Scenario:
You downloaded a file that you required urgently but its format is .cab. What do you do with it?
Solution:
The .cab Cabinet file is a compressed archive that cannot be ran or executed directly. However, Windows has built-in support to open and view .cab archive content, but not outright install the .cab even if it’s part of an update or hotfix. In order to install a manually downloaded .cab file, use the following trick that makes use of pkgmgr.exe (Windows Package Manager) instead.
Open an elevated privileges command prompt as administrator, and run the following command to install and integrate the Cabinet archive:
pkgmgr /ip /m:<path><file name>.cab /quiet
Or,
start /wait pkgmgr /ip /m:<path><file name>.cab /quiet
Note, you need the /quiet…otherwise errors will be generated.
Replace <path> with the path (location) to the .cab file, and <file name> with the actual file name of the .cab file, without parenthesis. If the Cabinet file is located on the current directory (same directory where command is ran, the path can be skipped.
Tip:
If you intend to save an installation log, append the /l:<path><file name>.log to the end of the command. Again, replace <path><file name>.cab with the file name of log file to save to with its folder location (path). Also, if you do not want to restart at the end of installation, use the switch /norestart