where does WinRAR extract files to by default in Windows 7?

where does WinRAR extract files to by default in Windows 7?

Because I need to locate an .ISO I just extracted.

3 Answers 3

usually to the directory of the rar file, folder name should be the same as the rar.

In windows 7, 8 and 10, it extracts the files to C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\Temp

Edit: If you run a file from inside the archive, the files will be extracted in the temp folder as mentioned earlier. If you use Extract or Extract without confirmation it will be in the same directory where your archive is.

Open WinRAR > Options > Settings > Compression Tab

If Default folder for extracted files is blank and Append archive name to path then it extracted in a new folder of same folder the file was in. The new folder should be exact name of the source file.

WinRAR Help:

Default folder for extracted files
You may enter here a name of the folder, which will be used as a base to construct the destination folder in Extract without confirmation and Extract files to the specified folder commands. WinRAR builds the destination path in these extraction commands merging the default folder and an archive name. It may be convenient to enter Desktop path here, so you will immediately see unpacked data on your Desktop.

Append archive name to path
It controls if archive name is appended to the default folder name when constructing the destination path.

How to extract a self extracting exe from commandline

Is there a way to extract a self extracting exe from commandline in windows?

I have a self extracting exe which is of type RAR. I want to extract the contents of this RAR only with the help of windows and not using any other tools (like 7zip, Unrar etc) which helps to extract. Also, I want to do it from the command line only.

Are there any utilities in windows which I can use to extract the self extracting exe file from commandline?

4 Answers 4

You might be able to get the self-extacting RAR archive to do what you want with one or more of the following RAR SFX (self-extracting archive) options:

GUI self-extracting modules support following command line switches:

I’m not sure if any of these options will suppress running a setup program that the SFX is configured to run.

Download UnRar for windows (freeware) from this link. It in itself is a self extracting archive, which when installed will give you the actual unrar.exe. You can then use unrar.exe to extract files from the command line.

Use unzip utility from http://www.info-zip.org/. It is an open source and binaries are available for all os flavors.

unzip command: unzip.exe sample.zip -d extract_folder

Download latest windows executable at ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/win32/. After downloading the binary like ‘unz552xn-x64.exe’, run it in command line, it will give a set of files including unzip.exe. since unzip.exe does not have any dependency other files can be deleted.

For others that are looking for the answer to this.

Download the trial version or purchase WinRAR. Right click the files you want to package and select add to archive.

Check «create sfx archive» on the General tab, this will give you the file.exe

Select the «sfx options» on the Advanced tab, under the Modes tab select «hide all». If you don’t want the extracted files to show or stay after your program/script has run then «Unpack to temporary folder» under this same tab.

Under the Setup tab in the «run after extraction» put the program or script you would like to run.

Once file(s) have been packaged you will have a file called file.exe. (Note:File will be what you named the sfx archive). From command line type file.exe and it will extract to the temp location (if you selected that) and run the program/script that you specified. Once the program/script closes the folder in the temp location will be removed.

Notes:

If running from a WinPe CD or otherwise similar bootable media do not use «Unpack to Temporary Folder».

WinRAR only has to be on the computer making the sfx archive. Once the sfx archive is made you won’t need it to extract the files.

How do I make a self extract and running installer

So currently my users download a zipfile, unzip it and then run setup.exe — I would like them to do this with one click. Using http://www.wikihow.com/Use-7Zip-to-Create-Self-Extracting-excutables i can make a self-extracting exe, but it doesn’t actually run the installer.

From this question

it seems I also need an .sfx file so I copied from the other question and created one with the following contents

and called setup.sfx and add this to archive together with the other files

but it made no difference, what else do I need to do.

Supplementary question, I also have WinRar, does it effect the end user experience whether I use 7Zip or Winrar ?

3 Answers 3

I have created step by step instructions on how to do this as I also was very confused about how to get this working.

Here are the steps.

Step 1 — Setup your installation folder

To make this easy create a folder c:\Install. This is where we will copy all the required files.

Step 2 — 7Zip your installers

1. Go to the folder that has your .msi and your setup.exe
2. Select both the .msi and the setup.exe
3. Right-Click and choose 7Zip —> «Add to Archive»
4. Name your archive «Installer.7z» (or a name of your choice)
5. Click Ok
6. You should now have «Installer.7z».
7. Copy this .7z file to your c:\Install directory

Step 3 — Get the 7z-Extra sfx extension module

You need to download 7zSD.sfx

1. Download one of the LZMA packages from here
2. Extract the package and find 7zSD.sfx in the bin folder.
3. Copy the file «7zSD.sfx» to c:\Install

Step 4 — Setup your config.txt

I would recommend using NotePad++ to edit this text file as you will need to encode in UTF-8, the following instructions are using notepad++.

