I've used Inno setup unpacker to extract various releases but i find V.R-CE have a password.
I suppose it's for a good reason, so for a while I didn't question it, but now that question keeps haunting me. I guess that's because other releases DON'T have a password, and so the two questions are linked.
Why do V.R-CE have password & why R2R do NOT?

My reason for wanting to unpack V.R-CE is a bit obsessive-compulsive, i suppose.
I strip out all but what i use in releases when i can. (For a long time i was an archiver, and had tons of necrowarez but these days I am trying to be more space-conscious even if i can not be less obsessive-compulsive)
Anyone know or wants to speculate?

 

AFAIK and this is a very trivial explanation, the reason is that there are a lot of providers/services that use bots to detect illegal content by looking into and unpacking, to some extend, all the files. And with a password protection this is much more difficult. These bots are also the reason why there are sometimes several levels of packed files.

 

I noticed the same, too. And I wonder how the EXE is able to unpack itself

 

I thought it was to force people to get the original source, instead of ie. torrent files wich don't necesseraly provide the password.
The bots theory makes a lot of sense.

 

Back in days everything was double packed in scene, just in case

 

So thats how you got the cool avatar. Had tried it with Ressource Tuner before but never found those great pieces of Art behind all the boxes.

Isn't it possible to extract the password with a debugger?

 

They password protect .EXE files when they don't want it to go public for some reason.
FYI, this is NFO from Vengeance.Avenger.v1.3.6.PE-VR

 

Just opened VR's two latest releases with Inno Extractor 5.3.0.
Unfortunately there were no cool custom made manga pics in them.
You have the latest version of it @DoubleTake ?

 

Were you able to install password protected .exe app?

 

That makes sense to me: C.E-VR is only one level, so passworded. R2R is double-packed so no password is used.

Oh, that avatar is just one I found on the web of (i believe) the Helix nebulae.
Here is one i just began using on the sister site, grabbed as screenshot from a R2R keygen :D
[EDIT] I see i DID use it here too, but I only found as by looking at my profile. I see my old one in messages..hmmm


Thanks for the replies. So far i think the single-packing makes sense

Not sure about a debugger. Depending on the complexity of the password it seems it might take ages and resources to match.
As I mentioned, my main reason is to strip and consolidate, being able to install only what i want in bundles, etc)
Having some good reasons in my mind now about the passwording I hope will satisfy my curiosity enough!
Thanks!

 

You mean the compiledCode.bin file there? I don't know how to execute that and I don't know what it does.
Inside the setup.exe you can find all the files for the installation along with an .iss file -> the install script written with InnoSetup in Unicode.
There are also 3 lines which are saying ; encryption=yes along with a password hash and a password salt in plain text. Maybe thats the password needed for the bin file? That file is pretty short and only a bit of it is unreadable, but if you wanted to, you could still extract every single file from the setup.exe, for example every single preset or every single plugin dll.

Edit: I see, that isn't possible with all the files. I was only out for pics and the iss file and thought I could extract the others as well. The other files are still password protected.

 

Last edited: Oct 4, 2018

I thought so Thanks for clearing it up, mate!

 

I can not "open" them with what i am using (i get the demand for password right away).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
; Version detected: 5507 (Unicode)
#1 {cf}\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins\Plugin Alliance\desktop.ini
Type in a password (empty string to quit)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I remember I tried to use the GUI version but had some problem.
Oh, I see in the webpage:
"Version 0.47 - Supports Inno Setup versions 2.0.7 through 5.6.1"
So, i guess i am using the most recent "innounp.exe". (?)

I just use a .bat file after putting the innounp.exe into system32 folder.
I made a "Unpack.bat Template.txt" I paste into the folder with the setup prog.
------------------------------------
innounp -x -dEXTRACT "Setup Program.exe"
cmd /k
-----------------------------------
I just paste over "Setup Program.exe" with the name of whatever installer is named and clip off the end to rename it "Unpack.bat"
It extracts it to a folder: "Extract" and leaves the window open so I can see what happened.
----
@Maizelman Which release were you able to extract?
I'd be interested just to see

 

Last edited: Oct 4, 2018

Could look into all of them and see the whole list of files they contained, effectively all the files mentioned in the install script as well, which I was able to extract. It's version 5.3.0.190. Sent ya the link now.

 

Thanks! I'll check it out

 

I tried to extract a newly released VR installer and found that most of these unpackers support Inno setup version till 5.6.1. There is currently no software to unpack setups created with Inno Setup 6. I tried HavySoft Inno Extractor as well as UniSoft Unpacker

 

An update on this older thread...

These opensource tools support 6.x installers.

innoextract and innounp

Passworded files, that's another issue. hunt hashcat

 

It's not about hiding the contents of rar files, because they use complete software names with versions in their installer exe.
I believe team V.R insists not to allow users to extract just what they need, but compels them to extract everything (do a complete install).
Other teams like R2R let users extract whatever they want from their installers.
Team V.R in the beginning used various tricks to achieve their goal (like declaring false Inno setup versions) and in the end resorted to putting a password when their earlier methods were busted.
Imposing a full install looks a bit stubborn and shows a kind of vanity, in my opinion.