InstallShield installer archive
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
InstallShield installer archive is what we're calling the format of the _INST32I.EX_
file included in many Windows software distributions that use the InstallShield installation software. It appears to be a general-purpose compressed archive format, though it's not clear whether it has been used in any other way.
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Disambiguation
It is not to be confused with InstallShield CAB, InstallShield Z, or MS-DOS installation compression.
Discussion
Based on unconfirmed information, the 16-bit SETUP.EXE program detects the user's platform, and extracts the appropriate platform-specific installer programs from _INST32I.EX_
.
Identification
Files begin with bytes 2a ab 79 d8
.
At offset 8 is the message "Copyright (c) 1990-1995 Stirling Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserve
".
Sample files
- Examples of software with such a file: [1], [2], [3]
- https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/installShieldInstallerArchive/
Links
- FILExt page about the ??_ file extension pattern (Look for "InstallShield")