What is the CAB file extension? Installing CAB and MSU files for Windows updates manually How to install a cab file on a computer

To force driver installation, you must first unpack the driver. Most drivers are ordinary ZIP or RAR archives. I think that unpacking such drivers will not leave any difficulties for any user. The main thing to remember is that it is best to unpack the driver into a folder created in the root of the disk. Otherwise, large nesting of folders and long archive names may cause difficulties when installing the driver after unpacking. It is better to name the folder itself where the files are unpacked as briefly as possible; a name of one or two characters is quite sufficient. Later, during installation, it will be easier for you to remember the name of the folder with drivers you need.

Unpacking drivers with *.exe or *.msi extension

Quite often there are installation drivers with the extension *.exe or *.msi, especially if the file was downloaded from the manufacturer’s official website. And such files cannot be unpacked by conventional archivers. How to unpack them?

To unpack exe files or .msi files there is an excellent utility called Universal Extractor, which can extract almost any archive. For example, if we download the driver for the Sonix SN9C201 webcam, then inside we will get the file USB20PCCam_5.7.26000.0.exe, which cannot be unpacked by regular archives. But with the help of a universal unpacker, you can easily unpack it. On our website about computer programs, you can read instructions for working with Universal Extractor, which provides an example of how to unpack this driver.

Unpacking drivers with *.cab extension

Sometimes after unpacking the driver we get a folder in which the files we need are archived cab(usually data1.cab and data1.cab). It is inside these archives that files with the extension *.inf, which we need to force install the driver.

If we return to the example described above, then as a result of preliminary extraction of the driver, we received a folder with files:

As can be seen from the figure, among the few files there are the same files data1.cab And data1.cab. As for extracting drivers specifically, no ordinary unpacker will help here. InstallShield CAB File Viewer – with this small but very useful utility, unpacking the cab file will not be difficult. Having opened the file we need in the program (just point to the file data1.hdr) and we will see a tree of folders and files contained inside the archive:

(click to enlarge)

From here we can extract the file we need. The disadvantage of this unpacker is that you cannot unpack the entire folder; you can only extract one file. That is, for complete extraction you will have to unpack each file in turn.

When nothing helps

It’s rare, but it still happens that no method of unpacking the driver helps. Here you can try to simply run the driver installation file, wait for the installation to complete, but do not close the program dialog box. And go to the temporary folders of the system and look there for the folder with the unpacked driver. For windows 7 and Vista, temporary unpacking will take place in the folder C:/Users/NAME/AppData/Local/Temp/. For Windows XP - it will be C:/Documents and Settings/NAME/Local Settings/Temp. Look for the driver folder by creation date.

If you have your own reliable and proven method for unpacking drivers, then we are waiting for your comments.

Updates for the Windows operating system are released in packages with the extension M.S.U. or CAB. In the event that the standard functionality of the Windows Update service does not work (specially disabled), the cumulative updates or security updates required for the system can be downloaded and installed manually in offline mode. In this article we will show you how to download and install updates in MSU and CAB file format on Windows 10.

Where to download Windows update MSU file

Microsoft initially releases its updates and patches in the format CAB file. This is how your computer receives updates from Microsoft update servers or a local server. For more convenient manual distribution of individual updates by clients through the Microsoft update catalog, these CAB files are packaged in a special format M.S.U.(Microsoft Update Standalone Package).

How to extract CAB file from MSU update package

In some cases, when the Windows Update service, which is used by the wusa utility, does not work correctly (try this first), it is not possible to install the update in MSU format. In this case, you can manually unzip the MSU package, extract the update CAB file from it, and manually install it on the system.

To unpack the MSU package into the C:\Temp\kb4056887 directory (the directory must first be created), run the following command:

expand _f:* “C:\Temp\windows10.0-kb4056887-x64.msu” C:\Temp\kb4056887

Microsoft (R) File Expansion Utility Version 10.0.10011.16384
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Can't open input file: _f:*.
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\WSUSSCAN.cab to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64-pkgProperties.txt to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.xml to Extraction Queue
Expanding Files….
Expanding Files Complete...
4 files total.

As you can see, 4 types of files have appeared in the directory:

• .xml file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.xml) - contains msu package metadata and is used by Wusa.exe
• .cab file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab - one or more) – directly the archive with the Windows update
• *pkgProperties.txt file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64-pkgProperties.txt) – contains package properties (release date, architecture, package type, KB link, etc.)

