Removal Wizard

Using Command-Line Options with the Removal Wizard

By using command-line options, you can specify the mode in which the Microsoft Removal Wizard runs, the OPC file it uses, the log file it creates, and so forth.

To run the Removal Wizard with command-line options, click Run on the Start menu, and then type Offcln9.exe followed by the command-line options you want.

The Removal Wizard command-line options use the following syntax:

Offcln9.exe [/a | /s [/q[/r]] [/l][!][logfile]]] [opcfile]

/a   Indicates aggressive mode; the Removal Wizard removes files associated with all previously installed versions of Office and Office-related applications. When you use this command-line option, the wizard does not allow you to select which files to keep.

/s   Indicates safe mode; the Removal Wizard removes only those files for which it does not detect an associated application. When you use this command-line option, the wizard does not allow you to select which files to keep.

/q   Indicates quiet mode; the Removal Wizard runs without prompting the user for information or displaying progress indicators. The wizard does not restart the user’s computer; therefore, changes might not be completed until the user restarts the computer.

/r   Used with the /q option to restart the computer automatically if necessary. The user has no opportunity to save files before the computer restarts.

/llogfile   Generates a log with the file name logfile. If no log file name is specified, the Removal Wizard creates a default log file, Offcln9.log, in the current folder of the wizard.

opcfile   Indicates the name of the OPC file. If you don’t specify a file name here, the Removal Wizard looks for Offcln9.opc, the default OPC file.

/l!logfile   Generates a log file in the same manner as /l, but the Removal Wizard does not perform the removal process. This option is useful to test the Removal Wizard before running it to remove files.

For example, the following command-line string runs the Removal Wizard in aggressive mode without user intervention, restarts the system automatically if needed, and creates the default log file:

Offcln9.exe /a /q /r /l

Tip   The Removal Wizard returns a code to indicate whether the wizard ran with any errors. If you create a batch file to run the wizard, you can include error-checking code so that the wizard returns 0 to indicate that errors occurred or returns 1 to indicate that no errors occurred.