Observability

How to perform a silent installation of the SolarWinds Platform Agent on Windows using PowerShell

To deploy the SolarWinds Agent silently on Windows systems, it is not sufficient to use SILENT=true alone, as this does not suppress all user interface prompts. By including the /qn flag with msiexec, the installation becomes fully silent and suitable for automated deployments. This PowerShell-based approach simplifies large-scale agent rollouts across your environment. This method is specific to Windows and does not apply to Linux systems, which require a separate shell-based installer.

First published date

5/19/2025 3:31 PM

Last published date

6/10/2026 4:12 PM

Overview

This article provides step-by-step instructions to perform a silent installation of the SolarWinds Agent on Windows systems using PowerShell. It addresses an issue where the agent installer prompts for user interaction despite using SILENT=true, and explains how to suppress all UI prompts by adding the /qn flag to the installation command.

Product section

Hybrid Cloud Observability

Cause

The SILENT=true parameter alone in the .msi installer command does not fully suppress the user interface (UI). It only limits certain interactions but does not override the Windows Installer’s default behavior of prompting with UI elements. Without explicitly specifying the /qn flag (quiet mode with no UI) in the msiexec.exe command, the installation may still trigger popups or dialogs.

Resolution

To install the SolarWinds Agent silently on a Windows machine using PowerShell, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

  2. Navigate to:
    Settings > All Settings
    Under Product Specific Settings, click Agent & Remote Collector.

  3. On the Agent Management page, click Download Agent Software.

  4. Select Windows, then click Next.

  5. Choose Deployment method as Mass Deploy to Multiple Machines, and click Next. 

  6. Click Download .MSI and .MST to get the agent installer and MST File.

  7. Copy the downloaded .MSI and .MST file to a shared drive or the local drive of the target machine.
    Run the following PowerShell script on the target Windows machine: 

    $MsiPath = "C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\SolarWinds-Agent.msi"   # MSI path
$MstPath = "C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\SolarWinds-Agent.mst"   # MST path
$OrionServer = "xx.xx.xx.xx" # Polling Engine IP address
$OrionPort = "17778"            # Port
$AgentInitiated = "true"

# Build MSI arguments
$MsiArguments = @(
    "/i `"$MsiPath`"",
    "TRANSFORMS=`"$MstPath`"",  # Add this line
    "SILENT=true",
    "ENABLECORTEX=false",
    "AGENTINITIATED=$AgentInitiated",
    "SERVER=$OrionServer",
    "PORT=$OrionPort",
    "/qn"  # Fully silent install
)

# Join arguments
$ArgumentString = $MsiArguments -join ' '

# Start the installation silently
Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList $ArgumentString -Wait -NoNewWindow


     Note: Make sure to run the PowerShell script as Administrator on the target machine, otherwise the installation may fail due to insufficient privileges.  Need MST file to get connected with the Solarwinds Polling engine.