If you have downloaded a certain number of tools or applications from the web and from the official sites of their developers, perhaps you have come across a package, which has an MSI type format and that practically each and every one of the elements are present inside. which will be part of your installation in Windows.
Developers usually package these so that the end user does not have any problems running their installer; In any case, it would be advisable to try to know what is inside because you never know if said file contains some type of foreign element (with malicious code), presumption that we should take into account if we have downloaded this executable file from a website very different from that of the developer.
- 1. 7-Zip
Surely you have heard of this application on different occasions, which is even often used by some software developers as an added element to their proposals. It works in a very similar way to what you may have seen in WinRar although, 7-Zip has greater coverage in terms of support with different types of files.
One of them is the MSI, which generally cannot be opened with Winrar but can be opened with 7-Zip; The only thing you need to do is open the MSI file within the interface of this latest tool andxbring one, several or all elements included inside, to a different folder.
- 2. HaoZip
Like the previous alternative, “HaoZip” also has a considerably large similarity to what you could be seeing in Winrar; can import to a wide variety of formats within its interface, being able to make use of its different native functions, among which stands out its image viewer, from the checksum, an image converter, a scanner for trojans, the possibility of viewing the contents of a virtual disk among a few other features.
Regarding the topic at hand, from "HaoZip" you can export all the content of this type of files to a completely different directory; To import MSI packages in this tool you only have to select them and drag them to its interface.
This tool works in a completely different way than the alternatives we mentioned above, and it must be installed in Windows so that a few functions are added to the context menu.
In other words, when we find a file in MSI format we will only have to select it with the right mouse button and use its contextual option for Universal Extractor, at which time you will find a window very similar to the previous one. There you have toSelect the type of extraction you want to perform. It may be necessary for you to choose the first one, which will work with "administrator permissions."
If you need a simple and easy tool that only helps you extract the contents of these MSI executables on Windows, then the alternative could be with “Less MSIérables”.
Once you import the packaging within the interface you will be able to see each and every one of the elements that are part of it, and can extract them to a different folder (same as the previous alternatives) on the hard drive.
- 5. MSI Unpacker
This tool would be dedicated mainly to those who wish to have better detail of all the elements that are part of this type of MSI files.
In addition to importing to the file and defining the place where the folder with all its elements will be found (after extraction), the user has the possibility of check the version below to which each of its elements correspond.
With each and every one of the alternatives that we have mentioned, you can now choose any of them so that you can extract the content of some of these executable files for Windows. The reason why you should perform this task is due to the incompatibility that a few versions of this operating system may have with the MSI executable format, since inside it there is generally a conventional one (the .exe type).