Install on Windows using the command line

You can install Splunk Enterprise on Windows from the command line.

Do not run the 32-bit installer on a 64-bit system. If you attempt this, the installer warns you and prevents installation.

If you want to install the Splunk universal forwarder from the command line, see Install a Windows universal forwarder in the Universal Forwarder manual.

When to install from the command line

You can manually install Splunk Enterprise on individual machines from a command prompt or PowerShell window. Here are some scenarios where installing from the command line is useful:

• You want to install Splunk Enterprise, but do not want it to start right away
• You want to automate installation of Splunk Enterprise with a script
• You want to install Splunk Enterprise on a system that you will clone later
• You want to use a deployment tool such as Group Policy or System Center Configuration Manager
• You want to install Splunk Enterprise on a system that runs a version of Windows Server Core

Install using PowerShell

You can install Splunk Enterprise from a PowerShell window. The steps to do so are identical to those that you use to install from a command prompt.

Upgrading?

To upgrade Splunk Enterprise, see How to upgrade Splunk for instructions and migration considerations.

Splunk Enterprise does not support changing the management or Splunk Web ports during an upgrade.

Prerequisites to installing Splunk Enterprise on Windows

Choose the Windows user Splunk Enterprise should run as

Before you install, see Choose the Windows user Splunk Enterprise should run as to determine which user account Splunk Enterprise should run as to address your data collection needs. The user you choose has specific ramifications on what you need to do before you install the software.

Prepare your domain for a Splunk Enterprise installation as a domain user

The Windows network should be configured to support a Splunk Enterprise installation.

Before you install, see Prepare your Windows network for a Splunk Enterprise installation as a network or domain user for instructions about how to configure your domain to run Splunk Enterprise.

Disable or limit antivirus software if able

The Splunk Enterprise indexing subsystem requires high disk throughput. Any software with a device driver that intermediates between Splunk Enterprise and the operating system can restrict the processing power that is available to Splunk Enterprise. This can cause slowness and even an unresponsive system. This includes anti-virus software.

You must configure such software to avoid on-access scanning of Splunk Enterprise installation directories and processes before you start a Splunk installation

Have credentials for the Splunk administrator user ready

When you install Splunk Enterprise, you must create a username and password for the Splunk administrator user. The installer does not create credentials for the user by default. Think of a username and password combination and be ready to supply it when you perform the installation. If you do not supply at least a password during a silent installation, Splunk Enterprise can install without any users defined, which prevents login. You must then create a user-seed.conf file to fix the problem and restart the software.

Consider installing Splunk software into a directory with a short path name

By default, the Splunk MSI file installs the software to \Program Files\Splunk on the system drive (the drive that booted your Windows machine.) While this directory is fine for many Splunk software installations, it might be problematic for installations that run in distributed deployments or that employ advanced Splunk features such as accelerated data models, search-head or indexer clustering.

The Windows API has a path limitation of MAX_PATH which Microsoft defines as 260 characters including the drive letter, colon, backslash, 256-characters for the path, and a null terminating character. Windows cannot address a file path that is longer than this, and if Splunk software creates a file with a path length that is longer than MAX_PATH, it cannot retrieve the file later. There is no way to change this configuration.

To work around this problem consider installing the software into a directory with a short path length, for example C:\Splunk or D:\SPL.

Install Splunk Enterprise from the command line

Invoke msiexec.exe to install Splunk Enterprise from the command line or a PowerShell prompt.

For 32-bit platforms, use splunk-<...>-x86-release.msi:

msiexec.exe /i splunk-<...>-x86-release.msi [<flag>]... [/quiet]

For 64-bit platforms, use splunk-<...>-x64-release.msi:

msiexec.exe /i splunk-<...>-x64-release.msi [<flag>]... [/quiet]

The value of <...> varies according to the particular release; for example, splunk-6.3.2-aaff59bb082c-x64-release.msi.

Command-line flags let you configure Splunk Enterprise at installation. Using command-line flags, you can specify a number of settings, including but not limited to:

• Which Windows event logs to index.
• Which Windows Registry hives to monitor.
• Which Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) data to collect.
• The user Splunk Enterprise runs as. See Choose the Windows user Splunk Enterprise should run as for information about what type of user you should install your Splunk instance with.
• An included application configuration for Splunk to enable (such as the light forwarder.)
• Whether Splunk Enterprise should start automatically when the installation is finished.

Supported flags

The following is a list of the flags you can use when installing Splunk Enterprise for Windows from the command line.

The Splunk universal forwarder is a separate executable, with its own installation flags. See "supported command line flags" in Install a Windows universal forwarder from the command line in the Universal Forwarder manual.

