Extract text from setup information files (INF)
To convert INF setup files to another format, you need Windows Installer or other System software.
To convert other file formats to the "Setup Information File" file type, you need software like Windows Installer or a similar tool.
An .INF file is a plain text configuration script used primarily by the Windows operating system to install hardware drivers, configure software components, or trigger AutoRun actions on removable media. Structurally, these files rely on an INI-style format composed of bracketed sections (like [Version] or [Manufacturer]) followed by specific key-value pairs.
These files are natively executed by Microsoft Windows using the Windows Setup API or Device Manager. Because they are text-based, you can open them in basic editors like Notepad.
The primary disadvantage of the .INF format is its strict, brittle syntax. A single missing comma or bracket can completely break a hardware installation. Additionally, many .INF files are encoded in UTF-16 (LE); opening and saving them in an editor that defaults to ANSI or UTF-8 can silently corrupt the file. Furthermore, .INF files are entirely useless on macOS or Linux, creating a barrier if you need to share hardware configurations or setup logs with non-Windows users or IT support teams.
To share setup instructions or document system configurations safely, you must convert the file. Convert .INF to TXT to normalize the text encoding for basic cross-platform reading. For IT documentation, archiving, or sharing with non-technical users, convert to PDF or DOCX.
Convert.Guru analyzes your INF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted EXE, DICOMDIR, SYS, BACTERIAL INF, DLL, INFO, INI, TXT, CD, X86, INP, CAB and NFO files.
If you want to convert INF file to PDF, EXE, INI, CFG, CONF, CONFIG, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML or ENV, you can use Windows Installer or similar software from the "Hardware and Software Installation" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert ZSHRC, CONF, RCFILE, GITCONFIG, RC, PLIST, BASHRC, CONFIG, PROFILE, INI, PREFS or CFG files to INF, try Windows Installer or another comparable tool in the "Hardware and Software Installation" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our INF converter.