Brent Norris

Journal

Orca MSI Editor

· Geek

I had to use a program that Microsoft puts out for free today. It is called orca and it can be used to edit MSIs at the database level. It is a good tool, but to get it you have to download like 300 megs of junk from MS. It seemed pretty dumb, so I am posting here so that I don’t have to do that anymore.

Download orca.msi

#orca msi#msi editor#orca#msi#RCA#Brent#LinkedIn

175 comments

Comments are closed; these are preserved from the original blog.

  1. Nhilesh BauaAugust 18, 2006

    Thanks dude,

    I was almost numb to get this. Tons of thanks again.

  2. guestAugust 18, 2006

    tyttyty

  3. Kamran KhanAugust 23, 2006

    Thanks alot dude You saved me from downloading 300mb file on dialup connection.It was impossible for me to download that much big file on dialup connection Thanks again. Love You Brother

  4. ShivanandAugust 25, 2006

    thanx a million dude i was in worry about whether i could get this file and here it is!......ur the best............keep up the good work!

  5. LeslieAugust 30, 2006

    Thanks very much!!

    Best regards, Leslie

  6. NahumSeptember 2, 2006

    Wow thats a lot. I needed this, but I didn't want to download 300 megabytes of things. THANK YOU SO MUCH

  7. SlonjoSeptember 12, 2006

    Yes, thank-you!!!

  8. Carl J GulbrandsenSeptember 14, 2006

    HI I am an IT-executive at a Norwegian high school and I found your website searching the net for ORCA as I needed it for solving a problem with GPO-install of Isscripts.

    Thanks!

    Carl

  9. Clumpsy DudeSeptember 17, 2006

    Thanks for this nitty stuff ... i need it and you save me from downloading sdk pile-of-crap that i don't really need.

    Tnx save me from desperation ..... gotta go :)

  10. lecksSeptember 19, 2006

    ditto, thanks

  11. ArieSeptember 21, 2006

    Thanks Brent. Saves a lot of time!

  12. ultimASeptember 22, 2006

    Thanks

  13. RAVISHANKARSeptember 23, 2006

    GREAT I WAS SEARCHING FOR THIS SINGLE FILE. AS ON DIALUP IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SDK.

    (THANKS)

  14. JosfSeptember 28, 2006

    Thanks a Million. Searching on Microshaft can be such a pain sometimes.

    Thank again

  15. RazorOctober 4, 2006

    Thanks a lot for orca

  16. ClaudioOctober 13, 2006

    Thanks, a lot. It's really hard to get this application alone.

  17. Lyle BertOctober 18, 2006

    Many many thanks - that was exactly what I needed!

  18. SmalltalkOctober 18, 2006

    Thanks a ton!

  19. drubiczaOctober 20, 2006

    thanks so much, you're saving my time. i've recommended your site to some of my friends.

    best regards,

    drubicza

  20. Obede Souto (Brazil)November 7, 2006

    Thanks a lot!

  21. Joe WalkerNovember 13, 2006

    Thanks a ton for this. May the rulers of great fortune bestow good luck unto you!

  22. FedericoNovember 13, 2006

    you rule! Saved me about two hours of life

  23. EhudNovember 18, 2006

    Thanks.

    And people, start using NSIS instead! :)

  24. OrbitNovember 21, 2006

    Thank you very much

  25. Iain MillerNovember 22, 2006

    Cheers for that bud, the link I was given involved me going through a list of cab files downloading then extracting only to find they did not run on my platform. A real pain.

    I found a link with a little help and a link to some samples... "How to use the Orca database editor to edit Windows Installer files"

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q255905

    Hope it's helpfule folks.

    Iain

  26. KarlDecember 1, 2006

    Muchas Gracias,

    msdn did not have it on thier download section. matter of fact you can search all day on msdn and not find a proper download of it. MS can make it a big pain to find thier usefull AND free tools. thanks for taking the "pain" out of MS. I googled orca.msi to find this site.

    Rule!

    by the way does anyone know of a good site to discuss ways of developng custom screens to capture installation information and then using that info later to update config files? we are not quite ready fro installshield :( so for now I have to grab the property values off of a custom install screen, somehow.

    Karl

  27. Kenny M.December 5, 2006

    Bless you kind sir :) lol

  28. Mohammad Omer NasirDecember 8, 2006

    Thanks a lot Brent.

