#620 Silent installation with language selection

[Gianluigi]

Ciao Giorgio, i would like to distribute PeaZip in the company but I cannot understand if it is possible to install it in Italian language.
i found this: /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /MERGETASKS=!desktopicon and it works but PeaZip is installed in eglish language and a user should be able to change the language in Options, Localization....etc.

[Gianluigi]

and moreover, user can't change the language because administrative rights are needed

[Giorgio Tani]

To change language of the application you need to point to it.txt rather than default.txt in conf.txt configuration file, then you can distribute the conf.txt to all installs in the organization - if you prefer you can also go for replacing default.txt (which is itself a copy of en.txt) with your favorite language file, and distribute it to users.

Changing language from main menu Options > Localization requires UAC elevation (which should be prompted to non administrative users) because it also takes care to change text PeaZip entries in Windows' context menu.
You can automate changing system's context menu strings running it.reg (in PeaZip\res\lang-wincontext) which also will need UAC elevation if done by a non-admin user profile.

Another possible approach, rather than distributing multiple copies of the application, is placing PeaZip Portable in a network or cloud path, accessible to every user needing the application.

[Gianluigi]

It is too complicated! too many operations to do and redo each time the program is updated. Can I suggest you to insert the possibility to select the language during the installation phase? Thanks for support.

[Giorgio Tani]

Sorry for not mentioning the simplest possible way, there is the -peaziplanguage command (for PeaZip, not for the installer), so you can i.e. launch this command to configure the language on all machines right after PeaZip installation:

"C:\Program Files\PeaZip\peazip.exe" -peaziplanguage it.txt

It will do both actions 1) change language in the GUI and 2) translate the strings in Windows context menu (which triggers UAC elevation if not run as admin).

In previous answer I mentioned the two separate steps in details (plus the Portable option) to offer more options to automate the task, not knowing what may be your favorite way to clone and distribute the application.

Another more possible way , if you have some tool to simulate clicks in thee GUI, is to run the installer and select the language in "Install PeaZip" screen, "Application language" dropdown menu.

[Gianluigi]

I created a bat file and ran it remotely on the client but the language doesn't change. So I went to the client, i ran a command prompt with administrative rights and from C:\Program Files\ PeaZip\ folder I ran peazip.exe -peaziplanguage it.txt but again it didn't worked. Am I wrong something?

[Gianluigi]

I have to correct one thing: when I execute the command, only the language in the contextual menu changes.

[Giorgio Tani]

From the description of the issue, it seems you are running the command while a PeaZip instance is open.
Try closing it and running the command to change language.
When you will open the application the language will be changed either in the application and in the system's context menu.

Procedure can be automated running the installer, waiting it to complete, and then launching (your installation path)\peazip.exe -peaziplanguage it.txt

[Gianluigi]

i have attached a short video.

[Gianluigi]

I also tried after disabling the Antivirus protections but nothing changes.

[Giorgio Tani]

Have you tried the action on other machines, or after a clean install of the application?

[Gianluigi]

hello, i just tried it on another pc but the result is the same:
i unistall 7-zip and reboot the pc.
Then i install PeaZip and run the script.

[Gianluigi]

Ciao Giorgio, i have not heard from you for some days.

[Giorgio Tani]

The methods for changing language works as expected on test machines.
For next release I've implemented a command line switch to change language during installation.
In this way it will be an atomic operation for the end user, and many of the possible issues will be ruled out.

[Gianluigi]

I'm happy to hear that from you.
Thanks.

[Giorgio Tani]

With 8.1.0 release Windows installer supports command line parameter to set language on installation, both for GUI and for system menu entries.
Language can be declared as last parameter, with or without "/" prefix, i.e. last parameter calling the installer is /IT to set italian language (to identify language file names check the files in PeaZip\res\lang\ directory).

[Gianluigi]

Hello, i tried installing PeaZip 8.1 with this command line: /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /MERGETASKS=!desktopicon /IT
but the program interface remains in English while the context menu is actually in Italian.
I have tried on three PCs but with the same result.
I honestly don't understand why!

[Giorgio Tani]

I've tried the exact command line on my test machines, which have different configurations in terms of user privileges and UAC settings, but it consistently works as expected.
The only way to replicate the issue is to open PeaZip before installation is completed.
In this case the context menu is translated, but GUI is not - it is open while still in English, and saves that language on exit.
Whithout progress indicator it can happen.

[Gianluigi]

i cannot have PeaZip opened because it is not installed.
these are Windows 10 PCs in a Windows domain and UAC is set ""Always notify".
I use Kaspersky Security Center to deploy but i have no issues with other software, however, in the attached video the test was run at the command prompt.

[Giorgio Tani]

The issue seems related to the one you previously reported when -peaziplanguage switch was not changing language in the GUI.

I suggest you to test progressively:
can you change the GUI language from the program itself?
if yes, try running installer interactively, can you successfully change GUI language selecting it in first screen?
if yes, try to run the installer only with /IT switch, so you can see if the language is correctly being selected when you reach the first installation screen.

Changing GUI language happens simply modifying a single line in the conf.txt file, what get in beetween on your test machine(s) cannot be inferred from those reports but at this point I'm curious to understand better what is happening.

[Gianluigi]

Hi, I'm doing some tests on other PCs and on some it works but I don't have consistent behavior.
In the meantime I have to solve another problem with the Antivirus: during installation PeaZip creates files in other folders besides "C: \ Program Files \ PeaZip \"?
Thanks

[Giorgio Tani]

Hi, the unusual and variable behavior may be due to antivirus preventing the application to perform the needed operations.
As it is relatively less known than 7-Zip or WinRar it is quite probable some av may treat it as suspicious especially for recently released new versions.
As for the installer, source package and GitHub repository contains the InnoSetup scripts which documents exactly all the operations being performed. https://github.com/peazip/PeaZip/tree/welcome/peazip-sources/installer
Most of the files are saved to application's directory, but configuration (which is relevanto for changing language) is saved to user's appdata roaming path.
Some other files are not saved in application's path, i.e. sendto links, but those are not relevant for changing language.