Massively awesome SK Tools feature: Make cab

[Guest dwallersv]

I've been using SK Tools for over a year now, and finally got around to really digging into the Make CAB feature, and understanding it.

It's so incredibly useful that I just had to post and crow about it.

In a nutshell, it facilitates creating a CAB for any installed application in the licensed, cutomized (user prefs, etc.) state that it is in when you make the CAB. Then, after a hard reset, custom ROM -- whatever -- you can simply use that CAB to install the app and get it in exactly the state it was in when you were using it before you had to reset your device.

That's not all, though. After building these CABs, you can then builda CAB containing all of these CABs that automates installation of all of them -- including where you installed them (Main Storage, My Storage, Storage Card). This makes restoring your device config/environment a one-step process after a ROM change or hard reset.

This makes the tool worth the US$19 without thinking. Given everything else it does, this should be one of the first things anyone who does more than use the builtin apps and functionality for any WM phone.

[Guest Khisha]

I bought SKtools for 9 euro 2 years ago and getting free updates. It saved my ass 1000 euro worth.

[Guest skoda60]

I've been using SK Tools for over a year now, and finally got around to really digging into the Make CAB feature, and understanding it.

It's so incredibly useful that I just had to post and crow about it.

In a nutshell, it facilitates creating a CAB for any installed application in the licensed, cutomized (user prefs, etc.) state that it is in when you make the CAB. Then, after a hard reset, custom ROM -- whatever -- you can simply use that CAB to install the app and get it in exactly the state it was in when you were using it before you had to reset your device.

That's not all, though. After building these CABs, you can then builda CAB containing all of these CABs that automates installation of all of them -- including where you installed them (Main Storage, My Storage, Storage Card). This makes restoring your device config/environment a one-step process after a ROM change or hard reset.

This makes the tool worth the US$19 without thinking. Given everything else it does, this should be one of the first things anyone who does more than use the builtin apps and functionality for any WM phone.

Please share the steps in more detail. Especially this "That's not all, though. After building these CABs, you can then builda CAB containing all of these CABs that automates installation of all of them -- including where you installed them (Main Storage, My Storage, Storage Card). This makes restoring your device config/environment a one-step process after a ROM change or hard reset."

Thank!

[Guest dwallersv]

Please share the steps in more detail. Especially this "That's not all, though. After building these CABs, you can then builda CAB containing all of these CABs that automates installation of all of them -- including where you installed them (Main Storage, My Storage, Storage Card). This makes restoring your device config/environment a one-step process after a ROM change or hard reset."

Thank!

Rereading what I wrote, I didn't describe it well.

When you use this feature, SK Tools gives you a checkbox list of all the user-installed applications. Here you can check each installation you want to "archive" (check them all if you like), and it will create these current-state cabs. There is an option in the settings to have it also create an executable to automatically install all of them in a single step.

A useful option that is only available when making a single application "archive" is the ability to add additional files and registry keys to the archive cab. Can't do this with multiple apps selected, for what I hope are obvious reasons.

I'm still learning new things about this feature myself. It is reasonably documented in the included help. From the main window, select Tools->Help, scroll to the bottom, click on the Content link, scroll down and click on the CAB Files link. This explains in detail how to use the Make CAB feature and what it does.

Getting it all to work perfectly can be a bit tricky. My one example where I had to figure out on my own how to fully automate an application: CorePlayer. CP stores license key and configuration information in an XML file in \Windows\Application Data\Coreplayer. This file is not included in the original installer CAB, but instead is created by the program itself when you run it. So, if it is not included in the CAB archive manually, the reinstallation from the archive CAB will not restore the registration key, and all the custom settings.

To make this work, simply create a single CAB archive for the CorePlayer application. Use the "add files" option before writing the CAB, and add \Windows\Application Data\CorePlayer\config.xml.

Also, there is a file that is included in the original cab (gx.dll from the install dir) that gets deleted by CorePlayer, so it isn't there and doesn't match SK Tools' validation comparison against the installation information, which SK Tools doesn't like. It will show you this in the bottom pane in red. To fix this, I had to use the extract feature of the CABs Manager to get that file, put it in the installation directory (in my case \My Storage\Program Files\CorePlater) before I could successfully build the CAB archive for CP.

I haven't had any problems with other apps, so far.

Then write the CAB out with a custom name (I use Dave CorePlayer).

