General informationThere are several systems which vendors use to create installers for their applications. To make an educated guess about how to run an installer unattended, you need to know which system was used to create it. Sometimes this will be obvious from the installer's splash screen; sometimes you can figure it out by running strings; and sometimes you will have to guess.Of course, you can try running the installer with the /? Switch to find out which other switches it supports. But if you really expect this to work, then you have not been using Windows for very long.
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In my experience, the odds are about 1 in 4 that /? Will tell you anything at all, even when there is something to tell.MSI packagesMicrosoft's own Windows Installer Service is the nominal standard, and if everybody used it, there would be no need for this document. Unfortunately, Microsoft invented it too late.The package files have a.msi extension, and you manipulate them using the msiexec utility.For installation, use the /i and /qb switches. Use the /l. switch to produce a log file. You can provide named options (or 'properties') at the end of the command line; which properties are supported depends on the package. For example, this command:msiexec /qb /l.
perl-log.txt /i ActivePerl.msi PERLPATH=Yes PERLEXT=Yes.is how you install ActiveState Perl, instructing the MSI package to add Perl.exe to your PATH and to associate.pl files with it. (See below for more on Perl.)Perhaps the most important common property is the REBOOT property, which you can use to suppress any automatic reboot the MSI package might try to perform. So in general, you want to provide the /i, /qb, and REBOOT=ReallySuppress parameters to msiexec.msiexec can do many other things, like uninstall software or apply patches. Too bad nobody uses it.InstallShieldInstallShield is one of the oldest and most widely used application packaging systems.Installers created by InstallShield recognize the /r, /s, /sms, /f1, and /f2 switches. The installer itself is invariably named setup.exe.To perform a silent installation, you need an InstallShield 'answer file', customarily named setup.iss. Some applications ship with such a file, but if yours does not, you can use the graphical installer itself to create one.Here is how it works. Run the installer with the /r ('record') switch.
- . Administrative Install - An Admin install is a Windows Installer command line option using msiexec.exe. It extracts files for multiple network installations, running the steps in the AdminExecuteSequence, if present, rather than the InstallExecuteSequence. That's not quite the same thing as unpacking.
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1) MicrosoftInstaller – MSI: This is very easy, Search the web for Orca (This is part of Windows SDK, but you might find it!) and install it, it is easy to use, just open the.msi file, all the rest is to search for WindowsNT or Version and change the logic and save the package back.
Proceed through the dialogs and complete the installation. This will create a setup.iss file and place it in the C:WINDOWS directory (yes, really). This file will include all of your responses to the InstallShield dialogs, allowing you to perform unattended installations as if you were giving the same answers again. Simply copy setup.iss to the same directory as the installer executable.Once you have a setup.iss file, run the installer with the /s ('silent') option. This will perform an unattended installation.Unfortunately, the installer will fork a separate process and exit, meaning it will return immediately even if you run it under start /wait. This makes it useless for scripting purposes. Luckily, there is another switch, /sms, which will cause the installer to pause until the installation completes.Hence, for an InstallShield application, you want to provide both the /s and the /sms switches.The /f1filename switch allows you to specify a fully-qualified alternate name for the setup.iss file.
Note that there must be no space between the /f1 switch and the file name. This switch works both with /r to create the file and with /s to read it.The /f2filename switch specifies a log file. Once again, there must be no space between the switch and the file name.WARNING: Be careful what characters you use in these file names, because InstallShield silently strips certain non-alphanumerics (like hyphens).Oh, one more thing.
The /r and /s switches only work if the release engineer is competent. Many packages have 'custom dialogs' which are not supported by setup.iss, which means the dialogs will always appear no matter what you do. For such packages, I suggest asking the vendor to fix their installer. If that does not work, I suggest doing what you can to deprive them of business.PackagefortheWebInstallShield has a relatively new add-on product called PackagefortheWeb, or PFTW for short. This is basically an InstallShield tree bundled up as a single-file executable.When you run this executable, it extracts a bunch of files to a temporary directory and launches the setup.exe within.The PFTW package recognizes the /s and /a.
The /s switch instructs the PFTW package to run silently, although this does not necessarily mean that the underlying setup.exe will run silently.The /a. ('add') switch allows you to add switches to the command line of the underlying setup.exe process. You may provide any of the normal InstallShield switches here, including /r, /s, and /sms.Thus, to automate the installation of a PFTW package named foo.exe, you would first perform one installation by hand to create the answer file:foo.exe /a /r /f1c:tempfoo.issThen, to install the package completely silently, you would run:start /wait foo.exe /s /a /s /sms /f1c:tempfoo.issThe first /s is only needed for a completely silent installation.
