

With the 7-Zip window open, it’s easy to extract the whole MSI or individual files/folders by dragging and dropping them from the window or using the Extract button.

As it behaves just like any other readable archive, you can simply right click on the file and choose 7-Zip -> Open archive to open the MSI for viewing. Probably the most popular free archiving utility, 7-Zip is able to read and extract the contents of an MSI file. View and extract MSI Files with an ArchiverĪlthough an MSI installer file is more of a database than an archive, such as Zip or RAR, some archiving software can still read and extract the contents of an MSI file.

Sometimes even when the program itself might not necessarily need installation because there’s only a few files, an MSI is used. Many other developers also use MSI installers to pack their programs, often an MSI is embedded inside an executable setup installer so it’s usage is invisible to the end user. Windows Installer software components are integrated into Windows as standard and MSI packages can be used by system administrators and over networks for remote installations. Known as MSI files because of the file extension, Windows Installer files are used extensively by Microsoft for updating and installing Windows and other related software, they also have issues such as MSI files not being usable in Safe Mode. Inno Setup, InstallShield and Null Scriptable Install System (NSIS) are software that help create a setup installer, another is Microsoft’s own Windows Installer. There are several ways to install software and also a number of different solutions to create the setup file for end users to get the product installed onto their systems. How to View and extract Content from a MSI File
