Many different types of image or graphic formats are available that you can use on a computer, such as JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF and BMP. The type used by icons in Windows is the .ICO format. What makes ICO files different to those formats is the ability to embed several different image sizes directly into the file along with differing color depths. This allows a 256 pixel icon image to look as clear and sharp as a 32 pixel icon image and not need artificially resizing if both resolutions are included inside the icon file.
How to extract msu/msp/msi/exe files from the command line. I find these commands quite helpful — maybe you know them already — if not, here you go: Microsoft Hotfix Installer (.exe) setup.exe /t:C: /c. Microsoft Update Standalone Package (.msu) expand -F:. update.msu C: cd expand -F:. update.cab C. Jan 11, 2019 I'm trying to extract the.msi file from the current version of reader, I have followed the instructions on how to extract.msi file from the Adobe Reader DC.exe version. And Administration Basics — Enterprise Administration Guide and how to extract.msi file from the Adobe Reader DC.exe version. AndHow to download Reader DC 2017.009.20044 MSI? Final Note: Another tool that can extract icons from EXE and DLL files mentioned around the internet is Icons From File. Although it has everything needed for a conversion there is a huge limitation of only being able to save small (16×16) or large (32×32) icon images.
To extract an MSI file from an EXE installer, you need to: Launch your.exe file. When you see the first prompt (e.g. A question about whether you want to continue installation, accept a license agreement, etc.), do not click anything in this window and do not close it. Open Windows Explorer, type%temp% in the address bar and press Enter. Luckily, a free utility called IconViewer makes it easy to extract a high-quality icon from an application’s EXE file.
There are many reasons why you might want to extract an icon from inside another file such as a program executable or DLL library. For example, we use thumbnail size images on the blog and if we want to write about a specific program we might decide to use one of its icons as the related thumbnail. For that, extracting an icon from the program’s EXE or DLL is an option. Windows itself also has thousands of icons which you might want to make use of spread across dozens of system files.
One option would be to extract the icon image to an individual ICO file and there are many tools around that can do it, but that requires an extra step after of converting the icon file to an image format such as PNG. An easier way requiring fewer steps is using a program to extract the icon from the binary file and save it out directly as an image file, here are 5 free tools to try out.
1. BeCyIconGrabberIn addition to being a portable standalone executable, BeCyIconGrabber has a number of useful features. These include the ability to save cursors, a favorites tab to store your most frequently used files, and a search option to find all EXE, DLL, OCX, SCR and CPL files in a folder with the minimum defined number of icons.
Use the search, favorites or directory tab to browse for a file or drop one onto the right hand icon preview part of the window. All icons are displayed in separate tabs for each available size. To save an icon to an image double or right click on it and click Save. In the save dialog that pops up are options to save as BMP or PNG image file formats, a format box will allow you to choose which size of icon can be saved from the list available.
Download BeCyIconGrabber
2. Thumbico
What makes Thumbico quite useful is it’s able to extract an icon sized image or thumbnail from just about any file. If there is an embedded icon inside it will be shown, if not, you will get an image of the file type’s icon or the image/frame of an image file or video. Simply browse for or drag and drop a file onto the window and press the menu button > Save Image As..
There are a few editing functions that include rotate/flip, choosing a background color and resizing the output image to a preset size or custom dimension. Images can be saved as JPG, GIF, BMP and PNG. Limitations when extracting icons specifically include it doesn’t actually tell you the icon size and only the first icon in the file will be shown, so subsequent icons are not viewable. Thumbico comes in portable and installer versions, .NET 3.5 is required so Windows 8 and 10 users will be asked to install it.
Download Thumbico
3. MiTec Icon Explorer
Icon Explorer is a standalone portable executable and has some useful functions such as an in built search that filters all files in a specific folder that include icons, selecting a custom background color for the icons and the ability to show pretty much everything in the one window.
Use the folder and file browsers at the top to find the executable or library, click on it and all the icons in the file will display in the lower middle pane. Click on an icon and its available sizes and resolutions will appear to the right. Right click on the icon you want and select Save to Bitmap. Perhaps surprisingly you can only save to the BMP image format so the icon background will not be saved with transparency like you would get with a PNG image.
