How to extract the Encryption Desktop MSI installation file from the *.exe installer

Products

• Desktop Email Encryption
• Drive Encryption
• File Share Encryption

Issue/Introduction

You can use the PGP Encryption Desktop (Symantec Encryption Desktop) MSI installer file to enable/disable specific feature components.

This can be accomplished by specifying switches with the msiexec command line utility. Disabling a component means it will not appear in the PGP Encryption Desktop user interface and may resolve compatibility issues with the operating system or third party products.

The standalone version of PGP Encryption Desktop is a *.exe file but you can extract the *.msi file from it.

Resolution

To extract the PGP Encryption Desktop MSI file, do the following:

1. Double click the PGP Encryption Desktop executable. For example, SymantecEncryptionDesktopWin64-10.5.0MP1.exe. The PGP Encryption Desktop language selection dialog is displayed. Do not continue with the installation but leave the language selection dialog window open.
2. Open Windows File Explorer and browse to the following location:
   
   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp
    
3. Find a folder beginning with PGP. For example, PGP95182. The folder will have been created seconds ago by the installer. 
4. The folder will contain the file PGPDesktop.msi and some *.mst files for different languages. You may need these if you are not installing the English language version.
5. Copy and paste the PGPDesktop.msi file and, optionally, the *.mst files to another location.
6. Continue with the installation but do not accept the license agreement and instead cancel.
7. Optionally, rename the PGPDesktop.msi file PGPDesktop64_en-US.msi for the 64-bit version or PGPDesktop_en-US.msi for the 32-bit version.

For more information on the available msiexec switches, see article 171110.

Additional Information

Symantec Encryption Products Current Version Available