OS Upgrade/Downgrade Tools : Universal Extractor

When upgrading or downgrading an OS, there's 1 tool in my toolbox that I can't live without, and that's Universal Extractor.  Universal Extractor will explode most any installer file so that you can manually install drivers.  This is particularly useful for manufacturer provided installers that verify the version of the OS before installing.




Take for example, the HP Compaq N410c.  I upgraded the OS to Windows 7 and I needed to install the ATI Control Panel to be able to switch the video from LCD to external VGA port.  The drivers are Windows XP and fails on install.  To install the drivers manually, I had to extract the drivers from the installer.  Additionally, the main installer fails so I installed the ATI Control Panel manually.

Right click on the installer and click UniExtract to Subdir

Universal Extractor will determine installer file type and attempt to automatically extract the contents.

Universal Extractor will give you serveral options if it can't figure out which option to use automatically.  If one doesn't work, simply go down the list and try each one.  Most of the time, one of the options will work.

If sucessful, Universal Extractor will extract the contents.

The final result is the contents of the installer in a subdirectory.