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If you leave it off, the PFTW package will show you a status bar as it extracts the InstallShield tree to the temporary directory.InstallShield with MSIRecent versions (7 and above) of InstallShield's tools are able to produce MSI files. Read InstallShield's documentation for full details.These MSI files may be shipped alone or with a setup.exe installer.
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These installers in turn come in two flavors, called 'InstallScript MSI' and 'Basic MSI'. InstallScript MSI uses the traditional InstallShield switches. Basic MSI is another story.To perform an unattended installation using a Basic MSI installer, you provide the /s /v'.' Switches, where. Represents any additional switches you want to pass down to msiexec. These should include the /qb (or /qn) switch to make the installation non-interactive, so a minimal invocation would be:setup.exe /s /v'/qb'Just to make things interesting, any of these mechanisms might be combined with PFTW. For example, I eventually figured out that the IBM Update Connector requires these flags for unattended installation:updcon532.exe /s /a /s /v'/qb'The first /s tells the PFTW installer to extract silently.
The /a tells it to provide the remaining switches to the underlying setup.exe. The second /s tells setup.exe to run silently, while the /v'/qb' tells it to pass /qb to msiexec, which causes msiexec to run non-interactively but display a basic interface.Finally, InstallShield has a KnowledgeBase article which is less helpful than you might expect. Are we having fun yet?Wise InstallMasterInstallMaster from Wise Solutions is a competitor to InstallShield. You can usually identify the installers it produces by running 'strings' on the executable and grepping for 'Wise'.InstallMaster installers are supposed to recognize the /s switch to perform a silent installation. And in my experience, they generally do.
But there is no way to set options, and the exit status is meaningless.NOTE: This product has been rebranded the 'Wise Installation System'. Don't let them confuse you.Inno SetupInno Setup is an open source competitor in this space.
You can usually identify the installers it creates by running 'strings' on the executable and grepping for 'Inno'.The switches for Inno Setup are fully documented in the ISetup.hlp file in the Inno distribution. The GnuWin32 project has put a copy on the Web.In my experience, the /silent switch is usually sufficient for a basic unattended installation. But to be completely sure, I recommend /sp- /silent /norestart.Note that the /verysilent switch may reboot the machine without prompting, which is pretty much the worst of all possible worlds. So if you use /verysilent, be sure to use /norestart as well.Nullsoft Scriptable Install SystemThe Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) is another open source installation system.
It was created by the WinAmp authors to distribute that application, but it is now a general-purpose system which anyone might use.When an NSIS installer runs, it creates a little window which says verifying installer: N%, where N counts from 0 to 100. So you can recognize these installers by this behavior.
(Actually the verification procedure is optional, but most installers have it enabled. As an alternative, you can run 'strings' and grep for 'NSIS'.)NSIS installers recognize /S for silent installation, /NCRC to suppress the CRC (verification) step, and /D=dir to specify the 'output directory', which is where the program will be installed. These options are case-sensitive, so be sure to type them in upper case.Incidentally, all /S does is change the installer script's SilentInstall attribute from 'normal' to 'silent'. What effect this has, exactly, depends on the person who wrote the script. If /S does not perform a silent install, consider submitting a bug report to the installer's creator.Microsoft hotfixes and older packagesMost Microsoft hotfixes respond to the /? Switch, but they do not always tell you everything.According to KB article 816915 and KB article 824687, Microsoft is moving towards standardized packaging and naming for hotfixes.
But they are not done yet.Modern hotfixes support /passive (formerly /u) for unattended installation, /norestart (formerly /z) to suppress the automatic reboot, and /n to skip backing up files needed for uninstalling the hotfix.Some hotfixes use an old Microsoft packaging technology called 'IExpress', whose switches are more-or-less documented in KB article 197147 and an old USENET post. These installers first extract some stuff to a temporary folder and then run a command from inside that folder. They support the /t:path switch to specify the temporary folder name and the /c:command switch to specify the command to run. Specifying just /c suppresses running the command at all, so you can use /c /t:path to extract the hotfix just to look at it.These packages support the /q switch for quiet operation, except sometimes you have to use /q:a instead. They also support the /r:n switch to suppress the reboot. Sometimes these do not work and you have to fiddle with the /c:command switch; see the second 'NOTE' in KB article 317244 for an example.Leave it to Microsoft to make systems administration an experimental science.If all else fails.If the application simply has no unattended installation procedure, you can create your own.
