Loading ...I recently developed a new appreciation for the RARLab tool WinRAR. RARLab has the ability to create self-extracting executables using a wizard that provides a lot of different options. Its also possible to use the WinRAR SFX settings to customize the resulting .exe file.
I first noticed this when working with some images from Microsoft. A 7GB Windows OS image is packed into five 716MB files (total of 3.5GB). The compact is pretty nice but probably comparable to what you can do with Winzip.
Where WinRAR separates itself is how you create the .exe files. Its a simple enough process using the WinRAR wizard. The big feature here is of course being able to specify a max file size which WinRAR uses to chop one big file into multiple more reasonably sized one’s.
Its possible to select from a pre-existing set of options or to specify in bytes your a specific file size.
After the RAR file is created there’s a couple other things you can do. For one if you right click on the archive you can see some of the compression statistics.
You can also right click on the .exe part of the archives and select Open in WinRAR. Once the WinRAR IDE is open go to Tools –> Convert to SFX. When the SFX properties window opens click on the Advanced settings button.
And now you can really trick out the self-extracting executable file. You have all kinds of options, you can create shortcuts, program file entries, use custom images and icons, even insert a EULA or license agreement that will pop-up when a user first runs the executable.
When I create an archive I usually like to use 100MB file parts which I believe is a little more manageable for the images I work with (creates 4-8 parts). Then for storage purposes I zip them up in Winzip which using the Slowest most Compressed option which regains a little more space and makes it easy to copy to other locations.
When creating a re-distributable executable its a nice touch to use custom icons, images, titles and messages. These might seem like little cosmetic things but its a nice touch and makes the image look more professional.
This Tutorial is good, now guide me also “How can I make a SFX file from command line with adding icon+licences file(text or html)+Comments file(txt or html).
Left by Tasneem on July 19th, 2008