Peakboard hub

Silent installation and uninstallation

This article describes the unattended, command-line driven installation and uninstallation of the Peakboard Hub on premise, including the Public API. It is written for administrators and for automation use cases (software deployment, CI/CD pipelines, scripts).

Important: Both setup and uninstall must run with elevated (administrator) rights. They configure IIS, the Windows registry, certificates and — if requested — the SQL Server.

Silent installation

Activation

The unattended installation is activated with the -Silent True argument:

PeakboardHubSetup.exe -Silent True -InstallPath "C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub"

Without -Silent True the graphical wizard starts.

Argument syntax

Both notations are accepted and may be mixed:

Format	Example
`-key value`	`-InstallPath "C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub"`
`key=value`	`InstallPath=C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub`

A -key without a following value (or followed by another -key) is interpreted as True. -Silent is therefore equivalent to -Silent True.
Unknown arguments are ignored and only written to the log file (forward compatibility).
Keys are not case sensitive.

Boolean values

Treated as True (case insensitive): True, Yes, 1. Anything else (including False, No, 0, empty) is False.

Return and exit codes

Exit code	Meaning
`0`	Installation successful
`-1`	Error or cancellation

In addition the progress is written to the console line by line ([ 42%] <step>); the detailed setup log lives under C:\ProgramData\Peakboard\LocalState\Logs\Setup\PeakboardHubSetup_<timestamp>.log.

Argument reference

General

Argument	Values	Default	Description
`-Silent`	`True/False`	`False`	Activates the unattended installation (no UI).

Installation paths (at least one is required)

Argument	Values	Default	Description
`-InstallPath`	Path	–	Target folder of the Peakboard Hub. If a path is given without any further Hub component flags, the setup automatically installs Hub + .NET runtime + IIS (see behaviour and automatic defaults).
`-ApiInstallPath`	Path	–	Target folder of the Public API. If set without API flags, the setup automatically installs API + API IIS.

At least one of -InstallPath or -ApiInstallPath must be set; otherwise the setup aborts with exit code -1.

Components

Argument	Values	Default	Description
`-InstallPeakboardHub`	`True/False`	derived	Install the Hub.
`-InstallPeakboardHubApi`	`True/False`	derived	Install the Public API.
`-InstallSqlServerExpress`	`True/False`	`False`	Install a local SQL Server Express instance (named `SQLEXPRESS`). Only set this if no working SQL Server is available yet.
`-InstallNetHostingBundle`	`True/False`	derived	Make sure the .NET Hosting Bundle / Desktop Runtime is present (only installed if it is missing).
`-ConfigureIisPage`	`True/False`	derived	Set up the IIS site and app pool for the Hub.
`-ConfigureApiIisPage`	`True/False`	derived	Set up the IIS site and app pool for the API.

Database

Argument	Values	Default	Description
`-ConfigureDatabase`	`True/False`	`False`	Set up or connect the database. Not enabled automatically in silent mode — must be set explicitly if the setup should touch the database.
`-DatabaseServerName`	Text	`localhost\SQLEXPRESS`	SQL Server instance.
`-DatabaseName`	Text	`PeakboardHub`	Database name.
`-DatabaseUsername`	Text	–	SQL login used by the Hub.
`-DatabasePassword`	Text	–	Password for the SQL login.
`-CreateDatabase`	`True/False`	`False`	`True` = create database and login from scratch. `False` = reuse an existing database and login.
`-BackupDatabase`	`True/False`	`True`	Take a backup before an update (database already exists). If the backup fails, the silent run is cancelled — disable it with `-BackupDatabase False` to skip the backup.

With -ConfigureDatabase True, all four values are required: -DatabaseServerName, -DatabaseName, -DatabaseUsername, -DatabasePassword. With -CreateDatabase True, the -DatabaseUsername must be a valid SQL identifier (starts with a letter or underscore, then only letters, digits or underscores).

User authentication

Argument	Values	Default	Description
`-LocalUsers`	`True/False`	`False`	`True` = authenticate Hub users against the local machine accounts. `False` (or omitted) = Active Directory.

Internal arguments (do not set manually)

Argument	Description
`-ContinueInstallation`	Set exclusively by the RunOnce entry after a reboot (when the IIS Windows feature has just been installed).
`-InstallIisFeature`	Set internally when this run enabled the IIS Windows feature.

Behaviour and automatic defaults

Path implies component: If -InstallPath is set without explicitly selecting a Hub component, the setup automatically enables Hub + .NET runtime + IIS. The same logic applies to -ApiInstallPath, which enables API + API IIS.
Database is NOT enabled automatically in silent mode. Unlike the wizard, -ConfigureDatabase is not derived from the component selection in unattended runs. If the setup should create or connect the database, you must set -ConfigureDatabase True together with the database values.
SQL Server Express is only installed when -InstallSqlServerExpress True is given.
API without -ConfigureDatabase: The API shares the Hub database. If no database configuration is supplied, the setup takes the connection string from a Hub instance that is already installed; if none exists, an obvious placeholder is written into the API’s appsettings.json, which then has to be replaced manually.