  29. JasonDecember 12, 2006

    Thanks alot brent. Although i have a fast internet connection, i just didnt see the point of downloading the whole pack just for this. Definately saved alot of time.

  30. TRIGGERDecember 14, 2006

    thanks a lot! saved hours!

  31. Neva XistedDecember 15, 2006

    Thanks. The whole Microsoft Installer SDK is far too much of a burden, just to tweak one msi file...

  32. ShaDecember 17, 2006

    Thanks a lot man. Saved a lot of wait.

  33. Paul HDecember 19, 2006

    Cheers mate...

  34. dpDecember 25, 2006

    thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  35. fredDecember 27, 2006

    Thanks! you are a helpful person!

  36. VixDecember 28, 2006

    Way to look out for your fellow humans. Much appreciated!

  37. Pamela ReinskouDecember 28, 2006

    Now I can finally go home. Major problem with one of their MSI files and I have to tweak it so I have been trying to download the SDK while searching for this single file.

    Bless you!!

  38. JustinJanuary 1, 2007

    Keep up the good work :)

  39. CloudJanuary 2, 2007

    thanks for such good stuff~~

  40. Rex WangJanuary 2, 2007

    thanks a lot.

  41. RichardJanuary 2, 2007

    I can't thank you enough!!

  42. Prashant MehtaJanuary 4, 2007

    Can anyone help me out?

    I want to remove Repair/Remove option in Setup. I want the setup to install everytime it is run,

    Do anyone have an idea hoe it can be done?

  43. AkanimoJanuary 8, 2007

    Couldnt help but also throw in my $0.02 of thanx for time and effort saved! THANX!!!

  44. vieJanuary 12, 2007

    thanks for the help buddy..it has saved my time. thanks.

  45. AnotherJanuary 18, 2007

    Thanks for the file!

  46. JayJanuary 19, 2007

    Thanks so much for this file! I really didn't want to download 300 megs of junk just to get to this file.

    You rule!

    -Jay

  47. AlJanuary 31, 2007

    Thanks for the download! Saved tons of time over downloaded that whole SDK!

    Alchik

  48. DinnyFebruary 1, 2007

    Well i guess you blessed me with 10hrs of my life. i would have wasted atleast that much to download the whole SDK for ORCA.

    Thanx Again Bless Dinny

  49. Boris AlexandrovFebruary 2, 2007

    a brilliant and really thoughtfull move. You deserve an award from William Gates.

  50. szleviFebruary 5, 2007

    Halleluja, you saved me a lot of time - thank you!!!

  51. MuktaFebruary 6, 2007

    Thanks a lot. It was really helpful. I was not able to download that stuff.

  52. Arun MathewFebruary 20, 2007

    Thanks a lot buddy!!!

  53. muadFebruary 22, 2007

    u are the man

  54. GepiFebruary 22, 2007

    Thx man

  55. GimFebruary 25, 2007

    Thanks heaps. Was about to start my second attempt at wading through the cruft that is the 'Windows 2003 Platform SDK' and it's associated GenuineAdvantage restrictions.

    Saved. My. Day.

  56. QuiminFebruary 27, 2007

    Awsome! Thank you much!!!!!!

  57. HrishiFebruary 27, 2007

    Thanks a lot!!!!

  58. Raul MaciasFebruary 27, 2007

    Thanks a lot; you saved my day.

  59. AdiFebruary 28, 2007

    Thanks!

  60. ZicoZacMarch 1, 2007

    Woooo! Cool Man! Awesome! Thanx!

  61. VincentMarch 1, 2007

    God Bless you :)

  62. FrancisMarch 1, 2007

    Thank you sir

  63. TinusMarch 6, 2007

    Thanx a billion! :D

  64. orthoepyMarch 6, 2007

    searching for this without the big download forever, thank you muchly

  65. MolochMarch 7, 2007

    Thanks, you saved me alot of time and effort, keep up the great work!

  66. GertMarch 8, 2007

    seems you're very popular ;)

  67. WebsterMarch 10, 2007

    Thanks dude!

  68. superthanksMarch 14, 2007

    THANK MATE!!!!!

  69. eatmanMarch 15, 2007

    i downloaded the 300mb! but i formatted my comp w/o backing up this little files!!! thanks matey ;)

  70. Rob D.March 16, 2007

    Thanks so much for posting this. It's always a headache when you find out the one file you need is buried within another bloated download. Much appreciated!

