MS04-038 Command Line Arguments

Contrary to most Internet Explorer patches, MS04-038 uses “/quiet /norestart” to automate the distribution in a corporate setting instead of the “/q:a /r:n” command line arguments that are normally used with SMS. This is causing a lot of frustration with Administrators that were not aware of this change. It's worth noting, however, that the Security Bulletin does provide the correct syntax, as does the patch executable when using the “/?” command line argument.

This security update supports the following setup switches:

      /help                 Displays the command line options

Setup Modes

      /quiet                  Quiet mode (no user interaction or display)

      /passive              Unattended mode (progress bar only)

      /uninstall           Uninstalls the package

Restart Options

      /norestart      Do not restart when installation is complete

      /forcerestart   Restart after installation

Special Options

      /l                         Lists installed Windows hotfixes or update packages

      /o                          Overwrite OEM files without prompting

      /n                          Do not backup files needed for uninstall

      /f                          Force other programs to close when the computer shuts down

      /extract             Extracts files without starting setup