Unzipping/extracting MSI files

Not that often but sometimes I need to extract some dlls from msi packages. msiexec provides all the functions which are needed as described here.

Usually I’m working using the command line

msiexec /a foo.msi /qb TARGETDIR="C:\TEMP\Foo"

but sometimes it’s helpful to have a context menu entry like this.

To add the Extract MSI entry to the context menu you’ve to add it to the registry, details here or use gist below. The second gist shows how a .bat file which can extract all msi’s in a folder can look like.

	Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
	[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Msi.Package\shell\Extract MSI\command]
	@="msiexec.exe /a \"%1\" /qb TARGETDIR=\"%1 Extracted\""

view raw ExtractMSI.reg hosted with ❤ by GitHub

	@echo off
	SET orgdir=%CD%
	REM echo %orgdir%
	FOR %%f IN (*.msi) DO (
	REM echo %%f
	REM echo %orgdir%\%%~nf\
	msiexec.exe /a %%f /qb TARGETDIR=%orgdir%\%%~nf\
	)

view raw ExtractMSIs.bat hosted with ❤ by GitHub