.EXE to MSI - free way for repackaging

[Wobbles1976]

Is there a free solution out there - to re-package exe files to MSI

[6Foot2]

Some EXEs allow you to extract an MSI using 7Zip.

[DavR]

Tbh, there are a lot of different solutions for putting exes to MSIs.....

 

7Zip to open exes works well, if indeed the installer is based on MSI underneath.

 

There were a couple of tools over the years that allowed you to wrap the command line "setup.exe /silent" or similar as an MSI, but I never found them to be very reliable.

 

I use Advanced Installer to create my own MSIs sometimes, but that's not a straight exe conversion, it's more creating an MSI from the ground up, specifying what files, registry entries and shortcuts you want, and where.

 

Back in the day, there were a lot of "snapshot" tools, that would watch your exe install, and create an MSI off the back of it. Again, not always very simple to use, and have somewhat gone out of fashion.

 

In short..... it rather depends, I'm afraid!