What Is a Cabinet (.cab) File?

[Rocco Augusto]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/ie/ieak/techinfo/deploy/60/en/cab.mspx?mfr=true' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...b.mspx?mfr=true</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"You may have noticed that people (including me) often write about installing software for Windows Mobile smartphones from a CAB file. So, what exactly is a CAB file? CAB is shorthand for Cabinet. CAB files are compressed files that can contain multiple files or even multiple folders with multiple files. You can find its official description on Microsoft TechNet (see below)."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//zt/auto/1220763442.usr8.png" /></p><p>If you're like me you might find articles like this interesting. Personally I love to tinker with things and figure out how they work. In a nutshell though, a Windows Mobile cabinet file is a compressed archive, like a Zip file, which contains an XML file that tells the operating system where to put all the items within and which registry keys to create and/or edit. Cabinet files are relatively simple to create as long as you have the right tools and can be used to do some really handy stuff. For instance I had a CAB file that I created for the sole purpose of restoring all of my registry hacks after a hard reset or ROM upgrade. This saved a ton of time for me since I usually ended up hard resetting my device once every few weeks to get rid of all the junk that was left over from the software I installed and uninstalled during that time.</p>

[Brad Adrian]

How difficult is it for a non-programmer to create custom CAB files? On my Pocket PC Phone Edition, every week or so my corporate Exchange e-mail stops working and the only way to fix it is to delete the server entered on my device, soft reset and then re-enter the server settings.

Is there an easy way for me to create a file that will quickly re-configure the Exchange server settings on my device?

[Rocco Augusto]

I know there was one or two open source CAB file creators in the past that were compatible with Windows Mobile CAB files but since I last read about them both projects have went belly up.

The only way I know to create a CAB file at the moment is with Microsoft's Visual Studio. Who knows, maybe there is a WM developer out there that has read this and might have a solution for you. If anything I will look around and see what I can find out :)

[mirskym]

Have a look at

http://translate.google.ca/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.codeppc.com%2Ftelechargements%2Fmsceinf%2Fmsceinf.htm&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

This freeware app pulls apart a cab file telling you what's in it. The documentation explains how you can use Microsoft's cabwiz app to reassemble it after you make changes. Also you can use MS's Knowledge base to learn how to code the various parts of the files needed to build the cab (but it's not the easiest to understand).

[yawanag]

I really could use your help on this one. I am forever downloading, installing and uninstallling. I go through "Remove Files" Check the registry, etc. but I know there are still files left. Occasionally, I find them looking for something else. I use "SKTools" and "Total Commander." I have enough memory on my stoarge card, but I am down to 5.88 in storage. I could delete some of the programs, but most of what I have I have on there because I use it almost daily.

You mentioned doing a hard reset frequwntly. I dread that like a plague. I have a SBHB backup, but my question is if I perform a backup and then perform a hard reset won't I get back what I had before?

Thanks for any help.