How to Write a Simple Script to Install a Program
If you have a large number of computers that all need new programs installed, it can be very time-consuming to sit at each machine and manually start the installation programs. If you write a simple script program and distribute it to each computer, you can have the users start the installation on their own by running the script.
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Instructions
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Power on your computer and click on the "Start" button at the bottom-left side of the desktop. Click on "Programs" and then scroll through the list of options and choose "Microsoft Notepad."
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Click on "My Computer" and navigate to the folder where the installation file is located for the program you want to install. Right-click on the file and then click on "Properties" from the menu that pops up.
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Highlight the full path location of the file, such as "D:\CD\Install.exe," and then right-click. Choose "Copy" from the menu that pops up to copy the location information.
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Navigate back to the Notepad program you opened earlier. Type the word "START" in all caps on the first line. Press the space bar once and then right-click and choose "Paste" to paste the location of the installation program. Check that the line reads exactly like "START D:\CD\Install.exe" without any extra spaces or characters.
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Click on "File" at the top toolbar and then click on "Save." Name the file whatever you want, but change the extension from ".txt" to ".bat," such as "InstallFile.bat."
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Close the file. Double-click on it to run the script and install the program. Save the file to an external source, such as a jump drive or CD-RW, and take it to any other computer that needs to run the script and install the program.
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Navigate to the location where you saved the batch file and right-click on it if you need to edit it. Choose "Edit" or "Open With Notepad" from the new menu that pops up to open the file in Notepad for editing.
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Tips & Warnings
Never use Wordpad, Microsoft Word or any other advanced word processing program to write a batch file since the text formatting those programs use will prevent the file from running properly.
Resources
- Photo Credit MetroDish
