How to check if files exist in .ism without using InstallShield

Question

I want to verify if certain exe files already exist in a merge module .ism (binary format). Is there a method of doing this without using InstallShield?

Answer 1

An *.ism file is really an MSI file with a changed extension. MSI files in turn are SQL databases stored as COM-structured storage files - a file system inside a single file with file streams for various content. This is the same format used in Office documents.

You can view MSI files with Orca from the Windows SDK: http://www.hass.de/content/how-install-microsoft-orca

Answer 2

Windows Installer XML (WiX) Deployment Tools Foundation (DTF) has an InstallPackage class available that exposes a FindFiles() method. This should be really easy to query the EXE. Just realize that being a merge module you won't know the full installation path as that's decided by the MSI generally.

Answer 3

Both of Chris's suggestions should work fine, as would using Orca. But it got me thinking there might be an even easier way using a tool called Merge Module Finder. It all depends on what you really want to do? Find files already in merge modules? Investigate what merge modules are in an Installshield file? It is not quite clear exactly what you want to do.

Though a bit clunky at times (I think the author hasn't updated it for the latest versions of Windows) it will help you look for a file in a bunch of merge modules interactively. You can also search for a registry value. Here is a screenshot: