Added support for UHARC archives
Added support for KGB archives, including encrypted and self-extracting archives
Added support for MHTML (.mht) files
Added support for Wise for Windows Installer installers
Added support for InstallShield 3.x archives (.z, .1, and .lib)
Added support for decompressing UPX and ASpack files, including .dll files
Added additional support for MSI files
Added additional scanning options for PEiD
Added external database support for PEiD
Added ability to choose context menu items in installer
Added support for compressed files (.??_) to installer
Added command line usage information to installer (run with /?)
Added application-specific support for McAfee SuperDAT updater and CMenu installer
Fixed support for Microsoft hotfixes
Fixed miscellaneous typos
Fixed RPM file association in installer
Fixed miscellaneous file association bugs in installer
Updated PEiD to 0.94
Updated 7-zip to 4.42 (still using 4.40 nsis.dll)
Updated UnRAR to 3.60
Updated Inno Setup unpacking to include embedded files
Updated Inno Setup support to include newer versions
Updated InstallShield support to include support files when using cache option
Updated file scanning to speed up filetype detection
Updated Zip support to include files compressed with bzip2
Updated Zip support to include .wz extension
Updated Microsoft CAB support to include .imf extension
Updated Wise and InstallShield filetype detection to yield more
Universal Extractor is a program do to exactly what it says: extract files from any type of archive, whether it's a simple zip file, an installation program, or even a Windows Installer (.msi) package. This is still a work in progress (see details below), but so far it's proven quite useful and I feel others can also benefit from it.
I should stress that this application is not intended to be a general purpose archiving program. It will never replace WinRAR, 7-Zip, etc. What it will do is allow you to extract files from virtually any type of archive, regardless of source, compression method, etc. The original motivation behind this project was that I wanted an easy, convenient way to extract files from installation packages, such as Inno Setup or Windows Installer packages, without pulling up a command line every time. In the process I got a little carried away and ended up throwing in support for every kind of archive format I possibly could find.
Universal Extractor, like most of my Windows programs, is written in AutoIt, a powerful open source scripting language. Universal Extractor itself, however, is just a front-end that uses many other programs to do the dirty work. Please see the Credits section below for additional information.
Installation and Usage
To install UniExtract, download the installer and run it on your system. You will have three options during installation:
Enable Explorer context menu integration - allows you to right click on any archive and directly extract its files
Add UniExtract Files... to context menu - adds ability to specify destination directory
Add UniExtract Here to context menu - adds ability to quickly extract to current directory
Add UniExtract to Subdir to context menu - adds ability to quickly extract to subdirectory
Force association with with all supported archive formats - Forces UniExtract to associate itself with all supported file extensions; by default, it will only associate itself with native Windows formats (.exe, .msi, etc.) and other formats not currently associated with another program
Add Universal Extractor to your system path - allows you to run UniExtract (and any related binaries) from the command line
If you wish to automate installation (for custom or unattended installs), please run uniextract13.exe /? to get a detailed description of available command-line options for the installer.
For manual installation with the binary archive, simply extract the files to the destination folder you would like.
Once UniExtract is installed, usage is simple. The easiest way, if you used the installer and enabled context menu integration, is to right-click on any archive and select click one of the UniExtract options. UniExtract Here will extract files to the current directory, UniExtract to Subdir will extract files to a subdirectory named after the file, and UniExtract Files will prompt you for the destination directory.
If you did not enable context meny integration, you may run the Universal Extractor start menu shortcut, or double-click directly on UniExtract.exe. This will launch the UniExtract GUI. Enter (or use the file browser to select) the file you wish to extract and the destination directory, then click OK.
You can use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall UniExtract, or just delete the directory if you used the self-extracting archive.
