Files

The Files view displays all folders and files in the MSI package and lets you add, update, extract, or reorganize them.

Add files and folders

Master Packager supports two ways to add content:

1. Drag one or more files or folders directly into the Files view. You can also drag items to a different location inside the MSI structure.
2. Right-click a folder and select Add File(s) or Add Directory(s).

Build files

When you add files to the MSI, Master Packager prompts you to select or create a CAB file.

Option	Description
BUILD NOW	Builds the CAB file immediately. This is the recommended option in most cases.
BUILD LATER	Adds the file information to the MSI database without building the CAB file yet.

Select a CAB file

A CAB file is an archive that stores package files. When adding content:

• If source files for an existing CAB are available, you can select that CAB file.
• If the source files are not available, use a new CAB file name.

note

When editing an MSI or MST file, Master Packager automatically preselects a new CAB file name.

CAB file placement

Choose how the CAB file should be stored.

Option	Description
Build CAB inside MSI (default)	Embeds the CAB file inside the MSI.
Build CAB outside MSI	Saves the CAB file as a separate file next to the MSI.
Build as Noncompressed	Leaves the files uncompressed next to the MSI. They must be present during installation.

CAB file compression

Choose how much compression should be applied to files inside the CAB.

Option	Description
Lower compression	Builds faster but creates a larger file.
Higher compression	Builds more slowly but creates a smaller file.

CAB file size

Set the maximum CAB file size in megabytes (MB).

note

The maximum size of a single CAB file is 2000 MB.

Update existing files

When Update Existing Files is disabled, all added files are treated as new entries.

When it is enabled, Master Packager compares files by name. If a matching file already exists, only its parameters, such as size and version, are updated.

tip

Example: if the MSI already contains myapp.dll version 1.0.0 and you want to replace it with version 2.0.0, drag the new file into the same folder and enable Update Existing Files in the Select CAB file dialog.

Build or extract all CAB files

• Go to File > Build > Build All CABs to rebuild every CAB file. All source files must be extracted next to the MSI first.
• Go to File > Build > Extract All CABs to extract all files from the MSI CAB files.

Clean database

The Clean Database option removes embedded CAB files from the _Streams table.

This is useful when files were deleted from the MSI, but the file size did not decrease after rebuilding.

Extract a file

The Extract File(s) function exports the selected file from the MSI to the local file system.

1. Right-click a file in the Files view.
2. Select Extract File(s).

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+X.

This is useful when you need a single DLL, EXE, configuration file, or icon for testing, analysis, or repackaging.

Extract a directory

The Extract Directory function exports the selected folder and all of its contents to the local file system.

1. Right-click a folder in the Files view.
2. Select Extract Directory.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+X.

This is useful when you need to review a larger folder structure or understand how the vendor organized the application's file layout.