Download MiTec Icon Explorer
4. IconViewer
IconViewer has not been updated since 2008 but it still works in the latest Windows 10 64-bit. It also works differently to other tools here because IconViewer needs installing and could be more useful to people that frequently need to extract icon images from executable or library files.
After installation simply right click on an executable or DLL, select Properties and then click the Icons tab. All embedded icons for that file will be shown in the window, highlight which one you want and all available sizes and bit depths are shown for the specific icon along with a preview. Highlight the required size and color depth then click the Save As button below. IconViewer supports both BMP and PNG image formats. You can also multi select files and get the icons listed from all of them in the same window. Separate 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available on the website.
Download IconViewer
5. Quick Any2Ico
Despite the name, Quick Any2Ico is able to extract icons from executable files and other binary files and save them to an image format, in this case PNG. It’s also easy to use and can be as simple as dropping a file onto the window and pressing the Extract It button. It’s also a portable executable.
On first use make sure to check the “Save as PNG instead of ICO” box. To extract an icon that is part of a set choose “Extract from binary file resource” before selecting Browse, this will auto fill the Icon Index box with the correct icon number. After choosing a save to location (drag and drop will auto choose) check the box for the image size. Note that saving as PNG will save to the largest checked size irrespective of the actual size of the icon. Click the button and the image will be saved.
Download Quick Any2Ico
Final Note: Another tool that can extract icons from EXE and DLL files mentioned around the internet is Icons From File. Although it has everything needed for a conversion there is a huge limitation of only being able to save small (16×16) or large (32×32) icon images. There are also icon creation and editing tools that can do the same, such as IcoFX Portable, although they are possibly a bit overkill for a simple and quick conversion.
Extract Exe File On Windows
You might also like:
5 Ways to Extract Video Frames and Save to Images7 Easy to Use Tools that Extract and Convert Audio from Video Files8 Free Tools to Repair and Extract Invalid ZIP Files10 Free Tools to Batch Convert and Resize your Images10 Free Tools To Save or Print a List of File and Folder ContentsThe best one from this like is Icon Viewer. Although it isn’t portable — it’s a the File Explorer extension, after all — it is capable of saving icons as transparent PNGs, which other tools can’t provide.
ReplyVery clear, very helpful.
One want?: Forgive me if I overlooked the information, but it would be a welcome addition if you were to indicate which are free, and the costs for the others (and trial terms, if any)
ReplyYou may have missed it, but we mention in paragraph three that these tools are all free. Although we say “here are 5 free tools to try out”, we don’t mean they are trials but they are all free and you can test each one to see what works best.
ReplyHi,
Thank you for these alternatives to IcoExtract and Resource Hacker because I was extracting an icon from Veritas Ev-Client and the .exe was “unknown”… With all these tools i tried and it was a success !!! Many thanks :)
I use IconsExtract from nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.html.
This free utility lets you extract ALL icons to a folder – not just individual icons.
Nice one. Resource Hacker is what I use, but I imagine you need to be more of an advanced user to use it.
ReplyLocate Exe Files Windows 10
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Dec 12 2019
EXE files are made for users of Microsoft's Windows, but today you have several ways to use EXE files on your Mac.
How To Extract Exe Contents
| File Juicer | VirtualBox | Parallels | Fusion | ClamAV | Boot Camp | Crossover |
| Extracts images, CAB and other files from EXE | Virtual Machine can run Windows | Virtual Machine can run Windows | Virtual Machine can run Windows | Virus scanning | Lets your Mac run Windows natively | 95% Windows replacement |
| $18 | $0 + $129 | $80+$129 | $99+$129 | Free | $0+$129 | $40- |
File Juicerdoes not run EXE files. It searches inside the EXE file to see if it contains images, Flash games or animations, compressed .ZIP or .RAR archives and many other formats. If if finds any, it will extract and save them. An example EXE file containing photos: AutumnToadStools.EXE
13 second movie showing how to extract images from an EXE file (a screen saver). This will work on some EXE files, but not if the EXE file is encrypted or use a proprietary storage system.