Finally, reinstall the application from this CAB file. The CorePlayer application that SK Tools will see when scanning installed apps will be this custom CAB, rather than the original CorePlayer CAB, so it will use that one when you build the one-step installer.

This is not an issue for many (most?) programs because they store this sort of stuff in the registry branch for the app, or created a file as part of registering and configuring settings that wasn't created as part of the install process. I suppose this might happen with a reg key too (the SK Tools parsing process for this feature is, of course, opaque, so I won't know until I encounter such a problem), the the same workaround described for a file can be done with the registry too, since you can add keys from the registry to your archive as well.

Whew! Hope that helps. The larger point is, with a little work, you can make an installer that will restore your application state effortlessly across ROM changes, repairs, hard resets, etc.

Edited December 8, 2009 by dwallersv

[Guest tacchan23]

This is not an issue for many (most?) programs because they store this sort of stuff in the registry branch for the app, or created a file as part of registering and configuring settings that wasn't created as part of the install process. I suppose this might happen with a reg key too (the SK Tools parsing process for this feature is, of course, opaque, so I won't know until I encounter such a problem), the the same workaround described for a file can be done with the registry too, since you can add keys from the registry to your archive as well.

Does SKtools add the registry related to that application automatically while doing the cab?

I've been using SASHIMI to reinstall everything after a flash, the only problem is takes a bit of time to find the registry related to each applications.

[Guest dwallersv]

Does SKtools add the registry related to that application automatically while doing the cab?

I've been using SASHIMI to reinstall everything after a flash, the only problem is takes a bit of time to find the registry related to each applications.

It examines the uninstall info in \Windows\AppMgr\<application>, and archives based on that file and registry info.

So, if the app adds things to the registry in other places, SK Tools won't know about it. However, if you do, you can use SK Tools to make a CAB of any set of registry entries, and add that to the reinstall archive.

[Guest skoda60]

Rereading what I wrote, I didn't describe it well.

When you use this feature, SK Tools gives you a checkbox list of all the user-installed applications. Here you can check each installation you want to "archive" (check them all if you like), and it will create these current-state cabs. There is an option in the settings to have it also create an executable to automatically install all of them in a single step.

A useful option that is only available when making a single application "archive" is the ability to add additional files and registry keys to the archive cab. Can't do this with multiple apps selected, for what I hope are obvious reasons.

I'm still learning new things about this feature myself. It is reasonably documented in the included help. From the main window, select Tools->Help, scroll to the bottom, click on the Content link, scroll down and click on the CAB Files link. This explains in detail how to use the Make CAB feature and what it does.

Getting it all to work perfectly can be a bit tricky. My one example where I had to figure out on my own how to fully automate an application: CorePlayer. CP stores license key and configuration information in an XML file in \Windows\Application Data\Coreplayer. This file is not included in the original installer CAB, but instead is created by the program itself when you run it. So, if it is not included in the CAB archive manually, the reinstallation from the archive CAB will not restore the registration key, and all the custom settings.

To make this work, simply create a single CAB archive for the CorePlayer application. Use the "add files" option before writing the CAB, and add \Windows\Application Data\CorePlayer\config.xml.

Also, there is a file that is included in the original cab (gx.dll from the install dir) that gets deleted by CorePlayer, so it isn't there and doesn't match SK Tools' validation comparison against the installation information, which SK Tools doesn't like. It will show you this in the bottom pane in red. To fix this, I had to use the extract feature of the CABs Manager to get that file, put it in the installation directory (in my case \My Storage\Program Files\CorePlater) before I could successfully build the CAB archive for CP.

I haven't had any problems with other apps, so far.

Then write the CAB out with a custom name (I use Dave CorePlayer).

Finally, reinstall the application from this CAB file. The CorePlayer application that SK Tools will see when scanning installed apps will be this custom CAB, rather than the original CorePlayer CAB, so it will use that one when you build the one-step installer.

This is not an issue for many (most?) programs because they store this sort of stuff in the registry branch for the app, or created a file as part of registering and configuring settings that wasn't created as part of the install process. I suppose this might happen with a reg key too (the SK Tools parsing process for this feature is, of course, opaque, so I won't know until I encounter such a problem), the the same workaround described for a file can be done with the registry too, since you can add keys from the registry to your archive as well.

Whew! Hope that helps. The larger point is, with a little work, you can make an installer that will restore your application state effortlessly across ROM changes, repairs, hard resets, etc.

dwallersv and tacchan23,

Learned and Thank very much!

Ordering sktools on the way.