How to install .MSI using PowerShell

When trying to silently install an MSI via PowerShell using this command:

Start-Process $webDeployInstallerFilePath -ArgumentList '/quiet' -Wait

I was getting the error:

The specified executable is not a valid application for this OS platform.

I instead switched to using msiexec.exe to execute the MSI with this command, and it worked as expected:

$arguments = "/i `"$webDeployInstallerFilePath`" /quiet"
Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList $arguments -Wait

Hopefully others find this useful.

Why get so fancy about it? Just invoke the .msi file:

& <path>\filename.msi

or

Start-Process <path>\filename.msi

Edit: Full list of Start-Process parameters

https://ss64.com/ps/start-process.html

#Variables
$computername = Get-Content 'M:\Applications\Powershell\comp list\Test.txt'
$sourcefile = "\\server\Apps\LanSchool 7.7\Windows\Student.msi"
#This section will install the software 
foreach ($computer in $computername) 
{
    $destinationFolder = "\\$computer\C$\download\LanSchool"
    #This section will copy the $sourcefile to the $destinationfolder. If the Folder does not exist it will create it.
    if (!(Test-Path -path $destinationFolder))
    {
        New-Item $destinationFolder -Type Directory
    }
    Copy-Item -Path $sourcefile -Destination $destinationFolder
    Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer -ScriptBlock { & cmd /c "msiexec.exe /i c:\download\LanSchool\Student.msi" /qn ADVANCED_OPTIONS=1 CHANNEL=100}
}

I've searched all over for this myself and came up with zilch but have finally cobbled this working script together. It's working great! Thought I'd post here hopefully someone else can benefit. It pulls in a list of computers, copies the files down to the local machines and runs it. :) party on!

You can use:

msiexec /i "c:\package.msi"

You can also add some more optional parameters. There are common msi parameters and parameters which are specific for your installer. For common parameters just call msiexec

After some trial and tribulation, I was able to find all .msi files in a given directory and install them.

foreach($_msiFiles in 
($_msiFiles = Get-ChildItem $_Source -Recurse | Where{$_.Extension -eq ".msi"} |
 Where-Object {!($_.psiscontainter)} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName)) 
{
    msiexec /i $_msiFiles /passive
}

In powershell 5.1 you can actually use install-package, but it can't take extra msi arguments.

install-package .\file.msi

Otherwise with start-process and waiting:

start -wait file.msi ALLUSERS=1,INSTALLDIR=C:\FILE

#$computerList = "Server Name"
#$regVar = "Name of the package "
#$packageName = "Packe name "
$computerList = $args[0]
$regVar = $args[1]
$packageName = $args[2]
foreach ($computer in $computerList)
{
    Write-Host "Connecting to $computer...."
    Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer -Authentication Kerberos -ScriptBlock {
    param(
        $computer,
        $regVar,
        $packageName
        )

        Write-Host "Connected to $computer"
        if ([IntPtr]::Size -eq 4)
        {
            $registryLocation = Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\"
            Write-Host "Connected to 32bit Architecture"
        }
        else
        {
            $registryLocation = Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\"
            Write-Host "Connected to 64bit Architecture"
        }
        Write-Host "Finding previous version of `enter code here`$regVar...."
        foreach ($registryItem in $registryLocation)
        {
            if((Get-itemproperty $registryItem.PSPath).DisplayName -match $regVar)
            {
                Write-Host "Found $regVar" (Get-itemproperty $registryItem.PSPath).DisplayName
                $UninstallString = (Get-itemproperty $registryItem.PSPath).UninstallString
                    $match = [RegEx]::Match($uninstallString, "{.*?}")
                    $args = "/x $($match.Value) /qb"
                    Write-Host "Uninstalling $regVar...."
                    [diagnostics.process]::start("msiexec", $args).WaitForExit() 
                    Write-Host "Uninstalled $regVar"
            }
        }

        $path = "\\$computer\Msi\$packageName"
        Write-Host "Installaing $path...."
        $args = " /i $path /qb"
        [diagnostics.process]::start("msiexec", $args).WaitForExit()
        Write-Host "Installed $path"
    } -ArgumentList $computer, $regVar, $packageName
Write-Host "Deployment Complete"

}