  71. JimMarch 21, 2007

    Thank God someone had the sense to separate Orca out from the SDK. You've just saved me from a 2+ hr download wait before I could continue to try to sort out the mess of an MSI that one of my suppliers has sent me.

    Ta.

  72. raulMarch 22, 2007

    Thanks a lot Im from Costa Rica and I have been looking for orca for a long time.

  73. renneMarch 27, 2007

    Thanks i really nedded this utility.

  74. ThankFullUserMarch 28, 2007

    Thank you very much

  75. MarcosMarch 30, 2007

    Nice one Brent :)

  76. rajApril 1, 2007

    thanxs mate!

  77. TroyApril 1, 2007

    AWESOME thanks very very much! Saved me heaps of time mate

    :)

  78. MApril 3, 2007

    Thanks!!! I didn't have enough free space to download the whole SDK... So this is perfect

  79. TrozApril 9, 2007

    Thanks heaps mate, I was just going to give it a miss until i came across your site. Big thumbs up.

    Troz

  80. MusayyubApril 12, 2007

    When installing the Google Video Downloader:- http://switch.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/gvdownloader/GVDownloader180.zip,.net framework version 1.1.4322 is required even though .Net framework v2.0 is installed http://www.brentnorris.net/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif.

    While searching for the solutions I fall upon this:- http://geekswithblogs.net/pavelka/archive/2006/02/14/69425.aspx

    On further search I landed here and I was deeply relieved http://www.brentnorris.net/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif.

    Thanks a lot, I am saved from dowloading the BIG SDK package http://www.brentnorris.net/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif.

  81. JohnApril 14, 2007

    Thanks, we need more people like you.

  82. FrankApril 15, 2007

    Brent, Thanx dude, it doesn't get easier than this !

  83. angeloApril 17, 2007

    u da man. needed this.

  84. ArashApril 25, 2007

    Thanks a lot !! , I need it.

  85. hollisterApril 25, 2007

    You rock. thanks for the file

  86. Cesar O.April 29, 2007

    A millions of thanks for this! It saved me a lot of time!

  87. BerlicMay 2, 2007

    Thanks, dude! Saved my time!

  88. JawadMay 6, 2007

    Thanks dude! saved my time and from downloading 300mb of un-needed junk!

  89. Dirty HarryMay 6, 2007

    Thx Buddy!

  90. CharlieMay 8, 2007

    *

    Thanks dude,

    I was almost numb to get this.

    *

    Haha you guys are so lame....

  91. AaronMay 9, 2007

    Thank you Brent, this is very much appreciated!

  92. krishnaMay 11, 2007

    thanks a million

  93. Amar Nath SamalMay 16, 2007

    Hi Brent, thanks a lot. U have saved a lots of time. It took 5 min to download and install orca on my machine

  94. shaunMay 17, 2007

    Thank you so much mate this was the most painfull search to obtain this msi. Much appreciated

  95. GianaMay 27, 2007

    thank you thank you thank you thank you :)

  96. gaurav mehtaJune 4, 2007

    thanks

  97. MuktishJune 5, 2007

    Thanks!

    In Kannada, (apathbandhava) real rescuer. It has helped me a lot.

    Muktish KG

  98. Gavin CorneliusJune 7, 2007

    Many Thanks - had a problem unpacking WSUS 3.0 - this tool worked a treat and saved me downloading the 300meg SDK package.

  99. GhosTJune 8, 2007

    Great work dude. Saved my pc for junky 400 MB's.

    Btw, This (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255905) Can be helpful.

    GhosT :)

  100. DintherJune 13, 2007

    I cracked up lauging when I finally arrived at the microsoft download page where a file larger than a Gig needed to be downloaded just so I could get my hands on orca.msi. Even with broadband. This is just stupid.

    I know, I should have gone to trusty Google first where I found this page is several milliseconds. Thanks dude.

  101. RahulJune 19, 2007

    Thanks dear,

    This is great thiong u done for us. Thank you again.

  102. RumplestiltskinJune 22, 2007

    Thanks - very handy. :)

  103. MichaelJuly 9, 2007

    Michael from Odense, Denmark.... says thank you very much:-)

  104. ivanJuly 9, 2007

    thanks a lot.. thats so kind of you man..:) tytytytytyty........!!!1

  105. PierreJuly 17, 2007

    Dude, This is why I love the internet - made me gain simply hours thanks to this!

