Less MSIerables is a compact application that allows you to browse the content of a MSI file and to extract the files that you want. These types of file are installer files that can be only opened with Windows Installer and can be edited only with specialized tools.
Sometimes you need to access only some of the resources and you do not want to install a new application on your computer. This operation is not possible without a specialized tool that most of the time take a lot of disk space. On top of that, these tools are designed for programmers and can do much more than extract the files. Simply put, they are too complicated for this task.
In this situation you need a light-weight tool that can open the MSI file and extract the content. And Less MSIerables is designed to perform just these actions with maximum efficiency. You just need to select a MSI file and the program allows you to browse its content just as you would browse a zipped folder.
The main window of the program displays the files from the installer and allows you to select the ones that you need to extract. It also displays details such as the folder path, the size and the version of each file.
You can also browse the files in a table view in order to view other information such as the attributes and the sequence of deployment. A summary of the installer is available if you want to see the file's comments, title or author.
When you extract files the program allows you to select the destination folder. The extracted files preserve the folder path so the application creates all the necessary folders. The program has an easy to use interface and performed well in all our tests. The extraction speed is similar to copying the files from one folder to another.
The application integrates in the Windows shell with the "Extract files" command that appears in the context menu of the MSI files. The program does not ask for permission to do that and you cannot remove the entry since the program does not come with an uninstaller. It can be annoying for someone that does not extract files from MSI files frequently.
However, the program is a good solution if you want to extract some files from an installer packed as an MSI file.
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