InstallShield Self-Extracting EXE
InstallShield Self-Extracting EXE is an executable installer file created by the InstallShield installation software for Windows.
This article is intended to cover only the outer-layer distribution file, and not the various executable and other component files that it may contain.
Not all editions of InstallShield supported creating self-extracting EXE files, and it's not uncommon to find InstallShield component files packaged in other ways (e.g. ZIP), or unpackaged.
Running the .exe with a `-s` flag seems to allow these to run silently and they then extract their contents into C:\users\<user>\Temp\
[Ed. note: This article needs much more research and expansion.]
Identification
For at least one version (3?) of InstallShield, ASCII "InstallShield Self-Extracting Stub Program" appears beginning at offset 943.
Software
- STIX - Extracts from InstallShield v3 files. (DOS, OS/2)
- stix.zip (from SAC)
- [1] → stix.arj
- https://github.com/DeclanHoare/stix/
- ISx - InstallShield installer extractor. Claims to support InstallShield versions released from about 2003 to 2016.
- IsXunpack.exe - For InstallShield v7. Can be found in Universal Extractor. Source is this forum post.
- InstallShield Setup Extract (Probably very limited support.)
Sample files
- 100+ Great Games CD → solcon.exe, bgf2int.exe, gamchest.exe
- dexvert samples — archive/installShieldSelfExtractor
Wanted: Lots more samples from different versions of InstallShield.