I prefer to avoid these approaches if at all possible, since they are relatively unreliable and difficult to maintain.RepackagingThere are several tools around which can take a snapshot of a machine's state before and after a manual installation, compute the differences between the states, and bundle them up as an 'installer'. The Wise product line provides good support for this, and Microsoft's free tool (recently updated) provides bad support for it.The problem with this approach is that it fundamentally cannot work reliably. An installer's behavior may depend on the exact initial state of the machine, such as the OS version or the presence/absence of other installed software.
So the repackaged installer will almost never do exactly the same thing that a fresh installation would, unless the target machine is completely identical to the original machine.In addition, for every new release of an application, you will need to repackage it again. And there are other disadvantages which even Microsoft recognizes.For these reasons, I think repackaging is a very bad idea and I advise against it.AutoItAutoIt is a free tool which can simulate key presses and mouse clicks, following a script customarily named with a.aut extension.
Most installers have a sufficiently simple and consistent interface that a very short AutoIt script suffices to automate their installation.The AutoIt distribution includes very good documentation. You can copy the AutoIt.exe program wherever you like (say, Z:bin) and invoke it standalone.AutoIt scripts do have drawbacks.First, you must be careful when upgrading to new releases of an application, since the installer's UI may have changed.More worryingly, AutoIt scripts are theoretically unreliable because they do not let you determine when a sub-process has exited. You can tell when AutoIt itself exits, but that is not the same thing at all.
Jaime escalante program pioneer high school. For example, an installer's last window might disappear while the installer was still working. Your master script, waiting only for the AutoIt executable, would then proceed, starting another installation or rebooting the machine.AutoIt provides Run and RunWait primitives, but it does not provide a way to wait for the termination of an application which was invoked by Run.
If it did, this race condition could be avoided.In practice, it does not matter much, because most installers do finish their work before destroying their last window. Just make sure your.aut script uses WinWaitClose to wait for that last window to vanish.copied from Patrick J. LoPresti [email protected] w/ permission.
MSI files are Windows installer files (for Microsoft Installer) that Windows users can run to install software on a PC.You may experience a couple of issues with these type of setup files: installations may not complete properly, you may not be able to install the program on a network, or you may run into dependency issues if the system is lacking other required installations.Sometimes, you may only need access to a single file contained in the msi installation package, at other times, you may have noticed that all the installer did was extract the files to the system. In the latter case, extraction of the msi file may have yielded the same result, but with additional benefits including a fully portable application that does not leave traces behind on the host system.And if you are running a non-Windows system, extraction may be the only option you got to access files included in the msi installer package. Extracting msi files extracting msi installer filesDepending on the operating system that you work on, you may have multiple options to extract msi files.
The is for instance available for Windows, Linux and Mac systems. It can be used to extract msi files on the host system.All that you need to do for that is right-click on the msi file, and select Extract Here to unpack the msi file on your system.
You can alternatively open the archive instead using the same application. This opens all files in the 7-Zip program manager from where individual files can be extracted or run right away.If you are using Microsoft Windows, you can use programs such as, or.Note: Some extractors may not be able to unpack all msi files on your system. It is therefore a good idea to keep multiple tools at hand if you run into situations where your favorite program cannot extract the msi. There may also be a difference in how files are extracted. 7-Zip for instance extracts all files to the root directory, while the built-in msiexec tool will preserve directories.To use msiexec, you need to perform the following operation:. Tap on the Windows-key and type cmd. Right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator from the context menu.
Confirm the user account control prompt if it appears. Use the command msiexec /a msifilepath/qb TARGETDIR=targetpathYou can look up the full list of command line switches. The /a command applies the administrative installation option, the /qb parameter displays a basic user interface.Advertisement.
Note: Development on the 'official' version of Universal Extractor has stopped. It's not exactly abandoned, but since I no longer run Windows it's not something I have much of a need for these days. There have been a lot of unofficial forks and continuations released, and while I appreciate the effort and enthusiasm, most of those have been closed source updates that I wouldn't recommend.
That said, I recently discovered a project calling itself Universal Extractor 2. I'm not affiliated with the project in any way, but it seems to be a nice continuation of the project in the original open source spirit as my own creation. I've not used it myself, but if you're having trouble with the official version or not able to get it to extract newer formats and executables, I'd recommend giving Bioruebe's version a try.
