lessmsi
A Windows utility with graphical and command-line interfaces for viewing and extracting MSI installer contents.
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Other download sites
Run by third parties, not by Scott Willeke. Prefer the official page above when it works.
About lessmsi
lessmsi opens Windows Installer (.msi) files and lets you see and extract the files inside them without running the installer. It has a graphical interface for browsing a package and a command-line interface, where lessmsi x followed by the MSI file name and an optional output folder extracts everything.
It is useful for pulling a single file out of an installer, inspecting what a package would put on a system, or getting portable copies of programs that only ship as MSI packages.
Strengths
- Extracts MSI contents without running the installer
- Both a graphical and a command-line interface
- Simple one-line extraction command
Limitations
- Windows only
- Limited to Windows Installer packages
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to use with source on GitHub.
- License
- Proprietary
- Developer
- Scott Willeke
- Platforms
- Windows, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Inspecting or extracting files from MSI installers on Windows
- Categories
- System utilities, Compression
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to lessmsi
Compare allSoftware that can replace lessmsi for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
7-Zip
The small, free archiver that opens practically every archive format and compresses better than ZIP.
7-Zip unpacks MSI files along with dozens of other formats and integrates with Windows Explorer, but it is a general archiver rather than an MSI-specific inspection tool.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
innoextract
A command-line tool that unpacks Inno Setup installers without running them or needing Wine.
Unshield
Command-line tool and library that extracts files from InstallShield cabinet files.
bsdtar (libarchive)
Command-line archivers built on libarchive that read and write tar, zip, cpio, ISO and more.
PeaZip
A cross-platform archive manager that reads over two hundred formats and has a real file manager built in.
