.CAB’s for Dummies (How to Install a .CAB File)

Many people who buy cell phones just get them for making phone calls, text messaging and surfing the web, few people know that they can actually make their phones act more how they want them to beyond the “Settings” screen. That’s where communities like ours come in. We mod, hack, theme and edit our phones to the breaking point. We squeeze every ounce of functionality out of our devices, and tweak them till they’re perfect (or close to it).

Everyone needs to begin somewhere though, and putting programs on your device is a good starting point. And that’s what we’re going to do now, install our first program.

A .CAB or “cabinet” file is the Microsoft native compressed archive format. These files are used with your Shadow and other Windows Mobile phones to easily install a wide variety of programs. The installation process is very simple. Installing multiple .CAB files on your device can give it improved functionality.

Here is a list of things you will need:

Computer
T-Mobile Shadow or Windows Mobile Phone
USB cable
Microsoft Active Sync installed on your computer
The .CAB file you want to install on your device

Step 1:

Make sure your phone is on, then plug your USB cable into the phone. If you’ve already plugged your phone into your computer and set up Active Sync, then click on your device in “My Computer”. If you haven’t set up Active Sync yet, you should get a pop-up asking if you want to sync your device with Pictures, etc… follow the on screen instructions there and continue to the next step.

Step 2:

Now that you have all that set up, open up your device. You should see a picture of a hard drive named “\”, double click on that and you should see a bunch of folders. This is where I install all of my .CAB files. It doesn’t really matter where on the device you install them, unless the instructions for a specific .CAB file say otherwise. Installing them all in one place is a good idea if you want to be organized, and don’t want to spend time searching through your phone for the right file.

Step 3:

The next step is to download the actual file on your computer. The first program I would install is the “AllShadow Performance Enhancements”, which can be found here, on AllShadow.com. You can save it right to your desktop, or make a folder and name it something like “ShadowApps”, that way if something happens to your phone you won’t have to download all those files again. Once you’ve done that, drag and drop the file right into the “\” folder.

Step 4:

Now you have to install the program to your phone. On your Shadow, go into the start menu>file explorer, and then hit the left soft key, which should say “up”. This is the same “\” folder as on your computer. Scroll to the bottom of that list, and you should see your .CAB file (it looks like a blue file cabinet). Click on your file and you should see a loading screen, click “ok” when it asks you if you want to install the file. Congratulations, you’ve installed your first program on to your Shadow!

Now you’re all set. If you like how the first program you installed works, don’t stop there. There are a TON of awesome programs for your Shadow (and G1) right here on AllShadow.com. Here’s a list of my favorite ones:

AllShadow Performance Enhancements (Gives your Shadow increased battery life/speed)
Skyfire (Web browser alternative)
ChomeConfig (Gives you the ability to change the order of your 6.1 home screen panels)
Google maps (Because the Shadow doesn’t come with it)

Those are just some of the many great applications available for your Shadow or other Windows Mobile Phone, check out the forums to find more. There’s something for everyone!

2 Comments to .CAB’s for Dummies (How to Install a .CAB File)

jacob
November 2, 2009

when i download the file it just shows 3 files in the folder. Setup, ALLSHA 1.000, and 000dummy.001. And when i click on the setup it takes me to a web page with a whole bunch of what appears to be registery codes. It does not show up on my desktop like the little blue file cabinet. How do i make this work?

Mike Benton
November 10, 2009

It needs to be open on your device using the file manager on your device. They aren’t meant to be opened on your PC