Universal Extractor is a program do to exactly what it says: extract files from any type of archive, whether it's a simple zip file, an installation program, or even a Windows Installer (.msi) package. This is still a work in progress, but so far it's proven quite useful and I feel others can also benefit from it.

I should stress that Universal Extractor is not intended to be a general purpose archiving software. It will never replace WinRAR, 7-Zip, etc. What it will do is allow you to extract files from virtually any type of archive, regardless of source, compression method, etc.

The original motivation behind this project was that I wanted an easy, convenient way to extract files from installation packages, such as Inno Setup or Windows Installer packages, without pulling up a command line every time. In the process I got a little carried away and ended up throwing in support for every kind of archive format I possibly could find.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Added support for individual user preferences for better Vista support;
· by default, this is enabled for standalone, disabled for installed
· when enabled, UniExtract uses single .ini file as with previous version
· when disabled, individual prefs/history are saved to registry in HKCU
· this can be changed by modifying globalprefs setting in .ini file
· Added menu bar to main GUI;
· includes options to quit, edit preferences, and visit UniExtract website
· Added separate preferences GUI to provide easy access to all options;
· can be invoked through Edit menu or through '/prefs' argument
· Added support for DiscJuggler CDI CD-ROM images via cdirip.exe
· Added support for FEAD Optimizer packages (eg, Adobe Reader installers)
· Added support for LZMA compressed files via lzma
· Added support for LZX compressed files via unlzx
· Added support for Nero NRG CD-ROM images (data only) via nrg2iso
· Added support for Reflexive Arcade installer wrapper via RAIU
· Added support for RoboForm installers
· Added support for WIM (Windows Imaging Format) images via 7-Zip
· Added "Not an InstallShield installer" option to InstallShield method select
· dialog to force UniExtract to handle TrID InstallShield false positives
· Added components section to installer; makes installation of
· docs, languages, and certain (large) binaries optional
· Added SendTo icon option to installer
· Added internationalization support for decompressed ASPack and UPX files
· Added Croatian, Dutch, Hungarian, Portuguese, Romanian, Taiwanese, Turkish,
· and Valencian (Catalan) translations
Added return codes to indicated status of extraction (actually added in 1.5):
· 0 = successful exit or user-initiated cancel
· 1 = supposedly supported file, but extraction failed
· 2 = debug file is not writable, aborted
· 3 = unknown executable - cannot be extracted
· 4 = unknown filetype - cannot be extracted
· 5 = invalid output directory specified
· Fixed bug that displayed debugging message box during Inno Setup extraction
· Fixed bug in InstallShield CAB file support; now properly extracts files
· with spaces in the filename
· Fixed support for (non-tar) gzip files
· Fixed support for Microsoft hotfixes (again)
· Fixed support for relative paths
· Fixed support for UNC paths
· Fixed missing Spanish language option during installation
· Removed support for Windows 9x due to new Unicode version of AutoIt;
· 9x was never officially supported, but it will not even execute now
· Removed Adobe-specific report (now handled by generic FEAD support)
· Updated UniExtract to prompt user before executing files for extraction;
· can be disabled via warnexecute option
· Updated UniExtract to make ACE, KGB, Pea, and StuffIt support optional
· Updated UniExtract to read English.ini from root install directory
· Updated UniExtract to output debug files to %temp% by default
· Updated UniExtract to verify that debug file location can be written to;
· user's temp directory will be used if selected dir fails test
· Updated UniExtract to disable appendext option by default
· Updated UniExtract changelog to add notice of Vietnamese translation in 1.5
· Updated TrID detection of MS Self-Extracting CAB (Type 1) archives
· Updated TrID detection of Windows Installer (MSI) packages
· Updated TrID detection of Zip Self-Extracting archives
· Updated CD-ROM image support to bypass TrID detection and rely on extensions
· Updated Inno Setup support for increased detection reliability
· Updated Inno Setup support to extract all files, including renamed duplicates
· Updated UHARC support to detect and extract SFX files
· Updated Windows Install patch (.msp) to include pure 7-zip option
· Updated installer to use Start Menu icons page and include uninstall icon
· Updated installer language initialization code for simplicity
· Updated installer to require administrative privileges;
· non-admin users should use binary archive (portable) version,
· or use a copy installed by the system administrator
· Updated installer to require Windows NT-based systems; 9x will not work
· Updated installer to prevent association with CHM files under Vista
· Updated installer to support new /nowarnexecute paramater
· Updated installer to support reversed appendext default preference;
· now use /appendext to enable instead of /noappendext to disable
· Updated installer to add {app} in addition to {app}in to %PATH% if enabled;
· restores ability easily to call UniExtract.exe from command line
· Updated 7-Zip to 4.57
· Updated AutoIt to 3.2.10.0
· Updated innounp to 0.20
· Updated Inno Setup to 5.2.2
· Updated msi2xml to 2.2.1.957
· Updated Pea to 1.6 (cannot use newer version due to broken GUI controls)
· Updated UnRAR to 3.80
· Updated UPX to 3.03
· Updated bin2iso to 1.95