Install cab. Installing CAB and MSU Windows Update Files Manually
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Recently, in the news about fresh cumulative updates, we began to give links where you can download .cab or .msu files of these assemblies. In this article we will understand why they are needed and how to use them.
What are CAB and MSU files
In Windows 10, there are several file formats that are used to update certain system components. This:
- ESD files. They are an encrypted and highly compressed ISO image. Used to install major updates (assemblies in which not only the index changes, but also the main number). With their help, you can, for example,.
- CAB or MSU files. They are, one might say, archives. Used to install small updates - cumulative, security updates, Adobe updates Flash Player and so on.
All mechanisms for working with these files are built into the system. That's what the Update Center uses - it just downloads desired file, and then automatically does what is described in this instruction. The disadvantages of this approach are the inability to install any updates offline, which some users need from time to time.
I note right away that in Windows 10, the CAB or MSU file of some kind of cumulative update also contains all previous cumulative updates! There is no need to first, for example, install assembly 14393.187, then - .189, then - .222. It is enough to immediately install the latest package.
Where to download the Windows 10 update MSU file
How to install CAB and MSU
- Download the CAB or MSU file.
- Move it to a folder with some short path. That is, it is better that the path to the file be, for example, C:\CAB\update.cab, but not C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Folder\CAB Files\CabFile1\update.cab.
Installing the cab files
Installing MSU files
With them, everything is a little easier. They can be installed even by double-clicking on them. But there is a way to do this through the console.
The most common problem that prevents users from opening this file is an incorrectly assigned program. To fix this in Windows, you need to click right click on the file, in the context menu, move the mouse over the "Open with" item, and select the "Choose a program ..." item from the drop-down menu. As a result, you will see a list installed programs on your computer and you can choose the one that suits you. We also recommend checking the box next to "Use this application for all CAB files".
Another problem that our users also encounter quite often is that the CAB file is corrupted. This situation can arise in many cases. For example: the file was not downloaded completely as a result server errors, the file was damaged initially, etc. To fix this problem, use one of the recommendations:
- Try to find the desired file in another source on the Internet. You may be lucky to find a better version. Google search example: "File filetype:CAB" . Just replace the word "file" with the name you want;
- Ask to send you original file again, it may have been damaged in transit;
To force the installation of the driver, you must first unpack the driver. Most of the drivers are ordinary ZIP archives or RAR. I think, for any user, unpacking such drivers will not leave any difficulties. The main thing to remember is that the driver is best unpacked into a folder created at the root of the disk. Otherwise, a large nesting of folders and long names archives may cause difficulties when installing the driver after unpacking. The folder itself, where the files are unpacked, should be named as short as possible, a name of one or two characters is quite sufficient. Later, during installation, it will be easier for you to remember the name of the driver folder you need.
Unpacking drivers with *.exe or *.msi extension
Quite common installation drivers with extension *.exe or *.msi, especially if the file is downloaded from the official website of the manufacturer. And such files cannot be unpacked by conventional archivers. How to unpack them?To unpack exe files or .msi files, there is a great utility called Universal Extractor, which can extract almost any archives. For example, if you download the driver for the Sonix SN9C201 webcam, then inside we will get the file USB20PCCam_5.7.26000.0.exe, which cannot be unpacked by conventional archives. But with the help of a universal unpacker, you can easily unpack it. On our website about computer programs, you can read the instructions for working with Universal Extractor, where an example is given just for unpacking this driver.
Unpacking drivers with *.cab extension
Sometimes, after unpacking the driver, we get a folder inside which the files we need are in the archive cab(usually data1.cab and data1.cab). It is inside these archives that files with the extension *.inf, we need to force the installation of the driver.If we return to the example described above, then as a result of the preliminary extraction of the driver, we received a folder with files:
As can be seen from the figure, among the few files there are the same files data1.cab And data1.cab. As far as driver extraction is concerned, no ordinary unpacker will help here. InstallShield CAB File Viewer - with this small but very useful utility unpacking the cab file will not be difficult. Having opened the file we need in the program (just point to the data1.hdr file) and we will see a tree of folders and files contained inside the archive:
(click to enlarge)
From here we can extract the file we need. The disadvantage of such an unpacker is that you cannot unpack the entire folder, you can only extract one file. That is, for a complete extraction, you will have to unpack each file in turn.
When nothing helps
Rarely, but still it happens that no way to unpack the driver helps. Here you can try to simply run setup file driver, wait for the installation to finish, but do not close the program dialog box. And go to the temporary folders of the system and look for the folder with the unpacked driver there. For windows 7 and Vista, temporary unpacking will take place in a folder C:/Users/NAME/AppData/Local/Temp/. For Windows XP it will be C:/Documents and Settings/NAME/Local Settings/Temp. Look for the folder with the driver by the date of creation.If you have your own reliable and proven way to unpack drivers, then we are waiting for your comments.
Operating room updates Windows systems issued in the form of packages with the expansion MSU or CAB. In the event that the regular functionality of the service does not work (specially disabled) windows update(Center windows updates), the cumulative or security updates required for the system can be downloaded and installed manually offline. In this article, we will show you how to download and install updates in MSU and CAB format in Windows 10.
Where to download the Windows Update MSU file
Microsoft initially releases its updates and patches in the format CAB file. This is how your computer receives updates from Microsoft update servers or local server. For more convenient manual distribution of individual updates by customers through the catalog Microsoft updates, these CAB files are packed in a special format MSU(Microsoft Update Standalone Package).
