Extract msi from exe installer

[hsc]

Hi,

I want to find a way to have an exe installer and an msi installer which are really equivalent to each other, in a sense that I could use the exe to install, and the msi to uninstall, or vice versa. When I create an exe installer and an msi installer in the same Advanced Installer project, this seems not to work. So I found https://www.advancedinstaller.com/extra ... m-exe.html and started to work with the hints from that page.

The exe installer file is 97 MB big and the msi, created from the same project, is 93 MB. I understand the the exe installer has a bit added functionality which explains the difference.

First I used the "/extract" command line switch of the exe installer. This is what I found:

• The extract-to directory must be created before the /extract operation is started, otherwise the directory specification is ignored.

• The operation extracts 3 files: an msi file of 61 MB, a cab file of 7 MB, and the prerequisite file VC_redist.x64.exe of 24 MB. In total, these files are a bit smaller than the msi file which I created directly from the project.

Then I extract the content of the exe installer, using 7-zip. What I got is a single file of 19 kB with a name that comes from one of the merge modules used in the project. It is a file from which 7-zip can extract 5 files and a folder with a total of 16 kB data. Nothing is even remotely the size of the msi file.

Finally, I started the exe installer and found the extracted msi file in %APPDATA%\<vendor>\<product>\install, alongside a file "holder0.aiph" of 7 MB. The msi is 61 MB large which again is smaller than what I expect to see. Installation from this file didn't find the VC_redist.x64.exe prerequisite and finally complained about missing cab file.

Can you please comment on these items? Is there no way to extract a usable msi file from the exe installer?

I am using AdvancedInstaller 23.6.

Thank you, Hans

[Catalin]

Hello Hans,

By default, when creating an EXE package, the following launch condition is automatically checked in the "Launch Conditions" page, under the "System" tab.

Screenshot_135.png (3.88 KiB) Viewed 6674 times

This is for an obvious reason, the one that you mentioned - the fact that the EXE bootstrapper adds an extra layer of features that can be used, such as:

- "before main package" prerequisites
- modern themes (rendered via the Enhanced User Interface feature)
- some custom dialogs (like the language selection one)
- etc.

If you use none of these features and you disable the launch condition, then you should be able to use both the EXE and the MSI interchangeably, via the "/extract" option from the EXE bootstrapper.

Screenshot_136.png (12.9 KiB) Viewed 6674 times

You could also use the "EXE setup with resources next to it" option from the "Builds" page.

Screenshot_137.png (8.99 KiB) Viewed 6674 times

Could you please let me know why you would need that, though? I mean both an MSI and an EXE?

Best regards,
Catalin

[hsc]

Hello Catalin,

thanks for the quick reply. The reason I want both exe and msi installers is that, for customers who buy a single license, the exe installer usually is more comfortable (although, to be honest, I couldn't tell why). Companies who purchase 100 seats or more on the other hand, prefer the msi type installer which they wrap into their own rollout procedures.

Why would I want to have exe and msi installers interchangeably? I was confused when I found out that I cannot ununstall the product with the msi installer and then remembered that I had used the exe installer to install it. (Both installers were created from the same project as two builds.)

The "Run package only from EXE..." checkbox I had never noticed before. Im my aip project, it is unchecked.

Let's close the topic for now. I can live with the way it is.

Regards, Hans

[Catalin]

Hello Hans,

Thank you for your followup on this!

If you require any further assistance, do not hesitate to open a new thread and I will gladly assist.

Best regards,
Catalin