Examples

Fresh install — Hub + SQL Express + database on a clean machine:

PeakboardHubSetup.exe -Silent True ^
  -InstallPath "C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub" ^
  -InstallSqlServerExpress True ^
  -ConfigureDatabase True -CreateDatabase True ^
  -DatabaseServerName "localhost\SQLEXPRESS" ^
  -DatabaseName "PeakboardHub" ^
  -DatabaseUsername "pbhub" -DatabasePassword "V3rySecure!" ^
  -LocalUsers True

Hub against an existing SQL Server database (no SQL Express setup):

PeakboardHubSetup.exe -Silent True ^
  -InstallPath "C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub" ^
  -ConfigureDatabase True -CreateDatabase True ^
  -DatabaseServerName "SQLSRV01\PROD" ^
  -DatabaseName "PeakboardHub" ^
  -DatabaseUsername "pbhub" -DatabasePassword "V3rySecure!"

Update an existing installation without a database backup:

PeakboardHubSetup.exe -Silent True ^
  -InstallPath "C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub" ^
  -ConfigureDatabase True -CreateDatabase False ^
  -DatabaseServerName "localhost\SQLEXPRESS" ^
  -DatabaseName "PeakboardHub" ^
  -DatabaseUsername "pbhub" -DatabasePassword "V3rySecure!" ^
  -BackupDatabase False

Install only the Public API:

PeakboardHubSetup.exe -Silent True -ApiInstallPath "C:\inetpub\PeakboardHubApi"

Silent uninstall

Each Hub instance ships with its own uninstaller during the install.

Component	Uninstaller
Hub (optionally including API)	`<InstallPath>\Uninstall\uninstall.exe`
Standalone API	`<ApiInstallPath>\Uninstall\api_uninstall.exe`

The path is also available in the UninstallString registry value of the corresponding entry under Apps & Features.

Activation

"C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub\Uninstall\uninstall.exe" --silent

Without --silent the graphical uninstaller starts.

Argument reference

Argument	Alias	Default	Description
`--silent`	`-s`	–	Unattended uninstall (no UI).
`--remove-database`	`-RemoveDatabase`	off	Additionally drop the database and the login and remove the associated Hub Flows and uploaded files.

Default behaviour (without `--remove-database`)

In silent mode the default and mandatory components are removed:

The Hub program files (the folder is deleted once the process ends),
The IIS site and app pool of this installation,
The registry entry and Apps & Features entry of this installation.

The database, the Hub Flows and the uploaded files are kept by default (data is protected on purpose). They are deleted only when --remove-database is supplied.

The following are not removed automatically (opt-in components, skipped in silent mode): SQL Server Express, the .NET Hosting Bundle and the IIS Windows feature.

Protection across multiple Hub instances and shared resources

Shared database: With --remove-database, the database is dropped only when this installation is provably the sole consumer. If another (including older) Hub or API installation still points at the same database, it is kept (fail-safe).
Shared IIS site and certificates: Removed only when this is the last Hub installation on the machine.

Return and exit codes

Exit code	Meaning
`0`	Uninstall completed
`-1`	Could not run (for example `uninstall.json` is missing or broken)

Examples

Uninstall the Hub, keep the database and data:

"C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub\Uninstall\uninstall.exe" --silent

Fully uninstall the Hub — including the database, login, Hub Flows and files:

"C:\inetpub\PeakboardHub\Uninstall\uninstall.exe" --silent --remove-database

Uninstall a standalone Public API:

"C:\inetpub\PeakboardHubApi\Uninstall\api_uninstall.exe" --silent

Notes

SQL Server Express on top of an existing SQL Server: If a SQL Server (possibly broken) is already installed, installing a fresh SQL Express instance can fail (SQL setup error 0x84B40002 or 1722). The wizard warns about this case; in silent mode, leave -InstallSqlServerExpress off and either reuse an existing instance via -ConfigureDatabase + -CreateDatabase False, or fully remove the existing SQL Server beforehand.
Log files:
- Setup: C:\ProgramData\Peakboard\LocalState\Logs\Setup\PeakboardHubSetup_<timestamp>.log
- SQL Server setup (when Express is installed): C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Setup Bootstrap\Log\Summary.txt

Did you find this article helpful?

Do you need more support?

Visit our YouTube channel

Our numerous videos for beginners and advanced users explain exactly how to design your dashboard.

Visit the Peakboard Templates

Download our templates for various use cases for free.

Visit www.peakboard.com

Find out all about Peakboard and browse our different use cases and success stories.

Choose your preferred site

Peakboard Hub

Peakboard Designer

Get Started

Data Sources

Dataflows

Controls

Scripting

Administration

Resources

Misc

Peakboard hub

Peakboard edge

Apexboard

Peakboard hub

Silent installation and uninstallation