Windows has the ability to allow the MSI package (.msi file) contents to be extracted using the command line or via a script. I keep forgetting the correct msiexec syntax to use to extract files from an .msi file (MSI package), so here is a short post with the command.
To extract all files from a .msi file, use the following msiexec.exe
command:
msiexec.exe /a C:\Users\user\path\to\file.msi /qb TARGETDIR=C:\Users\users\temp
A more PowerShell way is to:
Start-Process
-NoNewWindow msiexec.exe
-ArgumentList "/a C:\Users\user\path\to\file.msi /qb TARGETDIR=C:\Users\users\temp"
-Wait
Make sure you type out full paths and the destination directory must exist.
Msiexec.exe command arguments used to extract files:
/a
: Specifies administrative installation/qb
: Specifies there's a basic UI during the installation process.TARGETDIR=
: Represents the installation directory for an InstallScript installation, or for an administrative Windows Installer based installation (when the user runs Setup.exe or MsiExec.exe with the /a command-line switch).
7-Zip can also be used to extract .msi files (read in Dutch "7-Zip installeren")
Thank you very much! <3 ❤️
Hi, my name is Jan. I am not a hacker, coder, developer or guru. I am merely an application manager / systems administrator, doing my daily thing at Embrace – The Human Cloud. In the past I worked at CLDIN (CLouDINfra) and Vevida. With over 20 years of experience, my specialties include Windows Server, IIS, Linux (CentOS, Debian), security, PHP, websites & optimization. I blog at https://www.saotn.org.
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