How to extract CAB file from MSU update package
In some cases, when windows service Update, which the wusa utility uses, does not work correctly (try to run it first), you can't install the update in MSU format. In this case, you can manually unpack the MSU package, extract the update CAB file from it, and manually install it on the system.
To unpack the MSU package into the C:\Temp\kb4056887 directory (the directory must first be created), run the following command:
expand _f:* "C:\Temp\windows10.0-kb4056887-x64.msu" C:\Temp\kb4056887
Microsoft(R) File Expansion Utility Version 10.0.10011.16384
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Can't open input file: _f:*.
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\WSUSSCAN.cab to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64-pkgProperties.txt to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.xml to Extraction Queue
Expanding Files….
Expanding Files Complete…
4 files total.
As you can see, 4 types of files appeared in the directory:
- .xml file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.xml) - contains msu package metadata and is used by Wusa.exe
- .cab file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab - one or more) - directly the archive with the Windows update
- *pkgProperties.txt file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64-pkgProperties.txt) - contains package properties (release date, architecture, package type, KB reference, etc.)
Installing the update cab file in Windows 10
There are two ways to install the update CAB file obtained from the MSU package.
Most universal way install update from CAB file - utility DISM.exe. The install command might be:
DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.10240.16384
Image Version: 10.0.10240.16384
Processing 1 of 1 - Adding package Package_for_KB4056887~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.1.0
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.
Note. Notice how quickly the package is installed via DISM compared to the speed of installing the update from the MSU file.
If you want to install the CAB package in silent mode and suppress the prompt to restart the computer after installing the update, the DISM command will be:
start /wait DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath: c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab /Quiet /NoRestart
In Windows 8 and Windows 7, you can install the update through the package manager Pkgmgr. Team:
start /w Pkgmgr /ip /m:c:"c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab"
Note. In Windows 10 / Windows Server 2016 package manager PkgMgr.exe is no longer supported. When you run it, you get a warning about the need to use DISM.exe to manage packages.
Note: The PkgMgr.exe has been deprecated. Please update your scripts to use dism.exe to extract, install, uninstall, configure and update features and packages for Windows.
Note. Please note that language Windows packages(MUI) are also distributed in CAB format. However, you cannot use the DISM command to install them. Instead, you need to use a separate utility to install new languages on your system. lpksetup.exe.
These instructions for manually installing cumulative (if you don't remember what it is, read the article about systems) and any other Windows updates apply to all supported OS versions: Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 and Windows Server 2016 / 2012 / R2 / 2008 / R2 .
If your computer has antivirus program Can scan all files on the computer, as well as each file individually. You can scan any file by right-clicking on the file and selecting the appropriate option to scan the file for viruses.
For example, in this figure, file my-file.cab, then you need to right-click on this file, and in the file menu select the option "scan with AVG". Selecting this option will open AVG Antivirus which will check given file for the presence of viruses.
Sometimes an error can result from incorrect installation software , which may be due to a problem that occurred during the installation process. It may interfere with your operating system associate your CAB file with the correct application software tool , influencing the so-called "file extension associations".
Sometimes simple reinstalling 7-Zip may solve your problem by properly linking the CAB to 7-Zip. In other cases, file association problems may result from bad software programming developer, and you may need to contact the developer for additional help.
Advice: Try updating 7-Zip to latest version to make sure the latest patches and updates are installed.
This may seem too obvious, but often the CAB file itself may be causing the problem. If you received a file via an attachment Email or downloaded it from a website and the download process was interrupted (such as a power outage or other reason), the file may be corrupted. If possible, try getting a fresh copy of the CAB file and try opening it again.
Carefully: A corrupted file may cause collateral damage to a previous or existing malware on your PC, so it is very important that you have an up-to-date antivirus running on your computer at all times.
If your CAB file associated with the hardware on your computer to open the file you may need update device drivers associated with this equipment.
This problem usually associated with media file types, which depend on the successful opening of the hardware inside the computer, for example, sound card or video cards. For example, if you are trying to open an audio file but cannot open it, you may need to update sound card drivers.
Advice: If when you try to open a CAB file you get .SYS file related error message, the problem could probably be associated with damage or outdated drivers devices that need to be updated. This process can be alleviated by using driver update software such as DriverDoc.
If the steps didn't solve the problem and you are still having problems opening CAB files, this may be due to lack of available system resources. Some versions of CAB files may require a significant amount of resources (eg. memory/RAM, processing power) to open properly on your computer. This problem occurs quite often if you are using a fairly old computer. Hardware and at the same time a much newer operating system.
This problem can occur when the computer is having a hard time completing a task because the operating system (and other services running in the background) can consume too many resources to open CAB file. Try closing all applications on your PC before opening Windows Cabinet File. By freeing up all available resources on your computer, you will ensure the best conditions for trying to open the CAB file.
If you completed all the above steps and your CAB file still won't open, you may need to run hardware upgrade. In most cases, even with older hardware versions, the processing power can still be more than enough for most user applications (unless you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive work like 3D rendering, financial/science modeling, or heavy multimedia work). Thus, it is likely that your computer does not have enough memory(more commonly referred to as "RAM", or RAM) to perform the file open task.