Summary: Avoid if at all possible! I was in a similar situation (albeit with an earlier version of SAS 9) - Windows metadata server, 4 x Linux workspace servers. It was a major pain, and resulted in the installation taking WAY longer. (Tasks that could be done in hours using the GUI would take days on the command line.) No doubt the installation process has improved somewhat, and it is actually possible to create a response file for an unattended installation, but this assumes you already know the answers to all the prompts that are asked by the installation GUI. If you are installing both Non-Prod and Prod platforms, see if you can have gnome/kde on the Non-Prod platform, which you can use to build and test your response file. Alternatively (which is what we ultimately did), convince them of the administrative benefits of having gnome/kde installed (even if just for the duration of the installation). Good luck! ... View more