Howto Extract all Files from Microsoft Installer Files (msi) rather than to Install the Package

All you need is the Windows Installer itself. Hit Win+R (command line dialog) and execute the following line (change file name and target folder, of course):


msiexec /a c:\tmp\MSIFileName.msi /qb TARGETDIR="c:\tmp\msitmp\"

You’ll find all files in your target folder.

11 Comments

  1. sivesh thar said,

    Monday, 4th Jul 2011 at 17:11

    There is a pictorial guide on how to extract content rom MSI files here:

    http://cyberst0rm.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-extract-contentdata-from-msi.html

  2. Saturday, 18th Jun 2011 at 12:40

    Many thanks for this article. I’d also like to express that it can often be hard while you are in school and starting out to establish a long credit rating. There are many learners who are simply trying to live and have a protracted or favourable credit history can sometimes be a difficult issue to have.

  3. Cameron said,

    Sunday, 22nd May 2011 at 11:11

    All this did was open a window titled “Windows Installer” displaying the following information:

    —————————————————————-
    Windows ® Installer. V 3.01.4001.5512

    msiexec /Option [Optional Parameter]

    Install Options

    Installs or configures a product
    /a
    Administrative install – Installs a product on the network
    /j [/t ] [/g ]
    Advertises a product – m to all users, u to current user

    Uninstalls the product
    Display Options
    /quiet
    Quiet mode, no user interaction
    /passive
    Unattended mode – progress bar only
    /q[n|b|r|f]
    Sets user interface level
    n – No UI
    b – Basic UI
    r – Reduced UI
    f – Full UI (default)
    /help
    Help information
    Restart Options
    /norestart
    Do not restart after the installation is complete
    /promptrestart
    Prompts the user for restart if necessary
    /forcerestart
    Always restart the computer after installation
    Logging Options
    /l[i|w|e|a|r|u|c|m|o|p|v|x|+|!|*]
    i – Status messages
    w – Nonfatal warnings
    e – All error messages
    a – Start up of actions
    r – Action-specific records
    u – User requests
    c – Initial UI parameters
    m – Out-of-memory or fatal exit information
    o – Out-of-disk-space messages
    p – Terminal properties
    v – Verbose output
    x – Extra debugging information
    + – Append to existing log file
    ! – Flush each line to the log
    * – Log all information, except for v and x options
    /log
    Equivalent of /l*
    Update Options
    /update [;Update2.msp]
    Applies update(s)
    /uninstall [;Update2.msp] /package
    Remove update(s) for a product
    Repair Options
    /f[p|e|c|m|s|o|d|a|u|v]
    Repairs a product
    p – only if file is missing
    o – if file is missing or an older version is installed (default)
    e – if file is missing or an equal or older version is installed
    d – if file is missing or a different version is installed
    c – if file is missing or checksum does not match the calculated value
    a – forces all files to be reinstalled
    u – all required user-specific registry entries (default)
    m – all required computer-specific registry entries (default)
    s – all existing shortcuts (default)
    v – runs from source and recaches local package
    Setting Public Properties
    [PROPERTY=PropertyValue]

    Consult the Windows ® Installer SDK for additional documentation on the
    command line syntax.

    Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
    Portions of this software are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
    —————————————————————-

    This did absolutely nothing for me.
    I still can’t run the .msi file.
    I still need to run the .msi file.
    I’m still pissed off at Microsoft.

  4. André said,

    Sunday, 27th Mar 2011 at 12:40

    With Ubuntu Linux and p7zip installied, rename the .msi file to .7z to open it with the Archive manager.

  5. Wednesday, 28th Apr 2010 at 16:06

    […] Howto Extract all Files from Microsoft Installer Files (msi) rather than to Install the Package […]

    • Wednesday, 2nd Jan 2019 at 13:48

      Extremely great short post. The human brain is does not create happiness, as much as we might wish it were so. This might just go completely against almost everything I’ve seen until now however, I am going to try it. I’ll let you know the results. The article is a bit too advanced for me. So is there something you would recommend for someone just starting out?

  6. MSM said,

    Thursday, 17th Dec 2009 at 15:08

    Hey,

    Can I extract only selected and not all files from MSI??

    Regards,
    MSM

  7. Charles Thayer said,

    Thursday, 11th Dec 2008 at 19:53

    I use Ubuntu Linux, and I’ve found that installing p7zip and running “7z x .msi” works well. (see http://www.7-zip.org). Others have had success with wine and “msiexec”.

    Good luck,
    /charles thayer

    • sysblog said,

      Thursday, 11th Dec 2008 at 23:30

      Thanks, mate, for this helpful tip!

      Cheers.

  8. Andris said,

    Wednesday, 27th Aug 2008 at 11:38

    Thanks for sharing this. I just need to clarify that it’s important to specify the full path to the destination directory in TARGETDIR property. If your path is not fully qualified then the msiexec tries to connect to the server which name will be equal to the name you’ve specified.


Leave a comment