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I need a program to break open an executable and get me the files inside. Unpacker does not find the EXE, and 7zip does not open it properly. Does anybody know of any other alternatives for breaking open an executable?

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When you say "break open an executable", what do you mean exactly? Is this a self-extracting archive? Does the "break" mean you are trying to defeat some type of password protection or encryption? – phoebus Nov 11 '09 at 22:38
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2 Answers

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Try UniExtract, it opens tons of packed executables.

Universal Extractor is a program do to exactly what it says: extract files from any type of archive, whether it's a simple zip file, an installation program, or even a Windows Installer (.msi) package.

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thats the one! Thanks! – Zac Cramer Nov 11 '09 at 22:47
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It depends the type of EXE as there are MANY. 7zip and Winrar are typically able to open up EXE files which are installers and uncompress the files that would be installed.

If however you are having no luck, you may want to try Resource Hacker which can get out a few resources contained within applications and also downloading the Windows SDK should give you access to IL DASM (MSIL Disassembler).

Anything more than this and actually decompiling applications borders on illegal and not really sure if it should be discussed here.

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