)
  3. Download the Wireshark-win32-x.y.z.exe to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
  4. Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
  5. Navigate to the C:\Downloads folder
  6. Enter the following command: Wireshark-win32-x.y.z.exe /S
  7. Press Enter

After a few moments you should see the Wireshark shortcut in the Start Menu, Installation Directory, and Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Software Title:Wireshark (32-bit)
Vendor:The Wireshark Developer Community
Architecture:x86
Installer Type:EXE
Silent Install Switch:Wireshark-win32-x.y.z.exe /S
Silent Uninstall Switch (32-bit System)"%ProgramFiles%\Wireshark\uninstall.exe" /S
Silent Uninstall Switch (64-bit System)"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Wireshark\uninstall.exe" /S
Download Link:https://www.wireshark.org/download.html
PowerShell Script:https://silentinstallhq.com/wireshark-install-and-uninstall-powershell/
Detection Script:https://silentinstallhq.com/create-a-custom-detection-script-for-wireshark-powershell/

Wireshark 64-bit Silent Install (EXE)

  1. Navigate to: https://www.wireshark.org/download.html
  2. Select the Windows Installer (64-bit)
  3. Download the Wireshark-win64-x.y.z.exe to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
  4. Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
  5. Navigate to the C:\Downloads folder
  6. Enter the following command: Wireshark-win64-x.y.z.exe /S
  7. Press Enter

After a few moments you should see the Wireshark shortcut in the Start Menu, Installation Directory, and Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Software Title:Wireshark (64-bit)
Vendor:The Wireshark Developer Community
Architecture:x64
Installer Type:EXE
Silent Install Switch:Wireshark-win64-x.y.z.exe /S
Silent Uninstall Switch:"%ProgramFiles%\Wireshark\uninstall.exe" /S
Download Link:https://www.wireshark.org/download.html
PowerShell Script:https://silentinstallhq.com/wireshark-install-and-uninstall-powershell/
Detection Script:https://silentinstallhq.com/create-a-custom-detection-script-for-wireshark-powershell/

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

WinPcap (Npcap) Silent Install Workaround

  • Navigate to: https://nmap.org/dist/nmap-7.12-setup.exe
  • Download the nmap-7.12-setup.exe to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
  • Extract the contents of the nmap-7.12-setup.exe using 7-zip
  • Copy the winpcap-nmap-4.13.exe to 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: winpcap-nmap-4.13.exe /S
  • Press Enter

Change the Wireshark Default Installation Directory

You can change the default installation directory by using the following command line parameters. In this example, I’m installing Wireshark to “C:\Wireshark”

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /D=C:\Wireshark

Include Wireshark Desktop Shortcut During Install

The Wireshark installer does not include a desktop shortcut by default. If you want the desktop shortcut included during installation, then you can run the following command line switch.

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /desktopicon=yes

Exclude Wireshark Quick Launch Shortcut During Install

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /quicklaunchicon=no

Include Interfaces to Capture for Android Devices

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /EXTRACOMPONENTS=androiddump

Include Interfaces to Capture for Cisco Routers

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /EXTRACOMPONENTS=ciscodump

Include Interfaces to Generate Random Captures

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /EXTRACOMPONENTS=randpktdump

Include Interfaces to Capture From Remote Host Through SSH

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /EXTRACOMPONENTS=sshdump

Provide an UDP Receiver That Gets Packets From Network Devices

Wireshark-x.y.z.exe /S /EXTRACOMPONENTS=udpdump

How to Uninstall Wireshark Silently

Check out the following posts for a scripted solution:

Wireshark Install and Uninstall (PowerShell)
Wireshark Silent Uninstall (PowerShell)
  1. Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
  2. Enter one of the following commands:

Wireshark 32-bit Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 32-bit System

"%ProgramFiles%\Wireshark\uninstall.exe" /S

Wireshark 32-bit Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 64-bit System

"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Wireshark\uninstall.exe" /S

Wireshark 64-bit Silent Uninstall (EXE) on 64-bit System

"%ProgramFiles%\Wireshark\uninstall.exe" /S

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.

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