Dreamwalker77
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:06 am

EXE to MSI - how to retrieve and use softwares parameters

Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:09 am

Hello there

I have a business application (3rd party) which I would like to automate. This installer (exe) asks for a lot of stuff like servername, port, username etc.
I heard that it's supposed to be possible to convert this EXE to a MSI in order to read the table header of this software where the parameters are stored in order to access it. It's my first time with AdvancedInstaller and I tried to convert the EXE to an MSI but I don't get any specific information regarding the variables used in this software.

1) Is this possible at all?
2) If yes, how would I do that?

Catalin
Posts: 6542
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: EXE to MSI - how to retrieve and use softwares parameters

Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:18 pm

Hello and welcome to our forums,

A solution to your request could be:

- extracting the MSI out of the EXE

- using the MSI Editor (right click on the MSI --> "Edit with Advanced Installer") to open the MSI and then check the "Table Editor" for the used parameters (most likely, they are saved as properties therefore you should be able to find them in the "Property" table)

Now, regarding the first point, it mostly depends on the software used to create the EXE setup. For instance, in order to extract the MSI out of an EXE setup created with Advanced Installer you could proceed as it follows:

- open a command prompt

- navigate to the folder that contains the EXE

- use a command as it follows:

Code: Select all

setup.exe /extract
Not sure if all the packaging programs have such a command, but if so, it should probably be found in their respective documentation.

If the above method is not possible in your case, another method would be launching the EXE setup and copying the MSI from its' extract location (usually, the EXE should extract the MSI and the CAB files in a temporary location). For instance, the EXE setups created with Advanced Installer will extract the MSI & the CAB in the following location:

%appdata%\{Manufacturer}\{ProductName}.{ProductVersion}\install

An example path of the above could be:

C:\Users\Catalin\AppData\Roaming\Caphyon\Advanced Installer 18.3\install

Now, after doing so, you could use those properties to automate the installation by passing the parameters to the EXE setup.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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