Does anyone know how to extract (not to install) an .msi (Windows Installer) file?

There really isn't anything that can other than having the program that creates MSI files... You can use INSTALLSHIELD I think but I am not positive...

It's funny you ask this question because I tried a few weeks back and tried anything I could to try and extract the contents of an MSI and couldn't find any way to do so...

Not like and ISO file or BIN file or even a ZIP etc...

But I think that the program Install Shield can open and create etc. .msi files - thats all I can say... NOT TRULY SURE IF I'M CORRECT...

WinRar will open .msi files just fine.

I tried every known program to open the one I needed to open to try to see if I could get something working with SP2...

Yes winrar will open some and I hope this works for the one you are trying to open but it did not open the one I needed it too and it will not open ALL .msi files...

try to let it extract itselfe
1. search for MSI options on web ....
2nd ... clean ya TEMP folder ... start the setup and maybe it extracts the setup components into a TEMP dir ...

I think there may be a command line parameter for msiexec.exe that extracts. I think it's /p

Thanks guys for your suggestions, but nothing worked. Looks like there is no way to extract it.

As I said I think Install Shield the program that makes such files can also extract such files...

I have an old version sitting in a box and have never installed to see how it all works???

Go to http://www.ghisler.com/download.htm and grab the 32 bit (shareware) version. Then skip on over to the plugins page and grab the msi.wcx. Do a default install of the proggie, but don't run it. Unzip the plugin and read and follow the instructions to set it up. Start Total Commander, browse to (and in :beer: ) your .msi in the left explorer pane, and play with the package with the menu in the status bar (at the very bottom)!