Installshield Cab File

Some program installations use InstallShield, and the program files are compressed into Data.cab files. But InstallShield decided to be cute, and use their own propriety format with older versions of the Data.cab file. They could have used a standard compression algorithm like.ZIP, but did not. When InstallShield is creating the.cab files for your release and it reaches the.cab file threshold that you configured, it splits the data into two or more.cab files, creating multi-part.cab files. InstallShield setup.exe files can accept a number of command-line parameters. Using these parameters, administrators can specify details like where to install, if it should reboot the system, or what (if anything) should be displayed during installation.

InstallShield 2015

Project: This information applies to the following project types:

Basic MSI

Installshield Cabinet File Viewer

InstallScript MSI

This information does not apply to custom compression, where only the files that are associated with one or more features are compressed into .cab files.

Installshield Cab File Viewer 14.0 Download

InstallShield includes a machine-wide setting that lets you specify the compression level that you want to use for files that are streamed into Setup.exe files and ISSetup.dll files at build time. Following are examples of files that may be streamed into the Setup.exe files and ISSetup.dll files:

All of your product’s files (if the release is one in which all of the files are compressed into the Setup.exe setup launcher)
InstallShield prerequisite installations that have a location of Extract From Setup.exe
The .NET Framework installation if it has a location of Extract From Setup.exe
The Windows Installer installation if it has a location of Extract Engine From Setup.exe

InstallShield also lets you specify particular files (with or without wild-card characters) that should not be compressed when they are streamed into Setup.exe files or ISSetup.dll files.

Caution: The following instructions require that you modify the Settings.xml file that is installed with InstallShield. This file contains critical data; if it is edited incorrectly, it can cause InstallShield to fail to work. Use extreme care when editing this file.

To configure compression settings for streamed files:

1. Close InstallShield.
2. Find the Settings.xml file that is installed with InstallShield. Settings.xml is installed in one of the following locations, depending on which language version of InstallShield you are using:
EnglishInstallShield Program Files FolderSupport0409
JapaneseInstallShield Program Files FolderSupport0411
3. Create a back-up copy of the Settings.xml file, in case you later need to revert to the original version.
4. Use a text editor or XML file editor to open the Settings.xml file.
5. Search for the <StreamCompression> element. It looks something like this:

<StreamCompression exclude='*.CAB' compressionlevel='-1'/>

6. To prevent certain files or file types from being compressed when they are streamed into Setup.exe files or ISSetup.dll files, set the value of the exclude attribute to the names of those files. Note the following guidelines:
To specify more than one file, separate each file name with a comma.
To indicate a wild-card character, use an asterisk (*).

For example, to specify that .cab files, .exe files, and a file called test.txt should not be compressed, set the value of the exclude attribute to as follows:

<StreamCompression exclude='*.CAB,*EXE,test.txt' compressionlevel='-1'/>

The default value is *.CAB, since .cab files are a compressed type of file.

Installshield
7. Do one of the following:
If you want to use a compression level that offers a balance between the size of the compressed file and the time that is required to extract the compressed files at run time, set the value of the compressionlevel attribute to -1. This is the default value.
To specify a particular compression level, set the value of the compressionlevel attribute to a number from 0 to 9, where 0 indicates no compression and 9 indicates maximum compression.

In general, when you specify a number from 0 to 9, the higher the number that you specify, the smaller the resulting compressed file is, and the longer it may take to extract the files at run time.

8. Save the Settings.xml file.
9. Ensure that your XML code is well formed; if it is not well formed, you may have problems using InstallShield. In most cases, you can identify improperly formed XML code by opening the Settings.xml file in Internet Explorer. You should be able to expand and contract the major elements of the file; if you cannot, check the code for errors.

Whenever you build a compressed release for one of the applicable project types, InstallShield streams files into Setup.exe files and ISSetup.dll files according to the settings that you configured.

Installshield Cab File Viewer 14.0

Tip: If you use the Standalone Build to build a release, update the Settings.xml file that is installed with the Standalone Build. Settings.xml is installed in one of the following locations, depending on which language version of InstallShield you are using:

Installshield Cab File Viewer 14.0

EnglishStandalone Build Program Files FolderSupport0409
JapaneseStandalone Build Program Files FolderSupport0411

See Also

Installshield Cab File Viewer

InstallShield 2015 Help Library

June 2015

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