Installing a CAB file for updates in Windows 10

There are two ways to install a CAB update file obtained from an MSU package.

The most universal way to install an update from a CAB file is a utility DISM.exe. The installation command could be like this:

DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.10240.16384
Image Version: 10.0.10240.16384
Processing 1 of 1 — Adding package Package_for_KB4056887~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.1.0
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

Note. Please note how quickly the package is installed via DISM compared to the speed of installing an update from an MSU file.

If you need to install the CAB package in silent mode and suppress the request to restart the computer after installing the update, the DISM command will be like this:

start /wait DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath: c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab /Quiet /NoRestart

In Windows 8 and Windows 7, you can install the update through the package manager Pkgmgr. Team:
start /w Pkgmgr /ip /m:c:"c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab"

Note. In Windows 10/Windows Server 2016, the package manager PkgMgr.exe is no longer supported. When you run it, a warning appears about the need to use DISM.exe to manage packages.

Note: The PkgMgr.exe has been deprecated. Please update your scripts to use dism.exe to extract, install, uninstall, configure and update features and packages for Windows.

Note. Please note that Windows language packs (MUIs) are also distributed in CAB format. However, you will not be able to use the DISM command to install them. Instead, you need to use a separate utility to install new languages ​​on the system lpksetup.exe.

These instructions for manually installing cumulative updates (if you don’t remember what this is, read the article about systems) and any other Windows updates apply to all supported OS versions: Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 and Windows Server 2016 / 2012 / R2 / 2008 / R2 .

Windows service packs intended for offline installation are often in CAB format. They are installed via the command line using the Dism console utility with the online, add-package and packagepath parameters, as well as specifying the direct path to the package file. The inconvenience of this method becomes obvious when the offline update procedure has to be performed frequently.

In this case, it makes sense to add a separate command to the Explorer context menu to launch the installation of CAB files. Here's how to do it.

Open the Registry Editor and expand the following branch on the left side of the window:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CABFolder\Shell

Create a new subkey in the Shell directory runas.

Adding a menu item to install Cab updates

double-click on the default parameter and set its value to the line “Install this update” (you can use Cyrillic, for example, “Install update”).

Adding an option to install Cab to the menu

Also create a new string parameter in the runas subsection called HasLUAShield, which will be responsible for displaying the item icon in the context menu. Leave its value empty.

Create an option in the context menu to automatically install CAB files
Option to install CAB files

Now create a new command subsection in the runas directory and set the value of the default parameter located in it to the string cmd /k dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"%1" as shown in the screenshot. That's all, save the editing result and close the Registry Editor. Now, if you right-click on a CAB file, you will see a new “Install this update” command in the menu.

Console commands to install CAB

Those who don't want to bother with the registry editor can use ready-made REG files. Download the archive from the link https://yadi.sk/d/8wkJwmai3E2DKM, unpack it and merge the add.reg file. To remove a command from a menu, use the remove.reg file.

Have a great day!

- Extension (format) is the characters at the end of the file after the last dot.
- The computer determines the file type by its extension.
- By default, Windows does not show file name extensions.
- Some characters cannot be used in the file name and extension.
- Not all formats are related to the same program.
- Below are all the programs that can be used to open the CAB file.

Bandizip is a convenient archiver for Windows operating systems. The program supports most different formats and has a unique algorithm for skipping incompressible files. Bandizip is integrated into the context menu of Explorer, which greatly simplifies the management of the program itself, because all necessary operations, for example, creating archives or unpacking data, can be performed directly from Explorer. In addition, it has an encryption algorithm that allows you to protect the file from unwanted opening. In addition, the program has the function of setting a password for a file. This password is known to be impossible to hack...

Universal Extractor is a convenient utility for unpacking various archives, as well as some additional file types. This program is primarily suitable for those users who create archives on a computer, but only download various archives from the Internet and then unpack them. The Universal Extractor utility copes with this task quite well. It allows you to unpack all known archives, as well as dll, exe, mdi and other types of files. In fact, the program can serve, to some extent, as a kind of program installer, because it allows you to unpack some of the installers and then run...

HaoZip is a Chinese clone of the popular Winrar archiver, both in terms of functionality and interface as a whole. The archiver can work with all popular formats, including 7Z, ZIP, TAR, RAR, ISO, UDF, ACE, UUE, CAB, BZIP2, ARJ, JAR, LZH, RPM, Z, LZMA, NSIS, DEB, XAR, CPIO, SPLIT, WIM, IMG and others. In addition, using Haozip you can mount ISO images and view images through the built-in viewer, which is a very useful feature for archivers. As for the interface, the Chinese developers have done a good job here. They not only copied the design and functionality from the Winrar archiver, but also added...

A beautiful and simple program for archiving files. It works without any problems with any archive. An excellent replacement for old WinRAR or 7zip style programs. Includes all the functionality of the previous ones and has a new improved algorithm that will allow you to create archives more than 2 times faster. It is also good because it uses the capabilities of multi-core processors in the best possible way, optimally tuning compression and performance. It has special functions for splitting large files, which makes it easy to pack an archive of the required size. The archiver is very good with its intuitive, understandable and accessible to everyone interface...

WinRAR is a well-known program designed to work with archives. The utility includes a wide range of built-in capabilities. WinRAR compresses data faster than its competitors, saving disk space and user time. Supports well-known archive formats and is suitable for compressing multimedia files. Automatic file format recognition, a special data compression algorithm and an optimal packaging method are the advantages of the application. WinRAR can compress executive, multimedia files and object module libraries. The application allows you to divide archives into separate volumes and save them on different storage devices.

Peazip is a universal and powerful archiver with a graphical shell. An excellent replacement for its paid counterpart - Winrar. PeaZip supports data encryption, creating multi-volume archives, working with several archives simultaneously, exporting a task as a command line, and installing filters on archive contents. In addition, the archiver supports all known and even unknown archive formats including 7Z, 7Z-sfx, BZ2/TBZ2, GZ/TGZ, PAQ/LPAQ, TAR, UPX, ZIP and others. The PeaZip interface is very primitive and at the same time full of useful functions. You can use the assistant to integrate it into Windows Explorer or return it back, install...

When developing the FreeArc archiver, the author decided to create a program that compresses files at maximum speed. This required the best qualities of the LZMA, PPMD ​​and GRZipLib compression libraries. During the packaging process, the archiver forms files by type and performs compression using the most appropriate algorithm. When working, the archiver uses more than ten different algorithms and filters. If you compare this with common archivers, then 7-zip has only three, and RAR uses only seven algorithms. The archiver is easily adaptable for installation on various systems. It is developed on an open platform giving...

TUGZip is a convenient archiver that has a clear user interface and also has a number of additional features. The TUGZip program allows you to work with almost all popular archives. However, the capabilities of the TUGZip program are not limited to this. The TUGZip utility allows you to work with optical disk images, for example, img, nrg, iso, etc. Also, the TUGZip program can be integrated into the context menu. But if most archivers only add submenus to it, then the TUGZip program boasts the ability to use various scripts to automate the process of creating archives, or decomposing them...

7-Zip is a well-known open source archiver. This feature allows you to make changes to the structure of the program, adding certain functions to it. The program has a clear and simple interface and has unique algorithms that speed up data archiving and unpacking. Also, this program can perform standard operations with the archive, for example, you can set a password for the file, or set the compression level of the archive. Also, if necessary, you can create a self-extracting archive with the necessary parameters, which are specified in special comments to the archive.

ExtractNow is a convenient program that allows you to unpack zipped files quickly: with just the click of a button. This option will be especially convenient for those users who regularly have to unpack many files. The only negative is that the program does not support creating archives, because... is exclusively an unpacker (high-quality and convenient), and not an archiver. To unpack a file, you need to drag the archives into the program window and click the Extract button. Supports popular archive formats. Thus, the program can unpack all the popular and most frequently used...

Simplyzip is a convenient archiver with all the necessary functions that most users use. The program works with almost all popular archive formats, including rar or zip. However, due to the fact that the developers of the winRar program do not allow the use of algorithms for their format, Rar archives can only be unpacked or their contents viewed. However, Simplyzip supports the installation of various modules and plugins that can expand the functionality of this archiver. If you install the necessary plugin, the program can be taught to create both Rar archives and archives of other formats...