Skip to: Download/Screenshots | Installation and Usage | Technical Details | Supported Formats | Credits
Introduction
Universal Extractor Feedback
If you have any questions about, or find any problems with, Universal Extractor, please post your comments to the UniExtract subforum on the MSFN message board. This has become the main point of discussion for this project.
If you have any questions about, or find any problems with, Universal Extractor, please post your comments to the UniExtract subforum on the MSFN message board. This has become the main point of discussion for this project.
Universal Extractor is a program designed to decompress and extract files from any type of archive or installer, such as ZIP or RAR files, self-extracting EXE files, application installers, etc. The full list of supported formats can be found in the table below. It's able to support so many varied file formats by utilizing the many backend utilities listed in the credits at the bottom of the page.
Please note that Universal Extractor is not intended to be a general purpose archiving program. It cannot (and never will) create archives, and therefore cannot fully replace archivers such as 7-Zip or WinRAR. What it will do, however, is allow you to extract files from virtually any type of archive, regardless of source, file format, compression method, etc.
The original motivation behind this project was to create an easy, convenient way to extract files from various types of installation packages without the need to remember arcane command line switches or track down separate utilities to handle the unpacking. Over time, and with the encouragement of its many users and the fine folks over on the MSFN forum, it has evolved into a mature and very capable unarchiving utility that many, including myself, find indispensable.
Screenshots
Universal Extractor context menu
Universal Extractor file/destination GUI
Universal Extractor preferences
Download Current Version: 1.6.1, Released: 05/12/2010
UniExtract Installer (5.3 MB) - This is the recommended download. The installer will automatically install the application and optionally integrate with the Windows Explorer context menu. This package does not contain source code.
UniExtract Binary Archive (4.95 MB) - This archive contains the binaries. Download this if you want a portable version, or just prefer not to use the installer.
UniExtract Source Code (163.13 KB) - This archive only contains the source code, but it includes all support files as well (compiler scripts, installer, etc.). This is best to download (along with the binary archive) if you want to help further development of UniExtract.
ChangeLog, ToDo - UniExtract development details
Universal Extractor Download Archive - archived versions of all official binary and source code releases
Note: If you download Universal Extractor from one of the official links above, it is not infected with a virus. If your anti-virus software tells you otherwise, please see this forum post for details.
Language Files
As of version 1.4, Universal Extractor supports internationalization. If you're interested in translating Universal Extractor into another language, please download the source archive and follow the instructions in English.ini. Please send me your completed translation and I'll include it in the next version of Universal Extractor. Thanks to all of the contributors!
To use these language files, simply download and copy into the
lang
directory of your Universal Extractor installation. The new language will appear as an option the next time you run UniExtract. Star wars knights of the old republic 2 mac download free.Note: The (alt) language files are alternate translations that are not included with the official release. Sometimes I get multiple submissions for a single language, and I like to give everyone credit, but I generally stick with the first one that's submitted out of fairness. Some of the alternate translations may be better than the included ones (or, they may not be), so feel free to give them a try. If you find that an alternate version is better than the included version, please let me know; I may switch them out for the next release.
Language File | Native Name | Contributer | Added/Updated |
---|---|---|---|
Arabic* | العربية | Awadh A Al-Ghaamdi | 10/22/2008 |
Arabic (alt) | العربية | Musab (KooTaa) | 10/12/2008 |
Armenian* | Հայերէն Hayeren | Hrant Ohanyan | 05/11/2010 |
Bulgarian* | Български | Кирил Кирилов (DumpeR) | 10/12/2008 |
Chinese (Simplified) | 简体中文 | phCole | 05/13/2010 |
Chinese (Traditional)* | 繁体中文 | Huang Junwei | 11/21/2006 |
Croatian* | Hrvatski | Tomislav Glušac | 10/22/2008 |
Croatian (alt1) | Hrvatski | Danijel Ivanieviæ | 05/11/2010 |
Croatian (alt2) | Hrvatski | Ivica Hrvoj Ivanić | 10/12/2008 |
Czech* | Čeština | Lubomír Hajda | 05/11/2010 |
Dutch* | Nederlands | Robby Kooken | 10/12/2008 |
