Is it possible to search for files inside cab files

[Espera]

I tried searching for files on a CD with a specific extension but nothing came up even though I can find some of the files manually it would be a pain to search every zip rar or cab file for a specific extension. Does windows 7 search compressed files or does it skip the contents? If it skps them does anyone have a recommendation for a search program that can search packed files or do I have to install XP to get a decent nonindexed search program back.

:sarc:

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

Personally I extract the cab files ti a folder and pick through it as needed. If you don't have enough drive space or patience for that, I'll try to figure something out when I get back to my desk.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

After doing some reading here, I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't seem like there really is a way, mainly because of they way Cabinet files are created. If it did it in XP, that's great. Microsoft most likely took it out because the need and usefulness of searching compressed installation files for self-extracting installers is very slim.

I'm sticking to my "extract and search that way" statement from earlier.

 

[Dzomlija]

I tried searching for files on a CD with a specific extension but nothing came up even though I can find some of the files manually it would be a pain to search every zip rar or cab file for a specific extension. Does windows 7 search compressed files or does it skip the contents? If it skps them does anyone have a recommendation for a search program that can search packed files or do I have to install XP to get a decent nonindexed search program back.

:sarc:

If you read my tutorial, Windows Search - Configure and Use, you'll learn that some file type require special IFilters in order to have their contents searched.

I have not tried it yet (I don't need to search cab files), so I have no idea if it will work or not, but I did find IFilter for Cabinet files for you.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

I tried searching for files on a CD with a specific extension but nothing came up even though I can find some of the files manually it would be a pain to search every zip rar or cab file for a specific extension. Does windows 7 search compressed files or does it skip the contents? If it skps them does anyone have a recommendation for a search program that can search packed files or do I have to install XP to get a decent nonindexed search program back.

:sarc:

If you read my tutorial, Windows Search - Configure and Use, you'll learn that some file type require special IFilters in order to have their contents searched.

I have not tried it yet (I don't need to search cab files), so I have no idea if it will work or not, but I did find IFilter for Cabinet files for you.

At the very least it's worth a shot, even though it's from 2005.

 

[ChrisBedford]

Talk about necroposting... but this is still relevant, if anyone is looking to extract something from a .CAB file. You'll need to scratch out an old Windows install CD, though

It seems I have forgotten more about Microsoft command line stuff than the youth of today will ever learn

---<snip>---
X:\win98>extract -?
Microsoft (R) Cabinet Extraction Tool - Version (16) 1.00.603.0 (08/14/97)
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp 1994-1997. All rights reserved.

EXTRACT [/Y] [/A] [/D | /E] [/L dir] cabinet [filename ...]
EXTRACT [/Y] source [newname]
EXTRACT [/Y] /C source destination

cabinet - Cabinet file (contains two or more files).
filename - Name of the file to extract from the cabinet.
Wild cards and multiple filenames (separated by
blanks) may be used.

source - Compressed file (a cabinet with only one file).
newname - New filename to give the extracted file.
If not supplied, the original name is used.

/A Process ALL cabinets. Follows cabinet chain
starting in first cabinet mentioned.
/C Copy source file to destination (to copy from DMF disks).
/D Display cabinet directory (use with filename to avoid extract).
/E Extract (use instead of *.* to extract all files).
/L dir Location to place extracted files (default is current directory).
/Y Do not prompt before overwriting an existing file.
X:\win98>
---<snip>---

How did I do that? Ah hah, the Windows 98 installation CD (and a complete Win98 installation) had this utility, extract.exe. To just display contents, use the /d option... /a is particularly useful, it daisy-chains the search from one cabinet in a series to the next one. So for instance the Win98 cabs are supplied in several series
> base4, base5, base6
> driver 11 - driver 20
> net 7, net 8, net 9
...and so on (yeah I know the numbering scheme seems a bit haphazard... that was Microsoft in the Nineties, eh. I guess they were drinking too much Kool-Aid in those days). Just list the first one in the series and extract goes through all of them. Looking for a particular file, list it and the search stops when the file is found.

In Win XP, the utility was called expand. It had a reduced set of command line switches but I think it cuold do essentially the same thing.


Command line rules! (When you have the patience for it)

 

[Mellon Head]

Since you necroed this thread, I'll answer with a better suggestion:

Why not just use 7-Zip? It does CAB files, among other formats.

Easy-peasy.

 

[ChrisBedford]

Why not just use 7-Zip? It does CAB files, among other formats.

Yes it does, but how do you search through a list of >2,000 files? How do you search through > 50 CAB files with one command?

 

[Mellon Head]

Yes it does, but how do you search through a list of >2,000 files? How do you search through > 50 CAB files with one command?

If I had to search through that many files, I would simply unzip the CAB file to a throwaway folder and let the Windows search function do the work for me. Searching 50+ CAB files, I would tend to use your method.