January 22, 2005

Just so ya know: Microsoft FrontPage Express is part of an old Internet Explorer package provided for Windows 98 and (I think) ME. As soon as Microsoft discontinues support for these old versions of Windows, it's quite likely that the process described here will suddenly stop working. To that I can only say... bummer!

June 8, 2002

FrontPage Express is a tolerable HTML editor, and is a free part of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. I recommend that you get it there--assuming you are running Windows 95 or 98. However, if you're running any new version of Windows, you might miss out.

This page provides a way to attempt an install of Microsoft FrontPage Express from the IE download files. It usually works, but it's never a sure thing. For legacy reasons, I'm leaving this page up with this disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER:
Microsoft might move their links around without notice--and that breaks this procedure. It's their product, and they have the right to do whatever they want.
 
If this breaks, I might not bother fixing it because Microsoft provides FrontPage Express for you in a more proper method--I recommend that you download Internet Explorer 4 or 5 instead. And as much as I like freebies, the full version FrontPage really blows away FrontPage Express and is worth the money if you're doing a lot of web development.

I highly recommend Sonova Systems' Site Builder (what I used for this site),
or download OpenOffice instead (www.openoffice.org) and say "bye bye" to Microsoft forever!

So, with that out of the way, I present...

Hack-stracting FrontPage Express

The preferred method to get FrontPage is to purchase the full version of FrontPage, or download a "Standard" or "Full" install of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. But the FrontPage Express add-on only works for Windows 95, sometimes works for Windows 98, and Windows 2000 seems to have FrontPage Express missing completely. Hence, this article!

You will need to download 2 CAB files from the Microsoft Internet Explorer distribution site, extract them, and run a simple install. Some of this is based on Microsoft's own reference materials from http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q171/2/41.asp

Step One: Download the Pieces

• Download ONE of the following FrontPage Express CAB files:
  1a) MSIE 4.01 SP2 FrontPage Express CAB file (OK)
  1b) MSIE 5.01 SP1 FrontPage Express CAB file (OK, and recommended)
   
• Download ONE of the following MSIE Base Setup CAB files:
  2a) MSIE 4.01 SP2 Base Setup for Windows 95 CAB file
  2b) MSIE 5.01 SP1 Base Setup for Windows 98 (you might not need this one for Win98)
   
• Download a set up batch file and a tweaked INF file from my FrontPage Express Setup Helper zip file, and extract two files from the zip.
    
• Place all 3 files into a directory on your drive, such as c:\fpexpress : you'll be extracting everything from the CAB files to this directory in a moment.
   

Step Two: Extract the setupw95.cab, just in case

This step is optional: only do this on Windows 95 systems without MSIE 4 or later.

• Extracting the contents of CAB files can be tricky. The easy solution is to head over to http://www.winzip.com and download the latest version of WinZip--it handles these Microsoft CAB files very well.
   
  There is a slight chance that your computer has a copy of extract.exe somewhere (you will need to run this from a DOS window) that will understand these CAB files. In my experience, there are several different versions of extract.exe, some of which do NOT work with these newer-style CAB files. Untangling this is left as an exercise to the reader, though there might be some hocus-pocus possible... ah, forget that: you can download it at the end of this page, though the instant I get a nastygram from Microsoft's legal department, it's gone!
   
  CAB file 2a above might have a newer copy of extract.exe, and that CAB file might open up with the old version of extract.exe.
   
  Otherwise, there is some information on extracting CAB files and other goodies about this file format at Microsoft's web site:
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/winresource/dnwin95/S7346.HTM : dead link!
  http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q176/8/10.ASP : live, but obtuse.
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/management/cab/cab.asp : dead link!
  
   
• At any rate, your goal is to get advpack.dll from this CAB file. Some older Windows 95 systems do not have a version of advpack.dll capable of doing the FrontPage Express install: you MIGHT need this file if you are installing FrontPage Express on a Windows PC without MSIE 4 or newer.

Step Three: Do a Fake Install

NOTE! This process has changed a lot at this step. If you had trouble before, try this again. This has been tested and now works OK on Windows 2000.

• Extract the FrontPage Express setup helper file.
• Copy the following files to a directory:
  fpesetup.cab : The cab file you downloaded in step 1. This contains the FrontPage Express application.
  fpxpress.bat : this contains a single command that launches the normal Windows install feature.
  fpesetup.inf : this is a slightly modified INF file based on the original. The only change: I moved the portion of the file that determines file locations up to the top, and tweaked it so the installer stops to ask you where you want to install FrontPage Express.
• Run the fpxpress.bat batch file by double-clicking it in the Windows Explorer, or run it from a DOS command window.
• You should be prompted for a destination: the default of C:\Program Files\Microsoft FrontPage Express is fine.
• If you get an error message about your version of advpack.dll, then copy advpack.dll to the directory as well and try again. You should NOT put advpack.dll in the directory unless the first install attempt fails. The behavior of an older version of advpack.dll on systems that already have up-to-date versions is unknown.
• You're done!

Note that FrontPage Express might not run unless you've installed MSIE 3.x or higher. I know of no simple workaround for this.

Good luck!

Hack FAQ

What sort of help file does FrontPage Express include?

A poor one! The help file is almost useless: it's 4 pages, and doesn't say anything about HTML specs or the like. It's a .chm file in the larger .cab, and it's in a "Compiled HTML" format.

To use .chm files, you need the Help program update: Referring to
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q221/5/26.ASP we find...

Contents of the Hhupd.cab File
-------------------------------------------

HH EXE 26,896 02-16-99 5:58p
HHCTRL OCX 520,528 02-16-99 8:33p
HHUPDCAB INF 1,887 07-16-98 9:34a
ITIRCL DLL 138,000 10-15-98 2:19p
ITSS DLL 138,048 10-15-98 2:19p

So, with some clever guessing, the .cab with the new HH.EXE should be at:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/ie501sp1/install/5.01_sp1/win98/en-us/hhupd.cab

OR

http://download.microsoft.com/msdownload/ie401/sp2/x86/en/Ie4_s4.cab

But the help file is basically an advertisment for FrontPage 2000. Oh well.

The correct operation of this material is left as an exercise to the reader. If you figure it out, let me know!

Cool Things I Found

A list of sites where you can download MSIE 4.01SP2 components.

MSIE 4.01 SP2 branding.cab : Poke around in this CAB... or try the MSIE 5 version too.

You MIGHT be able to control how this installs. Edit the fpxpress.inf file and note this line: edit at your peril...

; Change 5 to 1 below to prompt user for path. We need to be quiet for IE4, so disable user choice. [FPEDestination] 49000=ProgramFilesDir,5 49100=CustomInstallDir,5

These were very useful:

• Q175430 - Directory Listing for Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows 95
• Q175899 - Directory Listing for Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows NT 4.0
• Q181589 - Internet Explorer 4.01 for Windows 95 Download File List
• Q242862 - Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 2 (SP2) File List (1 of 2)
• Q221526 - File Listing for Internet Explorer 5 (1 of 2)

A kind reader said that the Web Publishing Wizard is handy to have. I think you can find it at one of the following:

• MS Download Center page for the WPW.
• MS Main Download Center
• Try downloading it directly here.

Other FrontPage Express Sites

• http://accessfp.net/fpexpress.htm