English* | English (American) | Default/native language file | 05/12/2010 |
Finnish* | Suomi | Teijo Sakkara | 10/25/2008 |
French* | Français | jacklours | 10/22/2008 |
German | Deutsch | Arno Krumpholz | 05/13/2010 |
Greek* | Ελληνικά | Nick Mattheakis | 10/22/2008 |
Hungarian* | Magyar | Simon László | 03/25/2007 |
Italian* | Italiano | TJL73 / Roberto Boriotti | 05/11/2010 |
Japanese* | 日本語 | Yachuko Nakai | 11/28/2006 |
Japanese (alt) | 日本語 | Nardog | 11/28/2006 |
Korean* | 한국어/조선말 | Sunsuk Kim | 03/21/2007 |
Persian (Farsi)* | فارسی | Sajjad Mohammadi | 05/11/2010 |
Polish* | Język Polski | ULTIMA PRIME | 02/22/2007 |
Portuguese* | Português | José Gonçalves | 03/01/2007 |
Portuguese (Brazilian)* | Português | ZimzuM / Marcio Barbosa | 03/21/2007 |
Romanian* | Limba Română | Cristian Stefan | 02/27/2007 |
Russian* | Русский язык | gora | 05/11/2010 |
Russian (alt) | Русский язык | AVV_UA | 10/12/2008 |
Russian (old) | Русский язык | Polarbond | 02/22/2007 |
Serbian* | Srpski | Ivan Stambolić | 05/11/2010 |
Slovak* | Slovenčina | Peter Žilák | 02/22/2007 |
Spanish* | Español | Mario Ángel / Leonardo Mauro | 02/22/2007 |
Spanish (alt) | Español | Arturo Vergara | 05/13/2010 |
Swedish* | Svenska | Stefan Weber | 05/11/2010 |
Taiwanese* | 臺灣話 | YoYo | 10/12/2008 |
Thai* | ภาษาไทย | Pruthisith (Terry) Prateepavanich | 11/28/2006 |
Turkish* | Türkçe | Onur AYDIN | 03/01/2007 |
Ukrainian* | украї́нська мо́ва, | Warrior | 10/28/2008 |
Valencian (Catalan)* | Valencià (Català) | Rafel Hidalgo i Rangel | 03/25/2007 |
Vietnamese* | Tiếng Việt | Nguyen Nhat Quang | 02/22/2007 |
* = Included in current release
Installation and Usage
To install UniExtract, download the installer and run it on your system. You will have a few options during installation:
Select Components - These options specify which program components are installed to disk. Level up cartoon network episodes. These options are only really useful if you need to reduce the installation size.
Documentation and licensing information
- This includes all files in thedocs
subdirectoryLanguage files for internationalization support
- This includes all files in thelang
subdirectorySupport for ACE files
- Binaries and/or libraries required for ACE archivesSupport for KGB files
- Binaries and/or libraries required for KGB archivesSupport for Pea files
- Binaries and/or libraries required for Pea archivesSupport for StuffIt files
- Binaries and/or libraries required for StuffIt (.sit) archives
Set Program Options - These options adjust the default Universal Extractor behavior. They can be changed after installation through the Preferences menu.
Default Language
- specifies the language used by UniExtractDebug File Location
- specifies the directory to which UniExtract should write its debug fileAppend missing file extensions
- attempt to determine and append the correct extension for improperly named files using TrIDMaintain archive history
- maintain a list of the ten most recent files that were extracted, as well as the destination directoriesRemove duplicate files
- attempt to detect and remove duplicate that may have been created during extractionRemove temporary files
- automatically remove temporary files that may be created during extractionWarn before executing files
- some .exe archives must actually be executed in order to perform the extraction. Since this can be a security risk (executing unknown/untrusted code is always a bad idea), UniExtract will display a warning before extracting these types of files.
Select Additional Tasks - These options specify additional actions that can be performed by the installer. They only affects installation of Universal Extractor, and cannot be modified later.
Enable Explorer context menu integration
- allows you to right click on any archive and directly extract its filesAdd UniExtract Files.. to context menu
- adds ability to specify destination directoryAdd UniExtract Here to context menu
- adds ability to quickly extract to current directoryAdd UniExtract to Subdir to context menu
- adds ability to quickly extract to subdirectoryForce association with with all supported archive formats
- Forces UniExtract to associate itself with all supported file extensions; by default, it will only associate itself with native Windows formats (.exe, .msi, etc.) and other formats not currently associated with another program
Add Universal Extractor to your system path
- allows you to run UniExtract (and any related binaries) from the command lineCreate a SendTo icon
- add a shortcut for Universal Extractor to your SendTo context menuCreate a desktop icon
- add a shortcut for Universal Extractor to your desktopCreate a Quick Launch icon
- add a shortcut for Universal Extractor to your Quick Launch bar
If you wish to automate installation (for custom or unattended installs), please run
uniextractXX.exe /?
