I am going to walk through on how to silently remote install QuickBooks. As of this writing I am using QuickBooks 2021 Enterprise. (Someone has emailed me to confirm this method does work for 2022 as well. Read on for setting related to your target version.)

  • First Download Quickbooks 2021 from here
  • Once downloaded right click the file and check the box that says unblock and click OK

  • Next download 7zip from here and install
  • Right click the QuickBooks file from earlier and select 7zip>Extract to “QuickBooksEnterprise21”

  • Next we need to download and install Orca
  • You can download the Windows SDK and then install orca from C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0\bin
  • For simplicity here is the install file for just Orca if you don’t want to go through that
  • Open Orca and browse the extracted folder and select QuickBooks.Msi from QuickBooksEnterprise21\QBooks\ location
  • You may be able to use my transform file: QuickbooksNoLicense (license info has been removed)
  • Unzip the file then in Orca after opening the msi file click Transform>Apply Transform and in green you should see what has been added
  • Be sure for QB_LICENSENUM and QB_PRODUCTNUM you enter your license information
  • If my file does not work then you will need to manually create the transform file from the menu up top click Transform>New Transform (Click here to skip below if the provided transform file worked)
  • Change or add a new row accordingly:

(Click here for a Version Reference)

PROPERTY NEW VALUE
AgreeToLicense Yes
INSTALLDIR C:\Program Files (x86)\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 21.0
 ISSETUPDRIVEN 1
NUMUSERLICENSE 8 (Change to the number of users you have purchased)
 PARENTAPP INSTALLMANAGER
QBMAJORVERSION 31
QBPROANDUP 1
QBVERSION_APP 31.0
QB_IS_SUBSCRIPTION 1
QB_LA YES
QB_LICENSENUM 1234-1234-1234-123
QB_PRODUCTNUM 123-123
QbKeyCodeValid Valid
REBOOT S
SETUPINIPRODUCT QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 21.0
SETUPINIVERSION 31
STRATUM standard_stratum
  • Next on the far left select LaunchCondition
  • Delete the one that says:

  • Click Transfrom>Generate Transform and save that file somewhere memerable
  • Run the following command to perform a silent install (be sure your paths are correct)
    • msiexec /i “QuickBooks.msi” TRANSFORMS=”Quickbooks.mst” /q
  • I have not found a way to automatically select the edition of QuickBooks so if anyone has any information on that it would be helpful so when first opening you will have this:

  • After selection though you can change it by opening Quickbooks and clicking Help>Mange My License>Change to a Different Industry Edition

  • I wanted to note that after selecting contractor edition the following registry key is created:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Intuit\QuickBooks\31.0\belcontractor
  • Also the following file is created (probably other files as well but did not investigate yet)
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 21.0\QBW32EnterpriseContractor.exe
  • Next task is finding out how to centrally manage pushing release updates. I will create a new post when that is figured out.

Version Reference:

QuickBooks 2022

PROPERTY NEW VALUE
QBMAJORVERSION 32
INSTALLDIR C:\Program Files (x86)\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 22.0
QBVERSION_APP 32.0
SETUPINIPRODUCT QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 22.0
SETUPINIVERSION 32

QuickBooks 2021

PROPERTY NEW VALUE
QBMAJORVERSION 31
INSTALLDIR C:\Program Files (x86)\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 21.0
QBVERSION_APP 31.0
SETUPINIPRODUCT QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 21.0
SETUPINIVERSION 31

QuickBooks 2020

PROPERTY NEW VALUE
QBMAJORVERSION 30
INSTALLDIR C:\Program Files (x86)\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 20.0
QBVERSION_APP 30.0
SETUPINIPRODUCT QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 20.0
SETUPINIVERSION 30

Hopefully you can see the pattern above for any versions below 2020.

References:

https://qtechbabble.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/sliently-install-quickbooks-accountant-2019/
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/install-new-products/toggle-to-another-quickbooks-edition/00/232377