ZIP and RAR files are common inside EXE files which are made 'self extracting' on Windows by wrapping them in an EXE file. You open ZIP files by double-clicking them. RAR files require RAR Expander.
Pocket PC applications are often packaged as 'Windows only installers' in EXE files, and the developers forget to make an installer for Mac OS X.
File Juicer can extract the CAB files from the exe file, and you can manually copy this file to the Pocket PC and get it installed this way.
Adobe/Macromedia's Flash files are also often wrapped inside an EXE file. File Juicer can extract them, and you can play them with iSwiff .
Some EXE files containing other files are not possible to open with File Juicer. Typically this is packages made by installer applications like InstallerVise from MindVision.
The most affordable free and supported app to run Windows and apps on your Mac is VirtualBox from Oracle.
You do need a copy of Microsoft Windows, and the Home Edition of Windows 10 is about $129
It takes only a few minutes to download and install Virtual Box, but it may take more than an hour to get your copy of Windows and all the Windows software updates installed. You will also need 30-50GB of free disk space to set aside as to a virtual disk for your 'Windows PC'. I have successfully been able to run Windows 7 on a 20GB virtual disk
Parallels Desktop require a Mac with an Intel processor. It is more convenient to use than Apple's Boot Camp as it does not require to restart your Mac every time you want to run a Windows application.
Parallels Desktop is focused on personal use, while VMWare cater for enterprise users even though they keep VMWare Fusion for personal use
You still need a copy of Microsoft Windows and install it on a part of your hard disk. You also need to keep this part of your disk free of spyware, viruses. You can keep the Mac part of your disk separate from your Windows part, so nasty applications will not ruin your Mac data.
If your Mac is not quite new and only updated to macOS 13 'High Sierra' you can get away with an older copy of Parallels from Amazon: Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac
If you have a Mac with an Intel processor, VMWare Fusion will be an alternative to Parallels Desktop. VMWare is mostly focused on business users, but they still sell a version for personal use which is conveninent if you want to use the same software at home and at work. They are already known for making virtual Windows environments on Windows, so Windows users can run different versions of Windows on the same PC.
You do need a copy of Microsoft Windows
EXE files can be nasty to Windows users. If you want to use any of the applications below to run the EXE file you have, I recommend checking it for virus first. This is a good idea even though Windows viruses will only be dangerous for the part of your hard disk you set aside for Windows: one can never be too careful when running EXE files. Because File Juicer does not run EXE files, but search them for images, Flash animations and more, even infected EXE files are not dangerous when dropped on File Juicer for a search for extractable files.
ClamAV knows about 90.000 viruses. It is free and you can download ClamXav for Mac OS X here.
ClamXav is quite nice as it does not run in the background and slow your Mac down unless you directly ask for it (by launching ClamXav Sentry from the File menu).
The newest Macs have an Intel processor inside, and Apple has made it possible via BootCamp to install Windows in a part of your disk. With Boot Camp, you shut down your Mac and restart it as a real Windows PC which works at full speed. When you want to go back to Mac OS, you restart it again as a Mac.
You still need to purchase a copy of Microsoft Windows, install it and keep that corner of your hard disk free of virus, worms and spyware.
Amazon: Microsoft Windows
Codeweavers CrossOver (since 2007) - is a way to Windows applications without having Windows. This is of course more affordable, and you don't have to work through a Windows installation which may take hours.The disadvantage is that it is not a 100% Windows replacement, but they have focused on the most common parts of Windows, and if an application only depend on those it should work. Their compatibility list of supported applications give an impression of how much of Windows they support.
Amazon: Code Weavers Crossover Mac (Mac)
The 3 most popular places to look for Mac software are: Visit them both as they are different in how they present their lists. MacUpdate and VersionTracker has user reviews of the software too.Extract Exe File Powershell
While all active software developers list their software on these 3 sites, there are more which write about using Mac software. MacWorld.