to get a detailed description of available command-line options for the installer. All standard Inno Setup command line parameters apply, but also pay special attention to the Components, Tasks, and Custom Parameters detailed at the bottom of the help window.For manual installation with the binary archive, simply extract the files to the destination folder you would like. By default, this puts UniExtract in 'portable mode'. This means that the
globalprefs
option is enabled (see changelog for details) and the history
option is disabled (see Program Options above). The end result is UniExtract can be easily run from portable devices like USB flash drives without leaving any trace of use. Of course, it'll also work just as well if copied to a real hard drive, and all preferences can be modified at any time by editing UniExtract.ini
, or by running UniExtract.exe /prefs
.Once UniExtract is installed, usage is simple. The easiest way, if you used the installer and enabled context menu integration, is to right-click on any archive and select click one of the UniExtract options.
UniExtract Here
will extract files to the current directory, UniExtract to Subdir
will extract files to a subdirectory named after the file, and UniExtract Files
will prompt you for the destination directory.If you did not enable context menu integration, you may run the Universal Extractor start menu shortcut, or double-click directly on UniExtract.exe. This will launch the UniExtract GUI. Enter (or use the file browser to select) the file you wish to extract and the destination directory, then click OK. It is also possible to drag-and-drop the file you wish to extract onto the icon or main application window to easily extract the dropped file.
UniExtract can also be run from the command line. Run
UniExtract.exe /?
for detailed command line parameters.You can use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall UniExtract, or just delete the directory if you used the binary archive.
Technical Details
When a file is passed to UniExtract, it begins by scanning the file with TrID. If the file format matches one of the supported non-executable formats listed below, it immediately begins extraction from the archive. If it's an executable file, it calls PEiD to analyze the file signature. If the signature indicates that it's a supported format, then it attempts to begin extraction. If it is not a recognized signature, it will try running it through 7-Zip and UnZip as default cases. If 7-Zip or UnZip recognizes it, it will be extracted; otherwise, UniExtract displays an error message and exits.
Note: Filetype scanning with TrID is new as of v1.5. Older versions relied on the file extension to identify the filetype. This behavior is still used if the TrID scan cannot determine the filetype.
If the filetype is supported, UniExtract begins by checking for a valid destination directory and recording the directory size. If necessary, a new directory will be created (with a directory size of zero). UniExtract then spawns a shell and calls the supporting binary to begin extracting files from the selected archive to the destination directory. After completion, UniExtract checks the size and timestamp of the subdirectory to determine if extraction was successful; if the size or timestamp is greater than the initial values, UniExtract assumes success and exits. If extraction fails, UniExtract notifies the user and leaves a log file (
uniextract.log
) that (should) contain any error messages.The
uniextract.log
file is created during the extraction process by the tee program. Essentially, all output from the running binary is redirected to tee, which in turn writes the output to the log file as well as echo it to the screen to give the user current progress. Upon successful execution this file is deleted, but if an error is detected it is left alone for the user to review. Note: As of v1.4, the location of uniextract.log can be changed to any user-specified directory.Supported Formats
As of v1.5, UniExtract uses TrID to determine the filetype of any given file. If this detection fails, file extensions are used as a backup identifier. The table below is a reference of known-supported filetypes and common extensions; any supported archive types should work regardless of actual extension.