Ashampoo ZIP is an archiver program that helps you compress and store the necessary information. Works with a variety of formats, allowing users to send large documents in a compressed form. Ashampoo ZIP has a wide range of different functions. Using the application, you can create, unpack and split archives. In addition, the program supports reading, recovery, encryption, and instant conversion. The list of formats supported by Ashampoo ZIP is quite impressive. In addition to creating archives, the program supports unpacking documents in more than 30 different archive formats.

JZip is a convenient archiver with a fairly simple interface and a set of necessary functions for everyday use. The archiver allows you to create archives in 5 different formats, for example, zip. There are many more formats available for unpacking. This is due to restrictions imposed by other developers. jZip supports multiple encryption algorithms, making it easy to protect your archives from being opened or unzipped. Also, jZip can create multi-volume archives. This can be used if you need to transfer a file over the Internet, or if the created...

IZArc is a convenient program for working with archives, featuring a clear and simple interface, as well as a number of additional features. IZArc supports a huge number of formats, including the most popular rar and zip. Unique algorithms used in the program allow you to increase the speed of working with archives. However, the main feature of IZArc is that it can easily convert archives from one format to another. This is especially necessary if you need to transfer some files to another user who does not have the appropriate archiver. In addition, IZArc allows you to view...

ZipGenius is a program for working with archives. In other words, an archiver. The ZipGenius program already has all the usual archiver capabilities. Thus, it can open archives of almost all formats (21 pcs.), supports full work with several of them, and also allows you to view the contents of the archive. Another feature is the creation of password-protected archives, which ensures reliable safety of your data, because in most cases, it is almost impossible to open an archive without knowing the password to it. You can, of course, use password guessing programs, but their speed is quite slow.

If you have installed on your computer antivirus program Can scan all files on your computer, as well as each file individually. You can scan any file by right-clicking on the file and selecting the appropriate option to scan the file for viruses.

For example, in this figure it is highlighted file my-file.cab, then you need to right-click on this file and select the option in the file menu "scan with AVG". When you select this option, AVG Antivirus will open and scan the file for viruses.

Sometimes an error may occur as a result incorrect software installation, which may be due to a problem encountered during the installation process. This may interfere with your operating system associate your CAB file with the correct application software, influencing the so-called "file extension associations".

Sometimes simple reinstalling 7-Zip may solve your problem by linking CAB to 7-Zip correctly. In other cases, problems with file associations may result from bad software programming developer and you may need to contact the developer for further assistance.

Advice: Try updating 7-Zip to the latest version to ensure you have the latest patches and updates.

This may seem too obvious, but often The CAB file itself may be causing the problem. If you received a file via an email attachment or downloaded it from a website and the download process was interrupted (such as a power outage or other reason), the file may become damaged. If possible, try getting a new copy of the CAB file and try opening it again.

Carefully: A damaged file can cause collateral damage to previous or existing malware on your PC, so it is important to keep your computer up-to-date with an up-to-date antivirus.

If your CAB file related to the hardware on your computer to open the file you may need update device drivers associated with this equipment.

This problem usually associated with media file types, which depend on successfully opening the hardware inside the computer, e.g. sound card or video card. For example, if you are trying to open an audio file but cannot open it, you may need to update sound card drivers.

Advice: If when you try to open a CAB file you receive .SYS file error message, the problem could probably be associated with corrupted or outdated device drivers that need to be updated. This process can be made easier by using driver update software such as DriverDoc.

If the steps do not solve the problem and you are still having problems opening CAB files, this could be due to lack of available system resources. Some versions of CAB files may require a significant amount of resources (e.g. memory/RAM, processing power) to properly open on your computer. This problem is quite common if you are using fairly old computer hardware and at the same time a much newer operating system.

This problem can occur when the computer is having difficulty keeping up with a task because the operating system (and other services running in the background) may consume too many resources to open CAB file. Try closing all applications on your PC before opening Windows Cabinet File. Freeing up all available resources on your computer will provide you with the best conditions for attempting to open your CAB file.

If you completed all the steps described above and your CAB file still won't open, you may need to run equipment update. In most cases, even when using older versions of hardware, the processing power can still be more than sufficient for most user applications (unless you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive work, such as 3D rendering, financial/scientific modeling, or intensive multimedia work) . Thus, it is likely that your computer does not have enough memory(commonly called "RAM" or random access memory) to perform the task of opening a file.