  106. anonymousJuly 17, 2007

    word. As others have said, this has saved me the hassle from downloading a huge sdk from MS for one little file.

    Really appreciate it!

  107. SwaroopJuly 31, 2007

    Great Post! Thanks a lot bud! Saved me a lot of time in downlaoding the entire SDK.

    Warm Regards, Swaroop

  108. ORCA858August 2, 2007

    Thanks a lot!!!!!

  109. Lolb_UKAugust 6, 2007

    Cheers Brent - Now the BBC iPlayer works on XP64 bit after a mino tweek with ORCA ;-}

  110. baoAugust 17, 2007

    thank you! saved me a lot of hassle

  111. carlosAugust 20, 2007

    Thanks...

  112. DavidAugust 21, 2007

    Thank you much,

    Once again MS makes you jump through hoops just to get something simple accomplished.

    Thanks

  113. PradeepAugust 29, 2007

    Great man, many thanks to you i have searched alot for this....:)

  114. MarkAugust 30, 2007

    Thank you. Handy Dandy

  115. SamuelSeptember 4, 2007

    Thanks much!

  116. Lailson BandeiraSeptember 8, 2007

    Really thank you guy.

  117. ShihabSeptember 26, 2007

    Thank u very much & I've to say that my GPRS connection is so weak to download large file, so this is very helpful. Thanks again!

  118. Sharad SharmaSeptember 27, 2007

    Thanks a lot for this valuable help.

  119. eydryanSeptember 28, 2007

    i love you man, i remember how much i had to search and then wait for one simple program so i could install stuff on my server2003 machine... good stuff man, good stuff

  120. edwin_1October 1, 2007

    Thanks for the file!!! needed it and didnt want to have to download the junk to get it.

  121. VInixOctober 4, 2007

    Thanks. I need it for change something. ;)

  122. freddyzdeadOctober 11, 2007

    Thanks buckets, man. You're an absolute champion.

  123. Steve BanzaNovember 7, 2007

    Thanks, I hope it will work fine. Steve

  124. Kernelnet InformáticaNovember 14, 2007

    Thanks, I hope it will work fine.

  125. jessnNovember 26, 2007

    I have been using this for a couple of years ago and it is really a useful tool. Thanks for the "quick-download" for this nifty tool.

  126. tracymeeeDecember 3, 2007

    thank you, i am looking for it and stucked before in Microsoft jungle website...

  127. Sayed BDecember 5, 2007

    Thanks Brent. keep up the good work

  128. DeanDecember 9, 2007

    Thanks a ton. I am on dial up and have to fix Guitar Hero III for my system since the developers failed to give the game x64 support.

    you just saved me a bundle of time!

  129. danDecember 11, 2007

    THENK YOU!

    i was just downloading the crap from microsoft ... you saved me a lot of time

  130. Dave ScrivenerDecember 28, 2007

    Brent, Needless to say you've provided a valuable public service. Some recognition should probably be given to Microsoft for making the editor freely available. However, they pretty much negate the good karma by requiring such a ridiculously large download. Again just a reinforcement of all the other thanks.

  131. timJanuary 2, 2008

    thanks you are the man!!!!

  132. roachJanuary 22, 2008

    thanks man.

  133. JayJanuary 25, 2008

    Thanks alot dude.

  134. kupidoooJanuary 27, 2008

    thnx a billion man microsoftsite is crab shitt it makes me dazzy even when i try to download a singel file it takes me an hour just to locat it and also i found the file packaged with alot of other craby programs microsoft suck u the best :)

  135. homey..February 9, 2008

    thanks a lot... :-)))))))))))))))))

  136. AVHerurFebruary 20, 2008

    Hi dude, nice stuff.Thanks a lot.

  137. Sébastien BoudreauFebruary 27, 2008

    I must add my own ton of thanks. So helpful great work. Thank you.

  138. LebzaMarch 11, 2008

    Thanks man! Dude You Rock!

  139. Simon BruceMarch 12, 2008

    You've probably had enough thanks for now, but I can't think of anything else... except "gracias amigo"

  140. ChrisMarch 13, 2008

    Thanks a lot! I just need to look into some msi files and did not want several gigs of developer tools, you're a star!

  141. PriyankMarch 28, 2008

    Thanks a lot dude !!

