Extract .CAB from a windows based installer?

[Guest bowdowntozoltan]

I usually drag .cab files to my storage card, but I have a few new programs that have the installer. I dont have enough space to install that way... So can I get the .cab from the EXE?

[Guest kev51773]

You can usually extract the .cab using 'Universal Extractor' on your PC

[Guest bowdowntozoltan]

You can usually extract the .cab using 'Universal Extractor' on your PC

Nope.

I can't at least...

[Guest gpcarreon (MVP)]

I usually drag .cab files to my storage card, but I have a few new programs that have the installer. I dont have enough space to install that way... So can I get the .cab from the EXE?

Desktop-based installers (aka SelF-eXtracting archives, setup file) usually come with a license agreement. It is very important to read and accept the license first. I think that is the ideal way for developers to present the EULA to their target end-users unless of course their CAB comes bundled with setup DLL for the license. So CABs that are suppose to be installed via the SFX (and not taken in part) shouldn't be distributed separately... just a reminder. ;)

Now, once you have already accepted the license agreement, you may 'extract' (for personal use) the CAB using one of the following techniques. Notes below are for educational purposes only.

1. The usual dump directory for CABs is at the Microsoft Active Sync folder ei C:\Program Files\Microsoft Active Sync\%App Name%

%App Name% being the folder name the author used as dump folder.

2. Setup files compiled using EZSetup does not necessarily dump to above-mentioned directory. To grab the CAB/s, I usually proceed with installation until the 'choose target' part. At that point, CAB is temporarily placed at \Storage\windows\AppMgr\Install of the phone.

3. Some SFX compiled using WinRAR and 7-zip can have their embedded CABs extracted simply by doing right-click on desktop folder then Extract to \XXX folder. XXX being the name of the SFX archive. You might need to have WinRAR or 7-zip shell extension installed on your machine for such right-click feature to work.

There you have it. Those are the things I can remember as far as SFX and CABs are concerned.

[Guest bowdowntozoltan]

Desktop-based installers (aka SelF-eXtracting archives, setup file) usually come with a license agreement. It is very important to read and accept the license first. I think that is the ideal way for developers to present the EULA to their target end-users unless of course their CAB comes bundled with setup DLL for the license. So CABs that are suppose to be installed via the SFX (and not taken in part) shouldn't be distributed separately... just a reminder. ;)

Now, once you have already accepted the license agreement, you may 'extract' (for personal use) the CAB using one of the following techniques. Notes below are for educational purposes only.

1. The usual dump directory for CABs is at the Microsoft Active Sync folder ei C:\Program Files\Microsoft Active Sync\%App Name%

%App Name% being the folder name the author used as dump folder.

2. Setup files compiled using EZSetup does not necessarily dump to above-mentioned directory. To grab the CAB/s, I usually proceed with installation until the 'choose target' part. At that point, CAB is temporarily placed at \Storage\windows\AppMgr\Install of the phone.

3. Some SFX compiled using WinRAR and 7-zip can have their embedded CABs extracted simply by doing right-click on desktop folder then Extract to \XXX folder. XXX being the name of the SFX archive. You might need to have WinRAR or 7-zip shell extension installed on your machine for such right-click feature to work.

There you have it. Those are the things I can remember as far as SFX and CABs are concerned.

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH. Man. It's hard having only 2mb's left on the phone itself.

[Guest gpcarreon (MVP)]

Happy to help. ;)

Topic moved to Smartphone Help and Advice Section