Flag	Purpose	Default
AGREETOLICENSE=Yes|No	Use this flag to agree to the EULA. You must set this flag to Yes to perform a silent installation. The flag does not work when you click the MSI to start installation.	No
INSTALLDIR="<directory_path>"	Use this flag to specify directory to install. The Splunk Enterprise installation directory is referred to as $SPLUNK_HOME or %SPLUNK_HOME% throughout this documentation set.	C:\Program Files\Splunk
SPLUNKD_PORT=<port number>	Use this flag to specify alternate ports for splunkd and splunkweb to use. If you specify a port and that port is not available, Splunk Enterprise automatically selects the next available port.	8089
WEB_PORT=<port number>	Use this flag to specify alternate ports for splunkd and splunkweb to use. If you specify a port and that port is not available, Splunk Enterprise automatically selects the next available port.	8000
WINEVENTLOG_APP_ENABLE=1/0 WINEVENTLOG_SEC_ENABLE=1/0 WINEVENTLOG_SYS_ENABLE=1/0 WINEVENTLOG_FWD_ENABLE=1/0 WINEVENTLOG_SET_ENABLE=1/0	Use these flags to specify whether or not Splunk Enterprise should index a particular Windows event log. You can specify multiple flags: Application log Security log System log Forwarder log Setup log	0 (off)
REGISTRYCHECK_U=1/0 REGISTRYCHECK_BASELINE_U=1/0	Use these flags to specify whether or not Splunk Enterprise should index events from capture a baseline snapshot of the Windows Registry user hive (HKEY_CURRENT_USER). Note: You can set both of these at the same time.	0 (off)
REGISTRYCHECK_LM=1/0 REGISTRYCHECK_BASELINE_LM=1/0	Use these flags to specify whether or not Splunk Enterprise should index events from capture a baseline snapshot of the Windows Registry machine hive (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE). Note: You can set both of these at the same time.	0 (off)
WMICHECK_CPUTIME=1/0 WMICHECK_LOCALDISK=1/0 WMICHECK_FREEDISK=1/0 WMICHECK_MEMORY=1/0	Use these flags to specify which popular WMI-based performance metrics Splunk should index: CPU usage Local disk usage Free disk space Memory statistics Note: If you need this instance of Splunk Enterprise to monitor remote Windows data, then you must also specify the LOGON_USERNAME and LOGON_PASSWORD installation flags. Splunk Enterprise cannot collect any remote data that it does not have explicit access to. Additionally, the user you specify requires specific rights, administrative privileges, and additional permissions, which you must configure before installation. Read "Choose the Windows user Splunk Enterprise should run as" in this manual for additional information about the required credentials. There are many more WMI-based metrics that Splunk can index. Review "Monitor WMI Data" in the Getting Data In Manual for specific information.	0 (off)
LOGON_USERNAME="<domain\username>" LOGON_PASSWORD="<pass>"	Use these flags to provide domain\username and password information for the Windows user that Splunk Enterprise will run as. The splunkd and splunkweb services are configured with these credentials. For the LOGON_USERNAME flag, you must specify the domain with the username in the format "domain\username." Do not use this flag to set the Splunk administrator password. These flags are mandatory if you want this Splunk Enterprise installation to monitor any remote data. Review "Choose the Windows user Splunk Enterprise should run as" in this manual for additional information about which credentials to use.	none
SPLUNK_APP="<SplunkApp>"	Use this flag to specify an included Splunk application configuration to enable for this installation of Splunk Enterprise. Currently supported options for <SplunkApp> are: SplunkLightForwarder and SplunkForwarder. These specify that this instance of Splunk will function as a light forwarder or heavy forwarder, respectively. Refer to the "About forwarding and receiving" topic in the Forwarding Data manual for more information. If you specify either the Splunk forwarder or light forwarder here, you must also specify FORWARD_SERVER="<server:port>". To install Splunk Enterprise with no applications at all, omit this flag. Note: The full version of Splunk Enterprise does not enable the universal forwarder. The universal forwarder is a separate downloadable executable, with its own installation flags.	none
FORWARD_SERVER="<server:port>"	Use this flag only when you also use the SPLUNK_APP flag to enable either the Splunk heavy or light forwarder. Specify the server and port of the Splunk server to which this forwarder will send data.	none
DEPLOYMENT_SERVER="<host:port>"	Use this flag to specify a deployment server for pushing configuration updates. Enter the deployment server name (hostname or IP address) and port.	none
LAUNCHSPLUNK=0/1	Use this flag to specify whether or not Splunk software should start up after the installation completes, and automatically when the machine boots. Note: If you enable the Splunk Forwarder by using the SPLUNK_APP flag, the installer configures Splunk to start automatically, and ignores this flag.	1 (on)
INSTALL_SHORTCUT=0/1	Use this flag to specify whether or not the installer should create a shortcut to Splunk on the desktop and in the Start Menu.	1 (on)
SPLUNKUSERNAME=<username>	Create a username for the Splunk administrator user. If you specify a quiet installation with the /quiet flag and do not specify this setting, then the software uses the default value of admin, but you must still specify a password with the SPLUNKPASSWORD or GENRANDOMPASSWORD flags for the installation to add the credentials successfully.	admin
SPLUNKPASSWORD=<password>	Create a password for the Splunk administrator user. The password must meet eligibility requirements. Each operating system can use a unique escape character syntax. When choosing special characters for your password, test the escaped password string before using it on a production installation. If you specify a /quiet installation, and do not define this field or the SPLUNKUSERNAME field, then the software installs without an admin user and you must create one by editing the user-seed.conf configuration file.	N/A
MINPASSWORDLEN=<positive integer>	When using the SPLUNKPASSWORD flag to set a password, you can also set password eligibility requirements for password creation and modification. The MINPASSWORDLEN flag specifies the minimum length that a password must be to meet these eligibility requirements going forward. It cannot be set to 0 or a negative integer. Any new password you create and any existing password you change must meet the new requirements after you set this flag.	> 1
MINPASSWORDDIGITLEN=<integer>	When using the SPLUNKPASSWORD flag to set a password, you can also set password eligibility requirements for password creation and modification. The MINPASSWORDDIGITLEN flag specifies the minimum number of numeral (0 through 9) characters that a password must contain to meet these eligibility requirements going forward. It cannot be set to a negative integer. Any new password you create and any existing password you change must meet the new requirements after you set this flag.	0
MINPASSWORDLOWERCASELEN=<integer>	When using the SPLUNKPASSWORD flag to set a password, you can also set password eligibility requirements for password creation and modification. The MINPASSWORDLOWERCASELEN flag specifies the minimum number of lowercase ('a' through 'z') characters that a password must contain to meet these eligibility requirements going forward. It cannot be set to a negative integer. Any new password you create and any existing password you change must meet the new requirements after you set this flag.	0
MINPASSWORDUPPERCASELEN=<integer>	When using the SPLUNKPASSWORD flag to set a password, you can also set password eligibility requirements for password creation and modification. The MINPASSWORDUPPERCASELEN flag specifies the minimum number of uppercase ('A' through 'Z') characters that a password must contain to meet these eligibility requirements going forward. It cannot be set to a negative integer. Any new password you create and any existing password you change must meet the new requirements after you set this flag.	0
MINPASSWORDSPECIALCHARLEN=<integer>	When using the SPLUNKPASSWORD flag to set a password, you can also set password eligibility requirements for password creation and modification. The MINPASSWORDSPECIALCHARLEN flag specifies the minimum number of special characters that a password must contain to meet these eligibility requirements going forward. It cannot be set to a negative integer. The ':' (colon) character cannot be used as a special character. Any new password you create and any existing password you change must meet the new requirements after you set this flag.	0
GENRANDOMPASSWORD=1/0	Generate a random password for the admin user and write the password to the installation log file. The installer writes the credentials to %TEMP%\splunk.log. After the installation completes, you can use the findstr utility to search that file for the word "PASSWORD". After you get the credentials, delete the installation log file, as retaining the file represents a significant security risk.	0

