Some program installations use InstallShield, and the program files are compressed into Data .cab files. But InstallShield decided to be cute, and use their own propriety format with older versions of the Data .cab file. They could have used a standard compression algorithm like .ZIP, but did not.
My guess is that they didn’t want people fiddling with the raw files.
That’s a bummer for those of us who need to get at the files, such as Application Packagers. I discussed this a little in the InstallShield Temp Directory Trick.
So it’s a good thing that CDMediaWorld has utilities, such as i6Comp to extract the files. Just download it (I picked i6comp02.zip) and then run i6comp. This is what i6Comp looks like when listing files from the data.cab file:
The third method works with InstallShield based projects. To get the MSI file from your EXE installer, you need to: Log on to a computer where the software (the installer of which you would like to access) is not installed. This is because this method forces the uninstalling process to trigger extraction of the.msi file. Installshield Decompiler: 1079: Fix Installshield Wizard: 1050: Extract Cab File Installshield: 1032. Express Paste is an extension of the windows clipboard that will help you copy frequently used text such as email.
C:tempInstallShield>i6comp l -v -r data1.cab
InstallShield 6.x Cabinet Util
Version 0.2 -] fOSSiL & Morlac - 2000 [-
Date Time OrigSize Attr CompSize Ind FileName
12-16-1999 10:24 28529 ____ 5841 0 corecomp.ini
09-05-2001 04:18 77824 A___ 29916 1 ctor.dll
09-05-2001 04:13 32768 A___ 4483 2 objectps.dll
...
08-22-2003 17:27 278190 A___ 264385 180 PowerDVD.CHM
09-05-2003 16:16 65536 A___ 30014 342 AudioFilterclds.dll
09-05-2003 16:16 45056 A___ 8203 343 AudioFilterclwo.dll
09-05-2003 16:16 245760 A___ 81241 344 AudioFilterCLADR.ax
09-05-2003 16:16 126976 A___ 43046 347 AudioFilterCLAuTS.ax
09-05-2003 16:25 73728 A___ 27800 348 AudioFilterCLAudioCD.ax
09-05-2003 16:25 503808 A___ 239856 349 NavFilterCLNAVX.ax
09-12-2003 18:38 520192 A___ 205346 350 VideoFilterCLVSD.ax
09-05-2003 16:16 45568 A___ 23075 351 VideoFilterCLLine21.ax
---------- ---------- -------------------
49878589 19880422 311 file(s) total
C:tempInstallShield>
The list output is more interesting than the extract output. which is why I’ve showed list. Other options are:
C:tempInstallShield>i6comp
InstallShield 6.x Cabinet Util
Version 0.2 -] fOSSiL & Morlac - 2000 [-
Usage: i6comp <cmd> [-opts] <cab> [file index|fmask|path] [disk fmask|path]
Commands
l: list Files
g: list File Groups c: list Components t: list Setup Types
s: convert multi-volume cab to a single volume (not recommended)
e: extract files (specify <cab index|mask> when specifying <disk path>)
x: same as 'e' with subdirs
r: replace files in cab (same syntax as 'e')
d: delete files from cab (specify <cab index|mask>)
a: add files to cab (<cab path> is optional; must specify -g OR -f)
z: zero-size files (specify <cab index|mask>)
Options
v: verbose info mode
r: extract subdirs/recurse and store subdirs
d: include directories in cab matches
g<name|index>: specifies File Group to work with
o: suppress supplementary output (start msg, comments, etc.)
f: treat File Groups as directories (usefull for GUI, wrappers)
Decompile Installshield
C:tempInstallShield>
Decompiler Installshield Wizard Key
Update: this does not work with InstallShield 12 or later. I’ve written a post about that here.