Functionality and User Experience
The discussion highlights the utility of the linked tool for inspecting and extracting files from MSI installers, with several users praising its convenience.
- "I feel like this would also solve the 'I just need the printer driver file(s), not everything else' use-case. Nice work." - pragma_x
- "Nice job man!" - danielodievich. This simple statement acknowledges the creator of the tool.
Alternative Tools and Techniques
Several users offered alternative methods and tools for extracting files from installers, emphasizing existing solutions and workarounds.
- "I usually just use 7zip to open .exe and .msi files" - Lanrei
- "Yeah, start the installer, quickly look at the temp directory for the files, nab em then quit the installer. This and many other janky techniques are what I use to survive in the jungles of the Windows platform." - nebula8804
- "Let's not forget Universal Extractor: https://github.com/Bioruebe/UniExtract2" - atmanactive
Limitations of 7-Zip and MSI Complexity.
The thread addressed the limitations of using 7-Zip for extracting files from more complex MSI installers. 7-Zip can extract the contents of an MSI, but it will extract raw files, not the directory structure.
- "I don't think 7zip really can see into a lot of janky MSI files to get the actual installed content, can it?" - hypercube33
- "My experience with 7zip has been that it can read the tables and cab files from MSI files, but when you go to extract the contents you just get the raw files without the directory restructure associated with the MSI file (and the names of the extracted files can also have issues)." - rmast
Tool Suggestion: InstallWatch Pro
A user promoted InstallWatch Pro for taking snapshots of registry and HDD statuses before and after installations to show the differences.
- "I would also like to promote one of my most favorite tools ever: InstallWatch Pro by Epsilon Squared" - nebula8804
- "Thank you for InstallWatch Pro mention. That app tends to get reinvented every so often. I remember seeing something like it as early as 1996." - wiseleo
Safari Download Location
Some commenters discussed where Safari places downloaded files, either on mobile for the original poster, or on desktop.
- "My safari puts things in icloud drive / downloads" - jasonjmcghee
- "That's configurable in the Safari settings, fwiw (I personally prefer my downloads to not automatically become uploads, especially on mobile data)." - lxgr
Suggestions for Improvement
One user suggested adding a sample MSI file to the demo for users to try out.
- "This is really cool! Suggestion: find a small MSI file that you can host as part of the demo and add a 'load example file' button - that way people can try it out even if they don't have an MSI file to hand already." - simonw