Setup Command Line Parameters¶

Attention

We suggest using the MSI Installer if you’d like to deploy PDFCreator Professional or Terminal Server.

/LicenseKey=<LicenseKey>¶

If you have a license key for PDFCreator you can pass it with this parameter.

/DeferLicenseCheck¶

The /DeferLicenseCheck parameter can be used to postpone (defer) the activation of a license during installation. During the first startup after installation, you will be asked to activate your license.

This workflow can only be used in combination with a silent installation. If the setup is started in interactive mode, there is no option of deferring the license check.

Note

When deferring the license check, you still have the option of providing a license key which will store the key in registry.

Warning

If the license key provided has an invalid format, the setup is aborted.

There is no need to add this parameter if installing with Winget or Chocolatey, as it is automatically used (see Windows Package Manager (Winget) Installation and Chocolatey Installation).

/DeferLicensingServiceStart¶

By default, upon installation of PDFCreator Terminal Server, the PDFCreator Licensing Service is installed and started automatically post installation. The service is used to update the license activation at regular intervals to ensure its validity. When installing PDFCreator Terminal Server for the first time on a machine, the service will be started automatically after the installation, therefore using up an activation of the license for that machine. The /DeferLicensingServiceStart parameter can be used to prevent the PDFCreator Licensing Service from starting automatically after the setup. In this way, the activation of the license can be deferred.

Note

Please note that preventing the licensing service from starting automatically after the installation requires the service to be started manually before running PDFCreator Terminal Server. The service can be started by using either the Windows UI or the command line. It will also be automatically started after a restart of the machine.

Warning

This parameter is meant to be used only when installing PDFCreator Terminal Server and in combination with the /DeferLicenseCheck parameter.

/InternalLicenseServerUrl¶

If you have an internal license server url you can pass it with this parameter. It instructs the setup to use this url to do the license activation.

/ProxyName=<ProxyName:Port>¶

If you have a license key and you use a proxy then you can use this parameter to specify the name and the port of the proxy.

Samples:

/ProxyName=proxy1
/ProxyName=proxy2:8088

/ProxyUsername=<ProxyUsername>¶

If you have a license key and you use a proxy with authentication then you can use this parameter to specify the username for the authentication.

Samples:

/ProxyUsername=Smith
/ProxyUsername="John Smith"

/ProxyPassword=<ProxyPassword>¶

If you have a license key and you use a proxy with authentication then you can use this parameter to specify the password for the authentication.

Samples:

/ProxyPassword=MyPassword
/ProxyPassword="My password"

/VerySilent¶

Instructs the setup to be very silent without any user interaction. If a restart is necessary it will reboot without asking.

Note

In Windows domains, /VERYSILENT is only available with our PDFCreator Business Editions.

There is no need to add this parameter if installing with Winget or Chocolatey, as it is automatically used (see Windows Package Manager (Winget) Installation and Chocolatey Installation).

/Lang=en¶

Specifies the language to use. Please use the two letter ISO language name. The default language is the system language.

/Dir=”x:\dirname\PDFCreator”¶

Overrides the directory were PDFCreator gets installed. A fully qualified pathname must be specified. The path must end with ‘PDFCreator’, else it will be automatically added.

/NoIcons¶

Deselects the desktop link icons.

/DisableContextMenu¶

Deselects the context menu entries.

/DisableStartMenu¶

Deselects the entry in the windows start menu.

/COMPONENTS=”pdfarchitect”¶

Selects which additional components you want to install. Possible values are "pdfarchitect", "hotfolder" and "images2pdf". Set the value "none" to install no addtional components. If you don’t use the paramter all available components will be selected.

Sample:

/COMPONENTS="pdfarchitect,hotfolder,images2pdf"
/COMPONENTS="none"

Note

The Winget and Chocolatey installations install PDFCreator, HotFolder and Images2PDF by default.

This behavior can be overwritten by passing the parameter to the installer. Please see Windows Package Manager (Winget) Installation and Chocolatey Installation for more information.

/ServiceUsername=”user.name”¶

PDFCreator Terminal Server requires an license service that regularly updates and renews the activation for all users. You can run the service as local system or use /ServiceUsername to select an user. This user needs to be able to contact ‘license.pdfforge.org’ and have permissions to write to HKLM.

/ServicePassword=”ABC1234!”¶

Sets the password for /ServiceUsername.