The matter is solved. Unfortunately, Acro Software Inc. removed this feature. Purposefully.
I received a following response:
Hello M. The current version does not support silent un-installation. Regards, CutePDF Support Team
...for which I asked if it is a planned behaviour, eg. they're planning to keep it that way, or will it be fixed in the next release? The response was short:
We may change that in our next version. Regards, CutePDF Support Team
I have asked them then if they could be in any way more specific, yet...
Unfortunately, we don't have schedule yet. You may acquire the license of our custom PDF writer which can be install/un-install silently. Regards, CutePDF Support Team
Time to get reacquainted with other, comparable products :)
An alternative deployment workaround available is to use AutoIT with the following script:
AutoIT3[_64].exe uninstall-cutepdf.au3 "<uninstaller_path>" "<uninstaller_parameters>"
(note the parentheses, they are important!)
If FileExists( $CmdLine[1] ) Then Run( """" & $CmdLine[1] & """ " & $CmdLine[2] ) WinWait( "CutePDF Writer", "Do you wish to continue?", 10 ) ControlClick( "CutePDF Writer", "Do you wish to continue?", 6 ) WinWait( "CutePDF Writer", "CutePDF Writer has been removed", 30 ) ControlClick( "CutePDF Writer", "CutePDF Writer has been removed", 2 ) EndIf
Note that when using Wpkg, Wpkg-GP or other software deployment system running as SYSTEM user during startup, you need to make sure the service runs in desktop-interactive mode, otherwise AutoIT won't work properly.