Installing Acunetix via Command Line

You can install Acunetix from the command line. This is useful for automated deployments.

The command line parameters available are:

  • /verysilent
  • /email=<email_address> *
  • /pwhash=<password_hash> *
  • /hostname=<host_name>
  • /port=<port_number>
  • /allow-remote

Note that the parameters tagged with * are required for a valid installation.

Silent Install - Limitations:

  • To ensure that the installation process is as silent as possible, you must launch the command as an administrator on the machine; otherwise the user may see desktop notifications to allow certain actions.
  • The installer requires installing a CA (Certificate Authority) certificate in the Windows certificate store; this process will present a warning dialog on the desktop which the user must accept or decline. There is no way to suppress this dialog at this time.
  • The silent install function is ONLY available for Windows.

Parameter /verysilent

The verysilent parameter is necessary to run the installer within a command line environment without launching any GUI elements.

Parameter /email

The email parameter is necessary to define the administrator username to login to Acunetix. If this parameter is missing, the resulting installation will be unusable because there will be no valid user to login to the system.

Parameter /pwhash

The pwhash parameter is necessary to define the administrator password (after hashing it using the SHA256 algorithm) to login to Acunetix. If this parameter is missing, the resulting installation will be unusable because there will be no valid user to login to the system.

There are several tools you can install and use to generate a hash for a chosen password. You can also use online tools such as https://passwordsgenerator.net/sha256-hash-generator/

Parameter /hostname

The hostname parameter allows you to specify the hostname or IP Address which will be used to access the Acunetix User Interface. The hostname or IP Address you choose must be resolvable and accessible for the machine from which you plan to use Acunetix. If you omit this parameter, then the default hostname "localhost" will be used by the installer.

Note that if you do NOT specify this parameter, or if the hostname is set to "localhost", then Acunetix will not be accessible from a different machine.

Parameter /port

The port parameter allows you to specify a different port number from the default. If you omit this parameter, then the default port "3443" will be used by the installer.

Note that you must ensure that the port number is not in use by some other service running on the same machine. If Acunetix is installed with a port number that is already in use, the resulting installation will be unusable because the Acunetix UI will not be able to start.

Parameter /allow-remote

The allow-remote parameter must be present to allow the Acunetix UI to be used from another machine. If you omit this parameter, then Acunetix will not be accessible from a different machine.

Example Command Line for Installation

This example:

acunetix.exe /verysilent /email=john.doe@example.com /pwhash=878C246BE367FD5A311F3CED7927EC61A2146E8127D66B4CB1E684BA502C1244 /hostname=acunetix.example.local /port=7777 /allow-remote

...will silently install Acunetix with username "john.doe@example.com", password "ExamplePassword1%", hostname "acunetix.example.local", on port "7777", allowing use of Acunetix from another machine. Acunetix will be reachable on https://acunetix.example.local:7777.

 

« Back to the Acunetix Support Page