I there a way to "extract" setup-EXEs to obtain the files needed for a plugin without installing the program on the host system?

Regards, Siegfried

The exe files often extract to %temp% when you run it.
Do not hit any further key and navigate to the %temp% folder to get the files.
It is sometimes better to get the files for the plugin from there cause otherwise if the program has for example logfiles they get entries you do not want to have in the plugin files.

Sometimes renaming the .exe to .rar can help to extract them with winrar.

If you have additional .cab files that get extracted by the installer or .exe file there is a commandline tool to extract this .cab files - sometimes helpfull if you have to patch a file.

Some setup files may have an admin install, which if memory serves, would be
setup /a

Wise Unpacker

http://www.pediy.com/tools/unpack/Wise/WUN.rar

unable to download, any other link?

Thanks for the feedback so far!
Had finally luck to download from the link Oscar gave us.

Here is a little test package with it (for those also having problems to download):
test-WUN.zip

This is how far I got with it.
So far, of all the setup-EXEs I tried, I could only get it to work for Setup_MagicISO.exe (but for that it really works nicely!) .

Does anyone have more details on the usage? I´m pretty sure I´m not doing it right with the parameters.
Regards, Siegfried

Well, there are quite a bit of "setup unpackers" around.

That one is just for "Wise" installs.

Search on google for "wise unpacker" (without quotes) and will find others.

Search for "installshield unpacker" for installshield, and so on.

FAR (by the same author of WINRAR):
http://farmanager.com/

has plugins for many types of install archives:
http://plugring.farmanager.com/index_e.html

(search for "install" on the plugin page)

jaclaz

This is another link

http://gwbn2.onlinedown.net/down/WUN.rar


The gui version is in chinese? First top left button is for File open or hit F3. Then there are 2 buttons. Left one is Start and the other is Cancel as it is usual.

thanks for the "Google tips".
Now all I need to do is learn chinese or whatever it is on these pages to be able to navigate to something useful.

Thank you, Oscar, for providing a concrete link! That got me a step further!

Siegfried

@Reatogo



use babelfish.altavista.com to translate from chinese

No luck with this one so far: windowblinds4_public.exe

It has "UNWISE.EXE" in the program´s directory, so I assume it is a WISE-installer.
Any tips?

Siegfried

Hi Reatogo,
I succeeded in extracting the file = 54Mb after extraction.
first renamed the file windowblinds4_public.exe to public.exe
then ran from the cmd

wun public Temp

3 new folders where created into the temp after extraction
MAINDIR (18 folders - 2563 files - size = 54,5MB)
SYS (3 files - size 92Kb)
WIN (1 folder - 1 file - size 32Kb)

@robvdb
Works without problems, thanks a lot!

When I tried to figure out, why it didn´t work for me before, I found that the problem I had was actually with version 5. Sorry for the confusion.

Do you have an idea for this one too?
windowblinds5_public.exe


Siegfried

what are you drinking Siegfiried?
extracted with wungui.exe, 60MB

These two links might help:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=17940
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=12657

For Installshield 4, 5, 5.5 & 6...
WinPack v3

@ oscar

...nothing exiting at all, really, but may be I should!

This is my problem:
in a script this works:
wun windowblinds4_public.exe temp

...and this doesn´t:
wun windowblinds5_public.exe temp

As I want to use it in the setup script for the plugin, the GUI version doesn´t help.
Any ideas?

@ CyberSlug + LiquidSage
very interesting! I´ll try it all.
Thanks !!!

Regards, Siegfried

this wun windowblinds5_public.exe temp works nice here. No problem at all.

wun.exe v0.90A (2003-07-27) by J. Markus/IceBird

This is what I get:

wun windowblinds4_public.exe temp


wun windowblinds5_public.exe temp





Siegfried

Sorry Siegfried, wun it is not working well but download e_wise_2001.5.2.rar

http://reversing.kulichki.com/files/unpack/ewise.rar

from here
http://reversing.kulichki.com/files/unpack/unpack.htm

run
e_wise_w.exe windowblinds5_public.exe temp

then

temp\0000000000.bat and you are

That did it!
Thanks, Oscar!

