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What if I want to install Windows software using PlayOnLinux, but the only .exe file I can select is a self-extracting archive? How do I extract the actual main program file that PlayOnLinux is asking for?

Joe J
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  • Doesn't matter what program; it only matters that I can't point PlayOnLinux to any program file until it's been extracted. And I don't know how to run an .exe file under Ubuntu (without Wine) in order to unzip the archive. – Joe J Sep 23 '18 at 08:32
  • The .exe self-extracting archive may have an .msi file inside. If so you can run it like this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/671277/is-it-possible-to-run-a-windows-msi-installer/671280#671280, but I don't know how to extract files from the .exe. – karel Sep 23 '18 at 10:38
  • Possible duplicate of [How to run exe file in Ubuntu](https://askubuntu.com/questions/999294/how-to-run-exe-file-in-ubuntu) – N0rbert Sep 23 '18 at 10:43
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    @N0rbert I don't think this question is an exact duplicate because this question is not about an ordinary .exe file. It is about a self-extracting archive .exe file. There are special Windows programs to extract the contents from such files and with hacking maybe p7zip-full from the default Ubuntu repos could be harnessed to do it in Linux (but I have not done this and I do not have the example .exe self-extracting archive to test if it could be done.) – karel Sep 23 '18 at 19:01
  • @karel. Thanks! I retracted close vote. I support your p7zip-full solution. I was very surprised when Engrampa (fork of file-roller) openned exe-file archive and showed its contents ... I tested with `file` (first was *PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows, Nullsoft Installer self-extracting archive*, second - *PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows*). – N0rbert Sep 23 '18 at 19:16
  • That could be an answer. – karel Sep 23 '18 at 19:19

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I have tested two exe-files with File Roller and Engrampa (fork of file-roller). They were extracted normally. All we need is to have p7zip-full package installed (as @karel already noted).

The file utility reports that they have two file-types:

  • PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows, Nullsoft Installer self-extracting archive
  • PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows (for example 7-Zip and WinRAR from Windows create such files when SFX ZIP or SFX RAR was chosen).

Note: the SFX RAR archive could not be opened with this method on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. You can use Wine for this purpose here.

N0rbert
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