What is a .MSI file?
MSI is a Windows Installer package used to install software. Run by Windows Installer.
- Did you know
- The MSI format was introduced with Microsoft Office 2000 as a standard way to install software.
- An MSI package is really a small relational database stored in Microsoft’s COM structured-storage format, its many tables linked by keys.
- Those tables describe every change to the target system, and the structured-storage container even lets an install span multiple discs.
- A .MSI file uses Microsoft's OLE Compound File container - the same wrapper as the legacy .doc and .xls binaries.
- What Analyser reads
- Identify and read metadata from programs and installers: Windows (EXE, DLL, MSI), Android (APK), iOS (IPA), macOS (DMG), and Linux (AppImage). For Android APKs it decodes the binary AndroidManifest.xml - package name, version, min/target SDK, the full permission and feature list, launcher activity, signing scheme (v1/v2/v3) and the native-code ABIs.
- Depth of analysis
- .MSI is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .MSI file
- Drag a .MSI file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.