Archive Type | Common File Extension(s) |
---|---|
7-zip archive | .7z, .exe |
ACE archive | .ace, .exe |
ARC archive | .arc |
ARJ archive | .arj, .exe |
ASpack compressed file | .exe |
BIN/CUE CD-ROM image | .bin, .cue |
bzip2 archive | .bz2, .tbz2, .tar.bz2 |
CPIO compressed file | .cpio |
Debian package | .deb |
DiscJuggler CD-ROM image | .cdi |
Encoded files | .b64, .uu, .uue, .xx, .xxe, .yenc, .ntx |
Gentee package | .exe |
gzip archive | .gz, .tgz, .tar.gz |
IMG floppy disk image | .img |
Inno Setup package | .exe |
Installer VISE package | .exe |
InstallShield Cabinet archive | .cab, .1, .lib |
InstallShield package | .exe |
ISO 9660 CD-ROM image | .iso |
KGB archive | .kgb, kge, .exe |
LZH compressed file | .lzh, .lha |
LZMA compressed file | .lzma |
LZO compressed file | .lzo |
LZW compressed file | .Z, .tz, .tar.Z |
LZX compressed file | .lzx |
MHTML file | .mht |
Microsoft Cabinet archive | .cab, .exe, .imf |
Microsoft Compiled Help file | .chm |
Microsoft compressed file | .??_ |
Microsoft LIT e-book | .lit |
Microsoft Windows Help file | .hlp |
HTC NBH ROM image | .nbh |
Nero CD-ROM images | .nrg |
NSIS package | .exe |
Oasis Document Format (ODF) document | .odt, .odp, .odg, .ods |
Office Open XML (OOXML) document | .docx, .pptx, .xlsx |
Outlook Express mail archive | .dbx |
PEA archive | .pea |
RAR archive | .rar, .001, .exe |
Reflexive Arcade package | .exe |
RoboForm package | .exe |
RPM package | .rpm |
SetupFactory package | .exe |
SIS (SymbianOS) packages | .sis |
StuffIt packages | .sit |
TAR archive | .tar, .tbz2, .tgz, .txz, .tz, .tar.bz2, .tar.gz, .tar.xz, .tar.Z |
UHARC archive | .uha |
UPX compressed file | .exe, .dll |
Windows Imaging Format image | .wim |
Windows Installer merge module | .msm |
Windows Installer package | .msi |
Windows Installer patch | .msp |
Windows Update Standalone patch | .msu |
Wise Installer package | .exe |
XZ compressed file | .xz, .txz, .tar.xz |
ZIP archive | .zip, .jar, .xpi, .wz, .exe |
Zoo archive | .zoo |
Decompiler Installshield Installation Wizard
Credits
Universal Extractor relies heavily on other programs, and would not be possible without the incredible generosity of the Free Software community. This is a list of all of the applications that are used by, or in the creation of, Universal Extractor:
Decompiler Installshield Installation Windows
- 7-Zip (Igor Pavlov, Open Source) - Excellent general purpose Windows archive utility; used to extract .7z, 7-Zip SFX .exe, .bz2, .cab, .chm, .cpio, .deb, .gz, .iso, .lha, .lz, .lzh, NSIS installer .exe, .rpm, .tar, .xz, .wim, and .Z files (and probably even more that I overlooked)
- ARC (Howard Chu, Open Source) - ARC archiving utility; used to extract .arc files; Note: binary was obtained from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/arc.htm
- AspackDie (yoda, Open Source) (homepage seems dead) - Unpacker for ASPack-compressed files; used to unpack .exe files with ASpack compression
- AutoIt (Jonathan Bennett, Open Source) - General-purpose Windows scripting language; used to write the UniExtract front-end
- bin2iso (Bob Doiron, Joonas Loppi, Open Source) - Utility to convert BIN/CUE CD-ROM images to ISO images; used in conjunction with 7-Zip to extract .bin/.cue images
- Barebones Ooz (Booz) - (Rahul Dhesi, Open Source) - Zoo archive extractor/lister; used for extracting .zoo files
- cdrip (DeXT, Open Source) (homepage seems dead, possible replacement) - Utility to convert DiscJuggler (CDI) CD-ROM images to ISO images; used in conjunction with 7-Zip to extract .cdi images
- cmdTotal (Adam Blaszczyk, Open Source) - CLI frontend for Total Commander plugins; enables support for the following plugins used by Universal Extractor:
- DBX (Dmitri R. Letichevski, Freeware) - extracts Outlook Express mail archives
- InstallExplorer (Domo, Freeware) - Total Commander port of the InstallExplorer plugin for FAR by Sergei Wanin; extracts Gentee, Inno Setup, Installer VISE, InstallShield, NSIS, SetupFactory, and Wise Installer packages
- MHT Unpacker (Ariel Perez, Freeware) - extracts MHTML files
- MSI (Alex Gretha, Freeware) - extracts Windows Installer package (MSI) and patch (MSO) files
- PDunSIS (Patrik Daranský, Freeware) - extracts SIS (SymbianOS) packages
- Convert LIT (Dan A. Jackson, Open Source) - Converter for Microsoft Reader format e-books; used extract contents from .lit files
- Crystal SVG (Everaldo Coelho, Free) - Collection of extremely high-quality icons for Linux/KDE; used as the source graphics for the UniExtract icon
- E_WISE (Veit Kannegieser, Open Source) - Wise Installer decompiler; used for extracting files from Wise Installer packages
