Install Winrar with PowerShell

[kavaa]

I made a install script for Winrar to do a Silent install.

UPDATED VERSION 2 With auto detect if Invoke-WebRequest exists

Improvements are welcome!

When a new version of Winrar comes out, just change the winrar-x64-540.exe to the new value.

# Silent Install Winrar
# http://www.winrar.com

# Path for the workdir
$workdir = "c:\installer\"

# Check if work directory exists if not create it

If (Test-Path -Path $workdir -PathType Container)
{ Write-Host "$workdir already exists" -ForegroundColor Red}
ELSE
{ New-Item -Path $workdir  -ItemType directory }

# Download the installer

$source = "http://rarlab.com/rar/winrar-x64-540.exe"
$destination = "$workdir\winrar.exe"
Invoke-WebRequest $source -OutFile $destination

# Start the installation

Start-Process -FilePath "$workdir\winrar.exe" -ArgumentList "/S"

# Wait XX Seconds for the installation to finish

Start-Sleep -s 35

# Remove the installer

rm -Force $workdir\w*

For Windows 7 please change 

$source = "http://rarlab.com/rar/winrar-x64-540.exe"
$destination = "$workdir\winrar.exe"
Invoke-WebRequest $source -OutFile $destination

To

$WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$WebClient.DownloadFile("http://rarlab.com/rar/winrar-x64-540.exe","$workdir\winrar.exe")

Since Powershell in Windows 7 does not support the Invoke-WebRequest

[Paul]

Thank you for your scripts. BTW: You can use -Wait on the Start-Process to wait for the process to exit. An alternative would be Wait-Process which also supports -Timeout. Great job.

-Paul

[ComputerConsulting]

I tried this script.

It did not install.

I opened the directory c:\installer and watched it while I ran the script a second time.

I never saw a file appear in this directory.

I tested this on Windows 7 

[kavaa]

7 minutes ago, ComputerConsulting said:

I tried this script.

It did not install.

I opened the directory c:\installer and watched it while I ran the script a second time.

I never saw a file appear in this directory.

I tested this on Windows 7 

Since I only have Windows 8 and up Machines at the moment I cannot test it.

I'm going to install a Windows 7 VM now to test it on there as well.

p.s. the files gets downloaded via PowerShell and it could be slow.

[ComputerConsulting]

I watched the script finish in less than a minute.  

[kavaa]

40 minutes ago, Paul said:

Thank you for your scripts. BTW: You can use -Wait on the Start-Process to wait for the process to exit. An alternative would be Wait-Process which also supports -Timeout. Great job.

-Paul

I did try it with that, but sometimes it failed. So that's why I went back to a old fashion Wait...

[ComputerConsulting]

 

$destination = "$workdir\winrar.exe"

 

I know next to nothing about PowerShell scripting, but why did you end the line with winrar.exe ?  That's not a directory, that's a file.

[kavaa]

3 minutes ago, ComputerConsulting said:

I watched the script finish in less than a minute.  

If you have a Fast Connection that's normal then  

But if its not installed then something is Wrong.

I need to test it on Windows 7 only tested it on Windows 10

[ComputerConsulting]

You have a 35 second sleep in the script.  

The script runs for 35 seconds.  

[kavaa]

2 minutes ago, ComputerConsulting said:

 

$destination = "$workdir\winrar.exe"

 

I know next to nothing about PowerShell scripting, but why did you end the line with winrar.exe ?  That's not a directory, that's a file.

$source = "http://rarlab.com/rar/winrar-x64-540.exe" -> Download Location
$destination = "$workdir\winrar.exe" -> Location where the file needs to be saved
Invoke-WebRequest $source -OutFile $destination -> Command that executes the download

So the download should be saved in the $workdir and the workdir = C:\installer 

That's where the Destination is for.

1 minute ago, ComputerConsulting said:

You have a 35 second sleep in the script.  

The script runs for 35 seconds.  

True, that is so that the script waits 35sec. before removing the Installer.

[kavaa]

Version 2

This version will check if the Invoke-WebRequest Command exists or not. For legacy Systems like Windows 7 you than only have one Script and don't need to change things in Pulseway

# Silent Install Winrar
# http://www.winrar.com

# Path for the workdir
$workdir = "c:\installer\"

# Check if work directory exists if not create it

If (Test-Path -Path $workdir -PathType Container)
{ Write-Host "$workdir already exists" -ForegroundColor Red}
ELSE
{ New-Item -Path $workdir  -ItemType directory }

# Download the installer

$source = "http://rarlab.com/rar/winrar-x64-540.exe"
$destination = "$workdir\winrar.exe"

# Check if Invoke-Webrequest exists otherwise execute WebClient

if (Get-Command 'Invoke-Webrequest')
{
     Invoke-WebRequest $source -OutFile $destination
}
else
{
    $WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
    $webclient.DownloadFile($source, $destination)
}

# Start the installation

Start-Process -FilePath "$workdir\winrar.exe" -ArgumentList "/S"

# Wait XX Seconds for the installation to finish

Start-Sleep -s 35

# Remove the installer

rm -Force $workdir\w*