Summary

Symptoms

When launching an installation created with InstallShield, the following error may occur:

Error 1629: Invalid command line.

Cause

This error is displayed by the setup.exe file, and it occurs when invalid parameters have been passed to the setup.exe file when it was launched.

Resolution

To ensure a valid command line is being used, see the InstallShield Help Library topic Setup.exe and Update.exe Command Line Parameters. This article describes each valid parameter that can be passed to setup.exe and the functionality it performs. Make sure the command line being used to launch your setup follows the rules listed in this article.

In addition, make sure the parameters being passed also follow the regulations listed in the InstallShield Help Library topic Msiexec.exe Command Line Parameters. This article describes the specific arguments that can be passed to the MSI engine (msiexec.exe) and the functionality each option performs.

Note: Command-line arguments can also be passed to msiexec.exe from an IDE setting. This option can be found in the IDE by selecting Project > Settings. Select the MSI Log File tab to view the parameters being passed to this file. If incorrect parameters are passed in this location, it results in this error message.

Also, if building your setup as uncompressed, a setup.ini file may also be included in your build location in the same folder as setup.exe. This initialization file can be used to pass parameters to setup.exe as well. Open this file in a text editor, such as Notepad, and make sure the entry CmdLine= contains no value. If it does, delete everything after the = sign and run the setup again.

Once the arguments being passed meets the requirements in the above InstallShield Help Library topics, this error should no longer occur.

Additional Information

If the error message that occurs is Error 2755:1639, see InstallShield Knowledge Base article Q106083 PRB: MSI Error 2755:1639.