Free tool to create Windows installers
An Open Source script based tool from NullSoft that lets you create installers that will work on all versions of Windows, including Vista
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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Direct Hit! Applies To: Application Developers USP: Making distributable setups for applications Primary Link: http://nsis.sourceforge.net Google Keywords: NSIS

Plus, the shortcuts it will create on the desktop.

Once you have written the installer script, you need to compile it in the given compiler, which will give you the final distribution as a 'setup.exe' file. Installer created with NSIS is compatible with all versions of Windows (be it 95 or Vista).

Getting started
We have given the NSIS package installer on this month's PCQ Professional CD. Copy the NSIS package installer on your Windows machine first. After installing the NSIS package, you need to create a script. For this open a Note pad and start writing the installation script for your software. Let's see how a script to build an installer for a JAVA program works.

It makes an installer setup for a simple Java program that does the following tasks:

• Copies all class files into the installer package.
• Creates Start Menu icons for running the demo application.
• Creates a Desktop shortcut for running the demo application.
• Checks whether JRE is present or not.
• Creates registry entries for uninstallability of application through Add/Remove programs.
• Makes the application uninstallable.

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