Silent installation

To run the installation silently, add /quiet to the end of your installation command string. If your system has User Access Control enabled (the default on some systems), you must run the installation as Administrator. To do this:

• When opening a command prompt or PowerShell window, right click on the app icon and select "Run As Administrator".
• Use this command window to run the silent install command.

Examples

The following are some examples of using different flags.

Silently install Splunk Enterprise to run as the Local System Windows user and set the Splunk administrator credentials to "SplunkAdmin/MyNewPassword"

msiexec.exe /I Splunk.msi SPLUNKUSERNAME=SplunkAdmin SPLUNKPASSWORD=MyNewPassword /quiet

Enable the Splunk heavy forwarder and specify credentials for the user Splunk Enterprise should run as

msiexec.exe /i Splunk.msi SPLUNK_APP="SplunkForwarder" SPLUNKPASSWORD=MyNewPassword FORWARD_SERVER="<server:port>" LOGON_USERNAME="AD\splunk" LOGON_PASSWORD="splunk123"

Enable the Splunk heavy forwarder, generate a random password for the default Splunk administrator user, enable indexing of the Windows System event log, and run the installer in silent mode

msiexec.exe /i Splunk.msi SPLUNK_APP="SplunkForwarder" GENRANDOMPASSWORD=1 FORWARD_SERVER="<server:port>"  WINEVENTLOG_SYS_ENABLE=1 /quiet

Where "<server:port>" are the server and port of the Splunk server to which this machine should send data.

Install Splunk Enterprise with verbose logging to C:\TEMP\SplunkInstall.log

msiexec.exe /I Splunk.msi /l*v C:\TEMP\SplunkInstall.log

See Command Line Options on Windows Dev Center for additional logging and command line options for msiexec.exe.

Next steps

Now that you have installed Splunk Enterprise, learn what happens next.

You can also review this topic about considerations for deciding how to monitor Windows data in the Getting Data In manual.