msiexec command line

Andrew Baker

unread,

Jun 11, 2003, 10:47:31 AM6/11/03

to

Anyone know what the maxiumum length of an XP msiexec command line can
be? I read somewhere that XP Command Prompt has a limit of 2046
characters, but I guess that msiexec would have a built in limit ... ?

Thanks in advance,

ab

John Eikanger [MSFT]

unread,

Jun 16, 2003, 12:32:51 PM6/16/03

to

Hi, Andrew

I've asked that a specialist from our MSI support team respond to your post.

If you do not receive a reply today, please send me email with your contact
information and I will create a support incident. Just remove "online."
from my nospam email.

Sorry for the delay

HTH,

John Eikanger
Microsoft Visual Basic Team

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
(c) 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
--------------------
| From: ajb...@deloitte.co.uk (Andrew Baker)
| Newsgroups: microsoft.public.platformsdk.msi
| Subject: msiexec command line
| Date: 11 Jun 2003 07:47:31 -0700
| Organization: http://groups.google.com/
| Lines: 7
| Message-ID: <77e6239a.03061...@posting.google.com>
| NNTP-Posting-Host: 212.187.228.132
| Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
| Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
| X-Trace: posting.google.com 1055342851 19692 127.0.0.1 (11 Jun 2003
14:47:31 GMT)
| X-Complaints-To: groups...@google.com
| NNTP-Posting-Date: 11 Jun 2003 14:47:31 GMT
| Path:
cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP08.phx.gbl!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.co
m!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-xit-09!supernews.com!postnews1
google.com!not-for-mail
| Xref: cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl microsoft.public.platformsdk.msi:13754
| X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.platformsdk.msi

John Eikanger [MSFT]

unread,

Jun 16, 2003, 4:04:00 PM6/16/03

to

Hi, Andrew

I got a verbal response. The person I talked to stated that he had seen
command lines of over 1000 characters. He believes that msi exec should be
able to handle the OS maximum, but he does not have it in writing. If you
need a definitive answer, we will have to contact the product team.

HTH,

John Eikanger
Microsoft Visual Basic Team

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
(c) 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
--------------------

| .google.com!not-for-mail

Adam Semel

unread,

Jun 17, 2003, 9:12:20 AM6/17/03

to

Hey Ab,

Here is the technical answer to your question.

Cmd.exe had a 2048 character limit, It has been increased to 8190.
ShellExecute has a limit MAX_PATH or INTERNET_MAX_URL_LENGTH (2080 plus
epsilon), depending on version.
CreateProcessA has a 32K(minus epsilon) ANSI character limit on NT
(Ironically, I believe it is unlimited on 9X)
CreateProcessW has a 64K(minus epsilon) byte (32K character) limit.

The last two are examples of common limits in the OS constrained by the
guts of the OS unicode string data structure.

Certain components of the MSI command line are limited (Paths to
package\patch must be MAX_PATH). But otherwise MSI has no limits beyond
what the OS imposes.

Adam Semel
Windows Installer Team
Microsoft Developer Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

You assume all risk for your use.

Andrew Baker

unread,

Jun 19, 2003, 10:06:33 AM6/19/03

to

Adam,

That's great - thanks for your help.

ab

ase...@online.microsoft.com (Adam Semel) wrote in message news:<L5YYZIN...@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl>...