  142. LKApril 8, 2008

    Thanks, I can't believe MS still hasn't caught on that we want this as a separate download.

  143. deKayMay 8, 2008

    Thanks for hosting this! I might have 8MB broadband, but it's such a waste downloading the whole SDK for a tiny app I'll use just once!

  144. ChuckDMay 13, 2008

    Brent, Big thank you for posting this. Nevertheless I took the liberty to look for the latest and dl'd the new SDK to finally get it. So i offer it up here if you're interested. Shoot me an email and I'll get it to you.

    C.

  145. PetterMay 14, 2008

    Thank you!!!

  146. VictorMay 14, 2008

    BIG Thanks Brent! You the man!

  147. yakikookiMay 18, 2008

    Thanks! I deleted my installer of Orca a while back. But, I need it again now so this is a great help.

  148. NoelJune 2, 2008

    Thanks!

  149. Pierre (from France)June 15, 2008

    Thanks a lot! more than 2 years ago, people continue to download this jewel. A nice and powerful MSI toolkit I didn't knew. Best Regards from France!

  150. irwinJune 27, 2008

    thanks a lot man

  151. Orpheus ObjectJuly 17, 2008

    Brent - You are truly an Instantiated_Prince amongst [class]less objects.... ;-) Thanks!!

  152. Josip_SplitJuly 27, 2008

    I am having difficulties running a Commandos Behind Enemy Lines. I have already install it, but when i try to run it all that appears on my screen is blackness. But i can hear the sound, so i think that the problem is in graphic. Someone told me that thin Orca program will help me. I have downloaded it but i don't know how to use it. So i am asking for some help. If you know what could be a problem and if you know how to solve it can you write it down on this web page. Thanks

  153. colinAugust 22, 2008

    Genius! Thanks so much!

  154. industrial visionaryAugust 25, 2008

    Even two years later, your generous link is still delivering joy. I had to use orca to fix the VMware VI3 client so it can run on Vista x64. The 2008 SDK is 1.3GB ! Thanks sincerely.

  155. KevinSeptember 1, 2008

    Thanks for the great tool!

  156. vlizzleNovember 11, 2008

    Thanks so much for sharing this -- greatly appreciated!

  157. AcolnahuacatlNovember 14, 2008

    You just saved me a 300MB download that was the only way to install a few programs on Windows 7 6801, thanks!

  158. Craig SteddyJanuary 21, 2009

    Hi Brent,

    Have you tried the alternative MSI editor called InstEd? It is free and it has a lot more functionality. The latest GA version is here - http://www.instedit.com/download2?file=InstEd-1.5.3.7.msi

    cheers,

    Craig

  159. Oleksiy KhilkevichJanuary 26, 2009

    Thanks a lot. Comments are were useful too :P.

  160. Joshua WishonJanuary 29, 2009

    Fantastic. Thank you very much.

  161. JonMarch 6, 2009

    Cool! Thanks for sharing!

  162. noneMarch 14, 2009

    Thanks.

  163. radduduMarch 15, 2009

    Thanks!

  164. fasterMay 16, 2009

    thank you very much

  165. dzxMay 26, 2009

    Thanks very much!

  166. MikeJune 30, 2009

    Awesome thanks!

  167. Qasim RazaAugust 5, 2009

    Thanks a Lot :-)

    I was looking for this and every time there was some new webpage to read through. This has made my life easy

  168. lelikAugust 14, 2009

    Thanks mate!

  169. ZeisanNovember 17, 2009

    you sir are the new leader of the free interwebs. i thank you very much. with your help I successfully avoided wasting time @ MS.com and rapidfail. the universe smiles upon your blorg.

  170. ChinaBoyNovember 18, 2009

    Great Tool! Thank you!

  171. BobFebruary 23, 2010

    Thanks!

  172. PKMarch 10, 2010

    Is there a way to customize an MSI with Orca to check for a certain running process being shutdown before continuing with the install??? Any pointers appreciated.

    Thanks, Peter

  173. warez forumOctober 13, 2010

    Good, good, great.

  174. KlausJanuary 5, 2011

    Many thanks dude.

  175. foam roofingMay 7, 2011

    Thanks so much for posting this download. I noticed microsoft was forcing people to download 300 megs of garbage, so this is really incredibly helpful. You just saved me a few hours of wasted time.