- extract (Gilles Vollant, Freeware) - Floppy disk image extraction utility; used to extract files from .img images
- ExtractMHT (Jared Breland, Open Source) - Splitter and base64 decoder for MHTML files; used to extract .mht files
- GIMP (Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis, Open Source) - The GNU Image Manipulation Program; used to create the icons used by UniExtract
- HelpDeco (Manfred Winterhoff, Freeware) (homepage seems dead, possible replacement) - Decompiler for Windows Help files; used to extract/reconstruct .hlp files
- i3comp (Stirling Technologies, Freeware) - InstallShield 3.x Compression and Maintenance utility; used for extracting files from InstallShield 3.x installer packages; can be download as part of WinPack
- i5comp (fOSSiL, Open Source) - InstallShield 5.x Compression and Maintenance utility; used for extracting files from InstallShield 5.x installer packages; can be download as part of WinPack
- i6comp (fOSSiL, Morlac, Open Source) - InstallShield 6.x Compression and Maintenance utility; used for extracting files from InstallShield 6.x installer packages; can be download as part of WinPack
- Info-ZIP UnZip (Info-ZIP, Open Source) - Highly portable ZIP archive utility; used for extracting .zip and ZIP SFX .exe files
- Inno Setup (Jordan Russell, Open Source) - Open Source packaging application for Windows; used to create the UniExtract installer
- Innounp (QuickeneR, Open Source) - Inno Setup Unpacker; used for extracting files from Inno Setup installer packages
- IsXunpack (Pit0n and SkYuS//vN, Freeware) - InstallShield Unpacker; used for extracting files from modern InstallShield installer packages
- KGB (Thomasz Pawlak, Freeware) - KGB archiver; used to extract .kgb, .kge, and KGB SFX files
- lzop (Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer, Open Source) - LZO file compression utility; used to extract .lzo files
- MsiX (Heath Stewart, Open Source) - General purpose stream and transform extractor for Windows Installer files; used to extract files from .msi, .msm, and .msp files
- NBHextract (pof and TheBlasphemer, Freeware) - Utility to extract contents from NBH files (HTC device ROM images)
- nrg2iso (Greg Kokanosky, Open Source) - Utility to convert Nero (NRG) CD-ROM images to ISO images; used in conjunction with 7-Zip to extract .nrg images
- Open-source ARJ (ARJ Software Russia, Open Source) - Open Source implementation of the ARJ archiving utility; used to extract .arj and ARJ SFX .exe files
- PeaZip (Giorgio Tani, Open Source) - PeaZip archiver; used to extract Pea archives
- PEiD (Jibz, Qwerton, snaker, and xineohP, Freeware) - Portable Executable File Identifier; used to analyze .exe file signature to determine the filetype and whether or not it's a supported archive; includes Bob's external signature database
- RAIU (Icebird, Open Source) - Utility to unwrap Reflexive Arcade installers; used in conjunction with innounp to extract Reflect Arcade packages
- StuffIt Expander 6.0 (Aladdin Systems, Freeware) - StuffIt file decompressor; used for extracting .sit files
- StIX (Veit Kannegieser, Freeware) - Decompressor for InstallShield 3.x archives and installers; used to extract InstallShield 3.x archives (.1, .lib) and SFX installers (.exe)
- tee (Free Software Foundation, Open Source) - Shell utility that redirects standard input to multiple outputs; used to write messages to a log file while also displaying current progress; Windows binary was obtained from GNU Utilities for Win32
- TrID (Marco Pontello, Freeware) - Utility designed to identify file types from their binary signatures; used to determine the type of file passed for extraction
- UnLZX (Oliver Gantert, Open Source) - LZX file decompression utility; used to extract .lzx files
- UnRAR (Eugene and Alexander Roshal, Freeware) - Command-line utility for RAR archives; used to extract .rar and RAR SFX .exe files
- UnUHARC (Uwe Herklotz, Freeware) - Command-line utility for UHARC archives; used to extract .uha files; can no longer find a legitimate source
- UPX (Markus Oberhumer, Laszlo Molnar & John Reiser, Open Source) - Compression utility for PE files; used to unpack .exe and .dll files with UPX compression
- UUDeview (Frank Pilhofer, Open Source) - Encoded file decoder; used to decode Base64, UUencoded, XXencoded, and yEnc files
- WUN (Jägermeister Markus, Icebird, Open Source) - Wise-Setup Unpacker; used for extracting files from Wise Installer packages (updated version of HWUN)
- XAce (Marcel Lemke, Freeware) - ACE archive utility; used for extracting .ace and ACE SFX .exe files