Software Deployment

You can usually tell by the exe's icon or it's properties what app created it.

Try opening the exe's in a text editor and search for well known installer product strings - ie wise or installshield

Failing that try the utility here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/17940-universal-silent-switch-finder-01/

Check in %Temp% folder. Usually, Installer programs extract the stuff at this place. Also check whether msiexec.exe appears in the task manager when you start the installation... (this is just to know whether it is MSI or not)... no idea about self-extracting EXE :(

My 3 step process for discovering if an exe hides an MSI is as follows

1) I have WinRar installed, so I right-click the file and see if I can choose the Extract Files... option (meaning the exe is a self-extracting archive)
2) During install, as has been mentioned earlier, look for InstallShield or Wise logo's. If you see em (heck, even if you don't), keep an eye on the installing user's %TEMP% folder
3) Same as above, but for Application Data folders (All Users / User executing the installation)

Should probably also mention

4) Look at the Package KB on here to see if someone else found something I missed

PJ

One question: if you're installing silently, why does it matter what kind of installer is behind the EXE?

FWIW, apart from some notable exceptions, I *never* let vendor installs loose "as is" against my workstations. If the installer is non-MSI, I will capture it and create an MSI. Why? Because you can then see exactly what the package is going to do to your systems.

ORIGINAL: VBScab

One question: if you're installing silently, why does it matter what kind of installer is behind the EXE?



I'm guessing so OP can determine what cmd line switches can be used with the exe