nitro322

Updated: 10/17/2008 Version 1.6 Released - Please see the Universal Extractor Latest Version for details of this release, and all releases going forward. I was inspired by ZoSTeR's Universal Silent Switch Finder, so I wrote an application to do something I've wanted for quite a long time: an easy way to extract files from executable files, installation packages, .msi files, etc. I often have a need to unpack other application packages, whether it's to get a file out of it and I don't feel like installing the full application, or I'm investigating how to perform a silent install, or whatever the case may be. In the past it's always resulted in some internet research and dropping to a command line to do it manually. Now, I just right-click and select Extract. :-) PEiD was the key to this, so thanks, ZoSTeR, for the idea. In the process, I also decided to add support for pretty much any archive/compression format I could think of. While this isn't overly helpful if you already own a good archiving utility such as WinRAR, I find it convenient to have a commone way of extracting everything. Also, since the package only uses freely redistributable components (mostly open source), it can be quite useful to send to somebody that needs to extract an odd file but doesn't have a supporting program. Well, I guess that should be enough exposition. :-) I'm posting this here bacause: You people rock and have helped me out numerous times in the past As I said, I got the idea from ZoSTeR, so wanted to give back to the community I personally find this extremely useful for packaging, and various other tasks that this particular board is dedicated to. I think you will as well. Please view the Universal Extractor website for complete technical details, supported formats, and full source code. This is on a DSL connection, so please don't hammer it too hard. Direct downloads: Please see Universal Extractor Latest Version I hope you find this useful.

FYI, I tried this again recently, and it did work this time around. I was also able to confirm it on a second PC. I have no idea why I was having this issue earlier.

I'm trying to get rid of the three support accounts created by default when installing Windows XP - ASPNET, HelpAssistant, and SUPPORT_388945a0. I know I can easily delete them after installation with 'net user ASPNET /delete' (which I am currently doing, and from searching I see that many others use the same approach). However, this leaves clutter behind, particularly in the registry where each account has its own two HKEY_USERS trees. So, what I would like to do instead is prevent the creation of these accounts in the first place. Does anyone know if this is possible? Has anyone even tried this before? I figure that with tools as powerful as nLite (just as an example) at our disposal, going in and ripping out these two accounts shouldn't be impossible. Just a matter of finding where and how. :-) Any ideas? Thanks.

SiMoNsAyS, I use this method for my silent install script. However, I just updated to Firefox 1.0.1, and this option no longer seems to work. I can install themes manually, but if I try to install using the -install-global-theme, it never shows up in the Theme Manager. Could you (or anyone else) please test this with 1.0.1 and let me know if it works for you? Wondering if it's just me, or if it's a bug in 1.0.1. Thanks.

Shoot, I was afraid that was going to be the answer. Ok, if you don't mind, I could use a little bit of assistance here. I can unpack drivers.cab file with WinRAR (are there any other cab files I need to worry about?), and I'm sure I can identify the old driver files with a little work. However, how do I recreate the cab file once I'm finished? WinRAR can't do this, and I don't recall seeing any other programs to create generic MS cab files. EDIT: After a little more research I found the Microsoft Cabinet SDK, which includes makecab.exe. This should do the trick, right? Anything special I should be away of? Thanks.

Thanks, jrzycrim. Looks like exactly what I need. BTW, I figured out why I couldn't find the very obvious thread you linked to - I was only using the Google search, and it doesn't report it. Using the forum search (which I didn't even realize existed until just a few minutes ago) did the trick. Oops.

Forgive me if this is addressed elsewhere, but I could not find it by searching... How can I have my computer automatically set to auto-arrange icons on my desktop? I can't figure out where this setting is stored. Thanks.

Hmm... after looking into this further, it appears that Microsoft included a completely new version of Windows Installer with SP2 - version 3.00.3790.2180. The /norestart option mentioned earlier is valid for this version, and is intended to replace the REBOOT property. Here's the command line options for the new version (which I had to find to google, as MS seems to only be linking to v2.0 options): http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....ine_options.asp I tried modifying my script to call it with all valid v3.0 options: msiexec.exe /package "J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0.msi" /passive /norestart ADDLOCAL=jrecore IEXPLORER=1 MOZILLA=1 JAVAUPDATE=0 WEBSTARTICON=0 However, this still fails. Have to admit, I'm getting pretty frustrated with this. I'd definitely be interested in hearing if anyone else figures this out. Thanks.

RyanVM, I've also been unable to get Java to install without prompting me to reboot. I've written my own script rather than using your package, but the command to install should pretty much be the same: msiexec.exe /i "J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0.msi" /qb /norestart ADDLOCAL=jrecore IEXPLORER=1 MOZILLA=1 JAVAUPDATE=0 WEBSTARTICON=0 REBOOT=ReallySuppress I tried adding the /noreboot option at your suggestion (good catch, btw - I hadn't realized MS introduced this in SP2), but still no luck. Any ideas what else to try? Thanks.

I have a question about ACDSee Classic 2.43. As mentioned previously, it's packaged with Wise Installation System, and I can install it silently with /s. However, everytime I do this it pops open the new start menu folder. How do I prevent this? Also, I'd like to be able to specify the installation directory. Any suggestions for this? Thanks.

Has anyone figured this out, yet? I have this exact same problem, although it's with the nVidia drivers rather than a network card. I'm sure many others here must be using an nVidia card - how do you force Windows to install the newer, but unsigned, drivers rather than the built-in ones? Thanks.

Hi, everyone. This is my first post here (been lurking for about a month now), so I want to say thanks to everyone for the tremendous wealth of tips and tricks available on this forum. In particular, I've been interested in this Firefox silent installation thread, since I've been having problems getting this working myself. I've combined several different ideas presented here, and have my own fairly unique way of packaging Firefox for a silent install. Where I'm running into problems, though, is installing extensions automatically. My preferred method is to use -install-global-extension <extension.xpi>, but I simply cannot get this to work in either of the Firefox release candidates. I can see from many posts on these boards that this method has been used successfully on older builds, but has anyone tried using it on the RC builds? It simply will not work for me. I'm able to install themes with -install-global-theme, and I'm able to install Thunderbird extensions with -install-global-extension, just not Firefox. Could anyone please check this and let me know whether or not it works for you? If it doesn't work, could you also please post details to this bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=266615 If it does work, though, I'd appreciate some help getting my issues resolved. :-) Thanks again for all the hard work everyone has already put into this.