Regards, Siegfried



unpack-WISE.cmd

cool source

This has come out YESTERDAY (telepathy?):
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=62418&hl=

jaclaz

Jaclaz, thanks for the info!
that is really great info in the context of this project!!!
I tried the "Universal Extractor", but it seems to use WUN for the WISE installers and thus does also not extract Windowblinds vers.5. The example (using E_WISE) I posted following Oscar´s lead, works on all the WISE installers I have tried and is also a lot faster than WUN.

The "Universal Extractor" also does not extract any of the InstallShield installers I tried. It is using "is7unpack.exe" which I have not been able to run without error on my system when used by itself either.

The example posted below shows the error I´m always getting.

Any ideas, what I´m doing wrong or suggestions for a InstallShield unpacker that works as nicely and universal as the one Oscar suggested for WISE?

Regards, Siegfried

test InstallShield unpacker
TEST-is7unpack.zip


This is the error I´m always getting:

First draft of "Unpack_Setup.exe"

I am working on a universal unpacking routine to be integrated into plugin setup scripts. Ultimately it will be a call like:
call DOWNLOAD.cmd "URL-to-SetupEXE-or-archive"
and result in a folder "Files".

Derived from that, there will also be a standalone version as outlined below.

This is my first draft (WISE only at this stage) and I will add to it as we progress here until we ultimately have a universal "Unpack_Setup.exe".

Just put "Unpack-WISE.exe" into a directory with setupEXEs you want to expand.
Unpack-WISE.exe is a Rar-SFX and when run, it creates a folder "deps" with the depends and starts "deps\unpack-WISE.cmd". This will scan the current directory for EXEs and present them in a dialog for selection.
DoubleClick your selection and it expands that EXE into a folder with a name derived from the name of the EXE.
Note: always start "Unpack-WISE.exe", not the script itself (it would run in the wrong directory!)

I will post updated versions as we progress in this topic ...

Thanks for sharing your experience on what unpacker works best for a format and for pointing me to the right solutions!

Regards, Siegfried

Download Unpack-WISE.exe

No error here, only ends after Good! etc. etc. green message doing nothing

My two cents, judging from the screenshots posted, that file is NOT an Installshield one, but rather a NullSoft Installer one:
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page

jaclaz

P.S.: if this is the case, it seems like we have a problem, I cannot find ANY unpacker for NSIS

yes NSIS because If I try running SetupCloneCD5261.exe after Upx -d SetupCloneCD5261.exe I get "NSIS error" dialog

yeah, that seems to be the problem.
The NullSoft Installer seems to be pretty widely used for freeware.

Has anyone been able to get the installshield unpacker to complete a job without error? I´m not getting anything out of it.

Maybe it is one of those programs having a problem with (XP) Sp2.

Regards, Siegfried

anbody have version 0.99
i found it here on page 3 but can't get it unless registered on the forum
but it won't let me register

I found it someplace else.

Get it here:
http://www.reatogo.de/sample/IsXunpack_0.99.rar

Regards, Siegfried

version 0.99 works fine for me
Thanks, Cworks !!!
Siegfried

but....how can i extract the content of *.msi (Microsoft Installer) ?

try this for msi files
you also need ORCA from the platform SDK to feed it the name of the file.
MS info on orca is here

I've used lessMSI after someone mentioned it in this forum
needs .net 1.1

but not for me...

While working on a autoHelp plugin
... for the free "HandyRecovery vers.1"", I made this routine to get the files.

The test download includes:
XtractSetupEXE.cmd
Wget.exe
E_WISE.EXE
IsXunpack.exe
and a test-script to simulate the call.

Just thought I share it with you and give this topic a bump...
Siegfried

Details and download HERE

Been up all night looking for a program like Unpack_Setup.exe. Thank you for making it reatogo. I have a question though. I have fount it does not like files that has spaces in them. It will say already expanded. When I take the spaces out of the filename it works. Is there anyway to make it work for filenames that has spaces in them?

adding quotes around the filename should work

"filename with spaces.exe"
but renaming a file is not that hard to do

Gentlemen,

I'm the author of the previously mentioned Universal Extractor, available on msfn.org.

I came across this post while googling for information about extracting Wise installers, and was rather pleasantly surprised to see my program mentioned. :-) I wanted to let you know that I just released version 1.0 today, which adds a ton of new features, including much improved support for Wise installers. Additional details and download links can be found at the msfn.org link above (not trying to direct traffic to that site, just don't want to duplicate effort).

I'm always interested in feedback, so please let me know what you think. I hope you find this useful!