1. Using windows explorer go to c:\Install
2. right-click and choose «New Text File» and name it config.txt
3. right-click and choose «Edit with NotePad++
4. Click the «Encoding Menu» and choose «Encode in UTF-8»

Enter something like this:

Edit this replacing [SOFTWARE v1.0.0.0] with your product name. Notes on the parameters and options for the setup file are here.

CheckPoint

You should now have a folder «c:\Install» with the following 3 files:

Step 5 — Create the archive

These instructions I found on the web but nowhere did it explain any of the 4 steps above.

Open a cmd window, Window + R —> cmd —> press enter

In the command window type the following

Look in c:\Install and you will now see you have a MyInstaller.exe You are finished

Run the installer

Double click on MyInstaller.exe and it will prompt with your message. Click OK and the setup.exe will run.

P.S. Note on Automation

Now that you have this working in your c:\Install directory I would create an «Install.bat» file and put the copy script in it.

Now you can just edit and run the Install.bat every time you need to rebuild a new version of you deployment package.

Okay I have got it working, hope this information is useful.

First of all I now realize that not only do self-extracting zip start extracting with doubleclick, but they require no extraction application to be installed on the users computer because the extractor code is in the archive itself. This means that you will get a different user experience depending on what you application you use to create the sfx

I went with WinRar as follows, this does not require you to create an sfx file, everything can be created via the gui:

• Select files, right click and select Add to Archive
• Use Browse.. to create the archive in the folder above
• Change Archive Format to Zip
• Enable Create SFX archive
• Select Advanced tab
• Select SFX Options
• Select Setup tab
• Enter setup.exe into the Run after Extraction field
• Select Modes tab
• Enable Unpack to temporary folder
• Select text and Icon tab
• Enter a more appropriate title for your task
• Select OK
• Select OK

The resultant exe unzips to a temporary folder and then starts the installer

where does WinRAR extract files to by default in Windows 7?

where does WinRAR extract files to by default in Windows 7?

Because I need to locate an .ISO I just extracted.

3 Answers 3

usually to the directory of the rar file, folder name should be the same as the rar.

In windows 7, 8 and 10, it extracts the files to C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\Temp

Edit: If you run a file from inside the archive, the files will be extracted in the temp folder as mentioned earlier. If you use Extract or Extract without confirmation it will be in the same directory where your archive is.

Open WinRAR > Options > Settings > Compression Tab

If Default folder for extracted files is blank and Append archive name to path then it extracted in a new folder of same folder the file was in. The new folder should be exact name of the source file.

WinRAR Help:

Default folder for extracted files
You may enter here a name of the folder, which will be used as a base to construct the destination folder in Extract without confirmation and Extract files to the specified folder commands. WinRAR builds the destination path in these extraction commands merging the default folder and an archive name. It may be convenient to enter Desktop path here, so you will immediately see unpacked data on your Desktop.

Append archive name to path
It controls if archive name is appended to the default folder name when constructing the destination path.

How to extract a self extracting exe from commandline

Is there a way to extract a self extracting exe from commandline in windows?

I have a self extracting exe which is of type RAR. I want to extract the contents of this RAR only with the help of windows and not using any other tools (like 7zip, Unrar etc) which helps to extract. Also, I want to do it from the command line only.

Are there any utilities in windows which I can use to extract the self extracting exe file from commandline?

4 Answers 4

You might be able to get the self-extacting RAR archive to do what you want with one or more of the following RAR SFX (self-extracting archive) options:

GUI self-extracting modules support following command line switches:

I’m not sure if any of these options will suppress running a setup program that the SFX is configured to run.

Download UnRar for windows (freeware) from this link. It in itself is a self extracting archive, which when installed will give you the actual unrar.exe. You can then use unrar.exe to extract files from the command line.

Use unzip utility from http://www.info-zip.org/. It is an open source and binaries are available for all os flavors.

unzip command: unzip.exe sample.zip -d extract_folder

Download latest windows executable at ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/win32/. After downloading the binary like ‘unz552xn-x64.exe’, run it in command line, it will give a set of files including unzip.exe. since unzip.exe does not have any dependency other files can be deleted.

For others that are looking for the answer to this.

Download the trial version or purchase WinRAR. Right click the files you want to package and select add to archive.

Check «create sfx archive» on the General tab, this will give you the file.exe

Select the «sfx options» on the Advanced tab, under the Modes tab select «hide all». If you don’t want the extracted files to show or stay after your program/script has run then «Unpack to temporary folder» under this same tab.

Under the Setup tab in the «run after extraction» put the program or script you would like to run.

Once file(s) have been packaged you will have a file called file.exe. (Note:File will be what you named the sfx archive). From command line type file.exe and it will extract to the temp location (if you selected that) and run the program/script that you specified. Once the program/script closes the folder in the temp location will be removed.

Notes:

If running from a WinPe CD or otherwise similar bootable media do not use «Unpack to Temporary Folder».

WinRAR only has to be on the computer making the sfx archive. Once the sfx archive is made you won’t need it to extract the files.