This is part of my series on How to Install Windows Applications Silently.

SketchUp, now owned by Google, is a great 3D modeling program that makes it very easy to throw your 3-dimensional ideas into a model. If you need to install it on many machines, it will save you time to automate the process, so you don’t have to click through the installer each time. Thankfully, the Google SketchUp 6 installer isn’t to difficult (once you figure it out). Their are multiple ways to do this, but this is the one that I’m currently using so I know it works. Keep in mind that my main goal is to simplify the process so I don’t have to click so much, and automate so I don’t miss any steps. Whether or not this works with a login script or SMS or other methods of install aren’t within the scope of this document.

First, if you haven’t read my post How to Install Windows Applications Silently then go do that now, you won’t need any of the special tools, but it is useful background and will help all of this to fit into a context. Once you’ve done that, create a folder called Sketchup in the %Apps% folder. Go to sketchup.google.com/download.html to grab the Google SketchUp 6 download for Windows 2000/XP, save it to the Sketchup folder you just created, the file is likely called GoogleSketchUpWEN.exe.

The next thing you’ll need to do is create a Setup.iss file. This is like a script for the setup program. Their are two ways you can do it. The first method is to copy the code below and save it to a file called setup.iss in the Sketchup directory you created. This script is the one I created which installs using all the default settings.

[InstallShield Silent]
Version=v7.00
File=Response File
[File Transfer]
OverwrittenReadOnly=NoToAll
[{B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-DlgOrder]
Dlg0={B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdWelcome-0
Count=5
Dlg1={B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdLicense2Rtf-0
Dlg2={B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdAskDestPath2-0
Dlg3={B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdStartCopy2-0
Dlg4={B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdFinish-0
[{B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdWelcome-0]
Result=1
[{B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdLicense2Rtf-0]
Result=1
[{B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdAskDestPath2-0]
szDir=C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 6
Result=1
[{B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdStartCopy2-0]
Result=1
[Application]
Name=Google SketchUp 6
Version=6.0.00176
Company=Google
Lang=0009
[{B3D8B2F8-3C2C-45BC-933E-8B60E78F6684}-SdFinish-0]
Result=1
bOpt1=0
bOpt2=0

The second method is to ‘record’ your own. You can do this by running the install with a ‘/r’ switch. Open your Start menu and choose Run. If their is any text in the ‘Open’ box, delete it, and then drag the GoogleSketchUpWEN.exe file you downloaded onto the open window. The path to the file will appear in the Open box, add a space, and then /r after the path, which will tell the setup to record the options that you choose as it goes. Click OK and run the setup as you would like it to be run every other time. Once finished, go to the Windows folder (probably C:\Windows) and copy the file setup.iss to the Sketchup folder you created.

Now you can create the batch file that tells the install to run, and adds any extra steps you’d like. Create a text file called install.bat in your Sketchup directory. Add the following code:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Installing SketchUp

start /wait googlesketchupwen.exe /a /s /sms /f1%CD%\setup.iss /f2%temp%\setup.log

del "%allusersprofile%\desktop\Google SketchUp.lnk"
move "%allusersprofile%\start menu\programs\google sketchup 6\Google Sketchup.lnk" "%allusersprofile%\start menu\programs"
rd "%allusersprofile%\start menu\programs\google sketchup 6" /S/Q
del "%temp%\setup.log"

exit

This script will tell the install program to start, and run the install using the setup.iss file you provided. It will create a log file of the install in your %temp% directory. Note that you’ll be able to see the installer running on the screen, but you won’t have to interact with it. Once the installer finishes, the shortcut on the desktop will be deleted (I hate desktop clutter, you can of course remove that line if you wish). Because I use this program in student computer labs, I don’t need to have the ‘uninstall’ option available in the menu, so I move the main shortcut out of the Google SketchUp 6 folder in the Programs Menu, and then delete the folder (and the unistaller icon inside). Finally, I like to clean up after myself, so I delete the log file as well (no way I know of to tell it not to create it in the first place).